Keen Sense of Smell

Well Marie-Eve Drolet, you have a keen sense of smell! Yesterday she said it: "I smell gold!" Today, gold is all that Canada pulled in. Four in total.

For Marie-Eve, the gold came in the women's relay, which all of her teammates also participated in. A shared effort by all six women. This was a great display of team cohesion and spirit. The girls really came together as a group and worked well to take advantage of their strengths.

Women's relay team: Jessica Gregg, Kalyna Roberge, Anne Maltais, Jessica Hewitt, Marie-Eve Drolet and Laurie Marceau(first ever world cup).

The men's relay team also pulled in gold. The Korean's fell near the middle of the race as the Canadians started to apply pressure with their speed. From there on in, it was Canada the whole way. Great speed and great exchanges are a winning combination.

Men's relay team: Olivier Jean, Charles Hamelin, Francois Hamelin, Francois-Louis Tremblay, Marc-Andre Monette and Guillaume Bastille.

The gold rush today started with the women's 500m A-Final. Jessica Gregg has been in this race a few times and has stepped on the podium before. This time she was on top. Meng Wang, considered the favourite in the distance, didn't make it past the semi-final. She toe'd in on the start while up against Gregg. Possibly the pressure that the Canadian women put on her started to throw her off her game. Wang is also not used to starting from the 2nd position on the line, which was thanks to the fast time that Gregg posted in the previous round. Kalyna Roberge was also in the A-Final but unfortunately went down in the first corner after bumping with Italian skater Arianna Fontana.

The men's 500m was the other individual medal of the day. Francois-Louis Tremblay skated a fast and strong race to take the gold. He edged within tenths of the world record in previous rounds as well.

Sofia proved to be profitable for the Canadian team. The Calgary crew took their share of the loot and reaped in a great deal of experience as well. Another productive step on the way to the world championships this year and ultimately, Vancouver 2010.

JC