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WATCH: A silver medal for Canada – and two remarkable displays of Olympic and Canadian spirit. Allison Vuchnich reports

Canadian Denny Morrison has taken the silver in the men’s 1000-metre speed skating event in Sochi. Before Wednesday morning, he wasn’t even supposed to be there.

The 28 year-old from Fort St. John, B.C. finished the race with a time of 1:08:43, just 4 hundredths of a second behind gold medallist Dutch skater Stefan Groothuis.

Another Dutch skater, Michel Mulder, took the bronze with a time of 1:08.74.

Morrison almost didn’t make the event: He got his spot in the race through another Canadian’s kindness. He had fallen during the Canadian qualifications in December and didn’t qualify for this distance. Teammate Gilmore Junio said Wednesday morning he’d give up his spot to let the higher-ranked Morrison race in his place.

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This is Morrison’s third Olympic medal, but his first in an individual event. He won gold in Vancouver and silver in Turin in the team pursuit.