Olympic viewing guide: Canadians to watch on Sunday

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That was fast.

Canada's first medal of the Milano-Cortina Winter Games came quickly as long track speed skater Valérie Maltais earned a bronze in the women's 3,000 metres on Day 1.

For Maltais, though, it was a long time coming. This is the first individual Olympic medal for the 35-year-old, who started her career as a short tracker and is now competing in her fifth Games. 

While that was Canada's only medal today, there were other notable performances.

In figure skating, unheralded Olympic rookie Stephen Gogolev delivered a clutch third-place result in the men's short segment of the team event to send Canada through to the final round. 

On the slopes, struggling Jack Crawford placed an encouraging ninth in the men's downhill while Cam Alexander was 14th as Switzerland's Franjo von Allmen won the very first gold of the Games. Ski jumper Abi Strate finished 11th in the women's normal hill, while snowboarder Frank Jobin was seventh in the men's big air final with a dislocated shoulder. Freestyle skiers Megan Oldham and Naomi Urness advanced to Monday's women's slopestyle final, placing seventh and eighth in qualifying.

Meanwhile, it was another rough day for Canada's mixed doubles curlers. Jocelyn Peterman and Brett Gallant lost to Great Britain and Estonia to fall to 3-3 after starting the tournament 3-0.

But the day ended on a high note for Canada as the defending Olympic champion women's hockey team won their opening game 4-0 over Switzerland. The Canadians, whose scheduled opener against Finland on Thursday was postponed a week due to a norovirus outbreak among