Canada Tops Olympic Gold Medal Total, Sets Host-Country Winter Record

Olympic champion Jasey Jay Anderson of Canada poses with his gold medal after the men's Parallel Giant Slalom snowboarding competition at the Vancouver 2010 Olympics in Vancouver, British Columbia, Saturday, Feb. 27, 2010. (AP Photo/Marcio Sanchez)

VANCOUVER, B.C. - Canada set a new personal best for Olympic gold Saturday and a new record for most golds claimed by a country at its own Winter Games with back-to-back medals in men's speedskating and for snowboarder Jasey-Jay Anderson.

At the speedskating oval, the Canadians led the entire way in a tight race with the United States, holding on to extract a measure of retribution for Canada's stunning defeat Friday in the early stages of the women's team pursuit.

The team - Denny Morrison, 24, of Fort St. John, B.C., clad in a Team Canada jersey; Mathieu Giroux, 24, of Montreal; and Lucas Makowsky, 22, of Regina - skated a victory lap holding a Canadian flag.

In the crowd was short-tracker Charles Hamelin, whose two-gold haul Friday - one in the men's 500 metres, the other in the four-man 5,000-metre relay - lifted Canada's golden total to 10, and tied the record for the most won by a host country in the Winter Olympics.

The United States won 10 golds in Salt Lake City in 2002. Norway also won 10 in Lillehammer in 1994.

But Canada wasn't done Saturday.

Moments after the speedskaters took their victory lap, Anderson, 34, from Val-Morin, Que., rocketed down the fog-shrouded slalom course at Cypress Mountain to edge Benjamin Karl of Austria.

The two races gave Canada a total of 12 gold medals - the country's best-ever showing in a Winter Olympics - and the lead in golds over Germany with nine and the U.S. with eight. Canada has also won seven silver and four bronze medals, for a total of 23.

Canadians were hoping to mine more gold on Saturday.

Lyndon Rush of Humboldt, Sask., was in second place going into the final runs of the four-man bobsled.

And in men's curling, skip Kevin Martin was looking to claim gold and extend his remarkable unbeaten streak to 11-0 against Norway, the country that denied him the gold eight years ago in Salt Lake City.

Though there was no medal on the line, Joannie Rochette takes to the Pacific Coliseum ice one last time to bid adieu to her adoring fans, wrapping up an emotional Games for the 24-year-old.

The skater from Ile-Dupas, Que., who won bronze less than a week after the death of her mother, will perform in figure skating's exhibition gala, as will ice-dancing gold medallists Tessa Virtue of London, Ont., and Scott Moir of Ilderton, Ont.