Canada added two more medals to its already heavy haul, picking up gold and bronze in Women's Ski Slopestyle on Tuesday, courtesy of Dara Howell and Kim Lamarre. Canada is now solely in second place in the Sochi 2014 medal count with nine, two behind Norway's 11 and one ahead of the Netherlands' eight.
Howell's first run sealed first place for her, with a blistering score of 94.20. That beat second-place American Devin Logan by almost 10 points, as Logan finished with a 85.40. Lamarre came in third with 85.00.
Speaking with CBC Sports after her win, Howell said she won gold in honour of her idol, late Canadian skier Sarah Burke, who died in January 29, 2012 in Salt Lake City, Utah.
"She would probably just tell me to keep smiling, keeping pushing myself, and to keep pushing the sport," Howell said, fighting off tears (video below). "You know, I said earlier this week, I hope a Canadian brings home a gold medal for Sarah. I can't believe it's me but it's totally for Sarah.
"I cannot wait to go home. It's gonna be incredible. Everyone there has supported me from the start and always believed in me. Just bringing it home to them. The medal, it's for everyone."
This year was the first year Ski Slopestyle was held in the Olympics.
Howell is from Huntsville, Ontario.
On the ice, Canada's men's curling team has gotten off to a rocky start, dropping their alst two games to fall to 1-2 in the Olympics' round robin.
Brad Jacobs's Ontario rink lost to the Swiss on Monday, 5-4, and then lost to Niklas Eden's Swedish team, 7-6 on Tuesday.
Canada's women's curling team – led by skip Jennifer Jones from Manitoba – is off to a perfect start at 2-0, beating China 9-2 and then Sweden 9-3.
The men's team won gold in Vancouver in 2010 under skip Kevin Martin, and the women won silver under Cheryl Bernard.