On the finish of any professional sports activities season, a few of the most enjoyable conversations circle round particular person awards.
Suppose Drake Maye vs. Matt Stafford for MVP, or the Nikola Jokic-Joel Embiid battles of years previous.
Within the Olympics, particular person honours exterior of wins and losses don’t fairly exist in that approach, and those that do — hockey match MVP, for instance — don’t essentially carry the identical which means.
Nonetheless, there may be Sunday’s closing ceremony, the place somebody will carry Canada’s flag to mark the top of those Milano-Cortina Video games
Getting tapped for that job is an honour and a reward for a standout Video games. Isabelle Weidemann did the job in 2022 after incomes a medal of every color.
Additionally it is the closest we will come within the Olympics to debating an award.
There are some floor guidelines: Canada will choose somebody or a number of individuals who have by no means carried the flag earlier than, eliminating the likes of Mikael Kingsbury (2026 opening) and Marie-Philip Poulin (2022 opening) from competition. Historically, Canada has picked one flag-bearer for the closing ceremony, however it moved to 2 (Summer season McIntosh and Ethan Katzberg) at Paris 2024.
Additionally it is extraordinarily seemingly to not be a males’s hockey participant, on condition that the gold-medal recreation takes place the morning of the closing ceremony. (Sorry, Mitch Marner.) It additionally seemingly eliminates roller Rachel Homan, too, as a consequence of her gold-medal match going down early Sunday.
With that in thoughts, listed here are Canada’s prime candidates:
Courtney Sarault (two silver, two bronze)
The seemingly favorite for the job, the speedskater from Moncton, N.B., is certainly one of simply 4 Canadians to ever declare 4 medals at one Olympics, becoming a member of fellow speedskater Cindy Klassen (5, 2006) and swimmers Summer season McIntosh (4, 2024) and Penny Oleksiak (4, 2016).
Sarault, 25, has but to overlook the rostrum in Italy after going 0-for-4 at her Olympic debut in Beijing 4 years in the past. If she had been to get the flag-bearer nod, she’d be the third consecutive speedskater to take action for Canada, following teammate Kim Boutin in 2018 and lengthy tracker Isabelle Weidemann in 2022.
Megan Oldham (one gold, one bronze)
The 24-year-old from Parry Sound, Ont., has adopted the best improvement timeline: after fourth- and Thirteenth-place finishes 4 years in the past in Beijing, Oldham will depart Italy with a gold medal in ski huge air and bronze in slopestyle. Oldham’s victory was a little bit of a shock, as she upset Chinese language famous person Eileen Gu to prime the rostrum, taking down the largest title in her sport.
Armed with that gold and two podiums in two tries, there are primarily no holes to poke in Oldham’s resumé, making her as worthy a selection as any.
Valerie Maltais (one gold, one bronze) and Ivanie Blondin (one gold)
Two-thirds of the team-pursuit squad that defended its gold medal, both pace skater would be part of teammate Weidemann in having obtained the closing-ceremony flag-bearer nod. Maltais banked her particular person bronze early within the Olympics within the girls’s 5,000.
Each Canadians will return to the ice Saturday for the mass begin, the place they’re each contenders. Blondin, specifically, received silver in 2022 and adopted it up with three second-place finishes at three world championships since then. If she will be able to take a step up the rostrum right here, she’d be the one Canadian to go away Italy with two gold medals.
Steven Dubois (one gold, one silver)
Dubois is the one Canadian man aside from Kingsbury to seize a gold medal up to now at these Olympics. The 28-year-old quick tracker from Terrebonne, Que., crossed the road first within the 500 metres, dominating what is thought to be a chaotic race with ease. Add the mixed-team relay silver, and Dubois’s resumé is impeccable.
Canada additionally tends to honour profession greatness in selecting flag-bearers, and Dubois now owns 5 medals after taking certainly one of every color at his debut in Beijing. A worthy candidate, and a pure selection to fit in subsequent to teammate Sarault if that’s the choice.
Brad Jacobs (medal color TBD)
Jacobs main Group Canada into the closing ceremony would shut the loop on a tumultuous interval in curling — particularly if he had been to win the nation’s first gold medal within the males’s or girls’s occasions since he additionally did so in 2014.
The Jacobs rink was pressured to beat adversity in Italy too after it was accused of double-touching by Group Sweden, resulting in a days-long scandal that even broached fellow Canadian Rachel Homan. If Jacobs and co. rebound from that ignominy to prime the rostrum, it might make a compelling flag-bearer case.
Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier (one bronze)
The {hardware} for Canada’s newest heart-throb ice-dance duo isn’t fairly there, as they head residence with simply the bronze medal from two occasions. However the which means behind that bronze is maybe as highly effective as any single medal Canada received at these Video games.
Gilles and Poirier, in probably their final Olympics at 34 years previous, lastly stepped onto the rostrum for the primary time in three Olympics. Gilles recovered from ovarian most cancers in 2023 to make it again to top-end aggressive determine skating. And nobody will quickly overlook the electrical, emotional finish to the free dance, with the pair embracing one another in tears after nailing their program. The scene will maybe stand because the lasting reminiscence from these Olympics for Canada — it might solely be becoming if Gilles and Poirier carried Canada’s flag to finish it.
