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Marianne St-Gelais takes a lap with the Canadian flag after winning silver in the women’s 500. (Paul Chiasson/Canadian Press)

Canada’s Marianne St-Gelais celebrated her 20th birthday with a silver medal in the 500-metre small-track speedskating final on Wednesday.

St-Gelais crossed the line in 43.707 seconds for Canada’s sixth medal of the 2010 Games. Defending Olympic champion Meng Wang of China was too strong throughout the four rounds of competition, taking the early lead in the final en route to a winning time of 43.048 seconds at Pacific Coliseum.

St-Gelais, of St. Felicien, Que., skated aggressively throughout the competition to earn the medal. She won her quarter-final heat and then finished second to Meng in the semis.

St-Gelais was the world junior champion in the 500 in 2009.

Canada had a shot at two medals from the final, but Calgary’s Jessica Gregg got boxed out at the start and couldn’t recover.

Arianna Fontana of Italy won bronze.

It appeared to be disaster for Canada in the first attempt to race, but Gregg and St-Gelais crashed before the first turn, necessitating a restart.

Meng won her fourth career Olympic medal and second gold.

As a result a tough semifinal heat that included Meng and St-Gelais, Kalyna Roberge of St. Etienne de Lauzon, Que., did not advance to the final.

Roberge, who won silver at the Torino Games as part of Canada’s 3,000-metre relay team, went on to end second in the B final.

Hamelins take 1st step

In the men’s 1,000, Charles Hamelin set an Olympic record to win his opening heat.

The Sainte-Julie, Que., native finished in 1:25.256. He is looking to hit the podium after having to settle for winning the B final in the 1,500 earlier in the Games.

The record was broken in a later heat by Sung Si-Bak, who skated in 1:24.245.

His brother, Francois Hamelin, won his heat in 1:25.714 to advance to the quarter-finals.

Six-time Olympic medallist Apolo Ohno of the U.S. easily advanced in his heat.

The men’s 1,000 will resume and determine medallists on Saturday evening.

Charles Hamelin came back just over an hour later to help place Canada into the men’s 5,000-metre relay final, set to take place on Feb. 26.

Canada was just edged by China in the semifinal heat. The Chinese team were timed at 6:43.601, just 9-100ths of a second ahead.

The Canadian team also includes Guillaume Bastille of Riviere-de-Loup, Que., Olivier Jean of Lachenaie, Que., and Montreal’s Francois-Louis Tremblay.

Small-track powers South Korea and the U.S. were given a boost in their semi that they probably didn’t need after skaters from Italy and France crashed just over 2 ½ minutes into the race.

South Korea won the heat over the Americans by just over two seconds.

Canadian Marianne St-Gelais, right, wins her heat in the women’s 500 metres on Wednesday at Pacific Coliseum. (Mark Baker/Associated Press)

Jessica Gregg won her semifinal heat and Marianne St-Gelais finished second behind defending Olympic champion Meng Wang in hers to place two Canadian women in the 500-metre small-track speedskating final later Wednesday.

The final is scheduled for 7:07 PT at the Pacific Coliseum.

Calgary native Gregg, who had to contend with Meng in the quarters, was authoritative in the semi with a winning time of 43.854. Italy’s Arianna Fontana also advanced to the final.

St-Gelais of St. Felicien, Que., continued the aggressive skating that saw her win her quarter-final heat. St-Gelais came in at 43.241, with Meng at 42.985.

Meng is going for her fourth career Olympic medal.

As a result of the tough heat, Kalyna Roberge of St. Etienne de Lauzon, Que., did not advance to the final. Roberge was third in 43.633.

Hamelins take 1st step

In the men’s 1,000, Charles Hamelin set an Olympic record to win his opening heat.

The Sainte-Julie, Que., native finished in 1:25.256. He is looking to hit the podium after having to settle for winning the B final in the 1,500 earlier in the Games.

The record was broken in a later heat by Sung Si-Bak, who skated in 1:24.245.

His brother, Francois Hamelin, won his heat in 1:25.714 to advance to the quarter-finals.

Six-time Olympic medallist Apolo Ohno of the U.S. easily advanced in his heat.

The men’s 1,000 will resume and determine medallists on Saturday evening.

Charles Hamelin came back just over an hour later to help place Canada into the men’s 5,000 metre relay final, set to take place on Feb. 26.

Canada was just edged by China in the semifinal heat. The Chinese team were timed at 6:43.601, just 9-100ths of a second ahead.

The Canadian team also includes Guillaume Bastille of Riviere-de-Loup, Que., Olivier Jean of Lachenaie, Que.,and Montreal’s Francois-Louis Tremblay.

Small track powers South Korea and the U.S. were given a boost in their semi that they probably didn’t need after skaters from Italy and France crashed just over 2 ½ minutes into the race.

South Korea won the heat over the Americans by just over two seconds.

U.S. Vice-President Joe Biden met with Prime Minister Stephen Harper the day after the Olympic opening ceremony during which a man described as ‘mentally unstable’ managed to get close to Biden. (CBC)

A man using a fake entry pass got within metres of U.S. Vice-President Joe Biden at last Friday’s Olympic opening ceremony but posed no real threat, the RCMP said Wednesday.

Officials with the Olympic Integrated Security Unit (ISU) confirmed that a man they described as mentally unstable used a forged pass to enter B.C. Place stadium along with more than 60,000 spectators.

‘He had no weapons or perilous items on him.’—RCMP Sgt. Rich Graydon

The man was spotted by police officers from the ISU working as part of Biden’s security detail as he approached the V.I.P. seating area.

“When the individual was approximately 12 rows away, RCMP officers stopped and escorted the gentleman farther away into a hallway,” said Sgt. Rich Graydon. “At that point, he fled and was apprehended by the ISU police.”

Graydon said the man had passed through magnetometer screening during his initial entry and was searched again by police after being detained.

“It was confirmed again that he had no weapons or perilous items on him,” said Graydon.

U.S. Secret Service not concerned

U.S. Secret Service officers who were part of Biden’s detail were briefed at the scene, he said, and expressed no concerns about the incident.

“In fact, they were quite complimentary,” said Graydon.

“Vice-President Biden was not in danger at any time. This is an isolated incident committed by an individual with no malicious intent who was identified and removed by security.”

The man was later turned over to Vancouver police, but given the man’s mental state, police are not recommending charges, Graydon said.

Neither the Vancouver Olympic organizing committee, known as VANOC, nor the private security consortium responsible for the civilians checking tickets and passes were immediately available to clarify how the man got around the safeguards used to check for legitimate Olympic credentials.

An official with VANOC said in an interview earlier today — prior to news breaking of the Friday night breach — that there had been no problems with the security screening process.

An official with Contemporary Security Canada, the private consortium, said the same in an interview earlier this week.

Tried to escape

Each Olympic venue has three layers of security, Graydon clarified: an exterior fenced cordon; screening at the entrance by VANOC event staff, who are supposed to confirm the validity of credentials or spectator tickets; and monitoring of pedestrian areas by police and security guards.

ISU investigators are looking into how the man’s forged pass got him through the screening system.

“All I can say is he came in with fake accreditation and that we’re investigating it,” Graydon said.

RCMP Assistant Commissioner Bud Mercer, who heads ISU, said the 48-year-ancient man was arrested by two female plainclothes Mounties who told Mercer he just didn’t seem to fit in.

“They approached him, determined that the accreditation he was carrying was forged or fake, confronted him and escorted him out one or two steps, at which point he attempted to run and was taken into custody,” Mercer said.

Mercer said the man had an apparent fascination with Biden.