Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - February 16, 2014, Winnipeg, Manitoba C M Y K PAGE B3 SPORTS B3 SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2014 KRASNAYA POLYANA, Russia - Noriaki Kasai came close to being the oldest individual gold medal winner at any Winter Olympics Saturday. Don't worry, he says, he'll be back in four years to try again. The 41- year- old Kasai won silver in the men's large- hill ski- jumping event, edged by Poland's Kamil Stoch in a the final round at the RusSki Gorki Jumping Center. Kasai, whose first Olympics was at Albertville, France in 1992, now has Olympic medals 20 years apart - he won his first, a team silver in 1994 at Lillehammer, Norway. Kasai didn't hesitate when asked about competing in South Korea in 2018. " Of course. I want to win. I want the gold medal," he said. - The Associated Press OLYMPICS Brad Jacobs' Canadian team plays the U. S. and China today SOCHI, Russia - Marcel Rocque's best- case scenario would be for China and Canada to meet for gold in Olympic curling. The Edmontonian is coaching China's men's and women's curling teams in Sochi. He won four Canadian championships and three world titles playing lead for Randy Ferbey between 2001 and 2005. " My ideal would be to play Canada in the final and I could just sit there and relax," Rocque says. " That would be a good place to be." China is an established power in women's curling. Bingyu ( Betty) Wang won Olympic bronze in 2010 in Vancouver, a world title in 2009. The men have been slower to reach such curling heights, but Rui Liu's team is a surprising 6- 1 in Sochi. Canada is 5- 2 and faces China today. - The Canadian Press S OCHI, Russia - Jennifer Jones is two wins away from an Olympic gold medal. Jones has two remaining round- robin games but has already claimed a berth in the semifinals. A win in the semis and the Winnipeg native will play for gold. Jones's Team Canada includes Jill Officer and Kaitlyn Lawes, who were both born in Winnipeg, and Dawn McEwen who moved to the city to pursue her curling dreams. The thought of going for gold wasn't in the least bit scary for Jones after running her record to 7- 0 on Saturday with a win over Russia. " Stop it. You're giving me goosebumps," said Jones, when asked if the promise of now playing for the hugest of stakes was nerve- wracking. " It's not scary at all. It's what we came here for. We're having the greatest time of our lives. Look, we want to win. If we don't it won't be the end of the world. I'll still have my family and Isabella ( daughter). It's sport, anything can happen. But we came here with a goal of getting to the semis and we've reached it. Now we know we're almost on the podium." Jones defeated Russia 5- 3 on Saturday to run her record to a perfect 7- 0 and claim top spot in the standings. Jones will have top seed in the semifinals and play the fourth seed. A win in the semifinal would guarantee Jones a silver medal at worst. A loss and she would still have a chance to play for bronze. Canada has two more round- robin games to complete, playing the U. S. today and Korea Monday. The semifinals will be played on Wednesday and the medal games on Thursday. Officer has curled with Jones since they were teenagers. While Jones had a look of joy on her face, Officer and the rest of the team walked off the ice and through the mixed zone with determined stares. The party line might be that a medal of any colour will be satisfying, but the attitude projected on Saturday left the impression these girls came for gold and they know they're close. " We knew we had to get better and improve on the last few games. We were playing against the hometown team so we had to be sharp and on it, and it went our way," said Officer, after claiming a win in front of a raucous pro- Russia audience. " When we got the three in the third and then the two in the fifth, we were somewhat comfortable, but we knew we couldn't take it for granted and we just had to stay sharp and throwing the stones good." Officer said she and her teammates weren't aware they'd qualified for the semis until they stepped off the ice. " We are just trying to stay focused on our process and make sure we are throwing them good and the right weight. If we stay focused on that, then things will work out for us, and they have so far," she said. " We have pulled out some Ws. There have been a few games and times where we've had to persevere, fight through and be