Canada's got talent: half of women's ski cross semi-finalists donned maple leafs

At the top of the ski-cross run just seconds ahead of the first semi-final start two competitors turned to each other, smiled and fist-bumped before leaning forward to get into their starting position.

The high-fiving pair were Hannah Schmidt and Courtney Hoffos, two of four Canadian athletes who had made it to the final eight of the ski-cross competition at Beijing 2022. Separated in the starting line-up from another of their compatriots, Marielle Thompson, by legendary Swiss, Fanny Smith, a bronze medalist four years ago at PyeongChang 2018, the quartet were all set to race hard to claim two spots in the big final and potential Olympic medals.

In the second semifinal, their teammate Brittany Phelan, herself an Olympic silver medallist at PyeongChang 2018, second to the gold medallist and her now-retired teammate, Kelsey Serwa, was up against the favourite, Sweden’s Sandra Naeslund.

When it all shook out, it was Thompson who progressed to the big final and ended up with a silver medal to add to the gold medal she won at Sochi 2014. Naeslund claimed gold with Germany's Daniela Maier claiming bronze after Smith was relegated to fourth after being given a yellow card for "side contact".

Phelan, Hoffos and Schmidt were in the small final and finished fifth, sixth and seventh, respectively, with Australia's Sami Kennedy-Sim finishing eighth.

This might be the first Olympic Winter Games in which Canada women have not won gold – in fact, they have won five out of the six gold and silver medals at the three Games in which ski cross has been a discipline – but a silver medal and four skiers in the top-seven places is not to be sniffed at. The strength-in-depth for which the Canada team is renowned is clearly ongoing.

Even making