GANGNEUNG, Korea, Republic Of — Canada’s Kaetlyn Osmond has won a bronze medal in women’s figure skating at the Winter Olympics.
The reigning world silver medallist from Marystown, N.L., skating to music from “Black Swan,” scored 152.15 in her long program for a combined score of 231.02.
She was also third after the short program.
Osmond’s medal is historic as it boosts Canada’s total in Pyeongchang to 27, an all-time high for the country at the Winter Games.
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Russia’s Alina Zagitova, just 15 years old, scored a combined 239.57 to capture gold. Teammate and reigning world champion Evgenia Medvedeva of Russia won silver with 238.26 points.
Osmond, 22, who almost quit skating after breaking her leg in a training accident in 2014, nailed her long program, landing seven triples jumps. Her only mishap was a slight bobble on a triple Lutz.
In the moments after her medal-winning skate, Osmond thought of the gruesome broken leg that almost drove her out of the sport, and she was so thankful that it happened.
"It feels like forever ago," Osmond said. "To think that I almost hung up my skates then and called it quits, it's amazing.
"But I don't think I would have been able to perform the way I did today without that injury. I re-grouped and almost became a new person afterwards. I had to mature. I had to refocus on how to stay on the ice and feel strong. And I don't think I would have been able to perform this choreography as good as I could without that experience."
Canada hadn’t won an Olympic medal in women’s singles since Joannie Rochette claimed bronze at the 2010 Vancouver Games just days after her mom died of a heart attack.
It was a disastrous day for Gabrielle Daleman, who was seventh after the short program. The 20-year-old from Newmarket, Ont., fell three times — on her opening triple toeloop-triple toeloop combination, her triple Lutz, and triple flip.
Daleman, who won bronze at last year’s world championships, was deducted 4.00 points for the falls
Osmond and Daleman will be looked to as leaders of Canadian team that will have to rebuild after these Olympics. Among those retiring are ice dancers Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir, who won double gold in Pyeongchang, three-time world champion Patrick Chan, and two-time world pairs champions Meagan Duhamel and Eric Radford, who captured bronze.
Osmond and Daleman, along with the retiring veterans, claimed gold in the team event to open these Games.
Osmond's bronze gave Canada 27 overall medals at the 2018 Pyeongchang Olympics, eclipsing its previous high of 26 from the 2010 Vancouver Games.
Osmond, all smiles after her performance, wasn't aware of the significance of her bronze.
"I did not know that, but that is very exciting," she said.
Skate Canada's high performance director Mike Slipchuk was keeping track of the medal tally, however.
"That was in the back of my mind when I saw the two skicross medals today," he said. "I thought, 'OK, we're the first gold of the Games (the team figure skating event) and we can be the first ones to put us over to 27."