patient." Jones started the week wearing eye- shadow that was gold in colour but switched to a different shade on Saturday. She says she's going back to the colour she's chasing. " I don't know the name of it. You're asking a girl who knows nothing about makeup. But it has a golden hue to it. And I'm going to wear it the rest of the way," she said. She might even get to wear some golden jewelry. Olympic style. gary. lawless@ freepress. mb. ca Twitter: @ garylawless SOCHI, Russia - Brad Jacobs has had some pretty big days in curling, but none as large as today. If things go his way today, they'll just keep increasing in magnitude for the skip of Team Canada. Jacobs had a 7- 5 win over Great Britain fall in his lap on Saturday afternoon to move his record to 5- 2 and a share of third place in the standings. The top four teams in the standings advance to the semifinals and Jacobs could clinch a spot as early as ths morning with a win over the U. S. A. in the early draw. A Canadian win against the U. S. combined with a Norwegian loss to Great Britain would give Jacobs a berth in the semifinals putting him just one more win away from a medal at that point. Jacobs admitted his team was a little sloppy on Saturday. " We just weren't very good and we can be a lot better. We had opportunities to make things happen and we didn't," said Jacobs. " A lot of that rests with me. I have to be better." Jacobs curled 85 per cent and his team had an overall average of 84 per cent. " We've been getting better all week and this was a step back. But we're used to this. We're not a perfect team. At the Olympic Trials, everything went perfect, but that's not us," said Jacobs. " We're used to being scrappy and grinding it out over a week." Jacobs said his team was flat to open the Olympic Games. " This is bigger than anything we've ever done. And different. Nothing we've ever done had prepared us for this," said Jacobs. " People at home could notice it even on TV, we just weren't ourselves. We need to curl with emotion and we've found it. We've found our intensity and we need to keep it up." When Jacobs was asked about getting to the playoff, he flashed a little bit of that intensity in his answer. " I'm just focused on having the best possible game I can have against the U. S. ( today)," he growled to a handful of international curling media. " That's what is next for us. Everything else will take care of itself." The temperature in Sochi, it reached a high of 20 C on Saturday, has made ice conditions at the Ice Cube venue difficult at times. Both Jacobs and Ryan Fry commended ice maker Hans Wuthrich of Gimli for his work but said there were flat spots on the ice Saturday as a result of the heat outside. " We played both decent and a little sloppy, but we got a lot of bad breaks that game and the positive thing is that we stuck with it and made the ones that we had to make," said Fry. " The ice, when it gets this warm, stuff sticks to it much easier. There were a lot of picks in that game. We were under some huge pressure there and I'm proud of the guys for sticking with the game, because it was a tough one. When you get bad breaks and a lot of picks you need to keep your focus, and we were able to do that." gary. lawless@ freepress. mb. ca Twitter: @ garylawless Team Jones focused on the process Winnipeg curlers two wins from gold Round robin WOMEN W L Canada 7 0 Sweden 5 2 China 4 3 Great Britain 4 3 Switzerland 4 3 Russia 3 4 Japan 2 4 South Korea 2 4 Denmark 2 5 United States 1 6 SATURDAY RESULTS Session 8 Canada 8 Japan 6 China 7 Sweden 6 Great Britian 10 South Korea 8 Session 9 Sweden 7 USA 6 Canada 5 Russia 3 Switzerland 8 Great Britain 6 Denmark 9 China 6 TODAY'S GAMES Session 10 Denmark vs. South Korea Japan vs. Switzerland Sweden vs. Russia USA vs. Canada By Gary Lawless Jacobs rink used to battling its way to top By Gary Lawless Round robin MEN W L China 6 1 Sweden 6 1 Canada 5 2 Great Britain 5 2 Norway 3 3 United States 2 4 Denmark 2 5 Russia 2 5 Switzerland 2 5 Germany 1 6 SATURDAY RESULTS Session 9 Sweden 8 Germany 4 Switzerland 9 Denmark 3 Canada 7 Great Britain 5 China 9 Russia 6 Canadians rebound from rough start ROBERT F. BUKATY / THE ASSOCIATED PRESS With just two more wins at the Sochi Winter Olympics, Canada's Jennifer Jones rink will bring home the gold. Brad Jacobs Dreams of Canada- China final Old man of the hill searching for gold B_ 03_ Feb- 16- 14_ FP_ 01. indd B3 2/ 15/ 14 8: 32: 48 PM ;