Tommy Zaferes/ITU Media, Canoe Kayak Canada, Leah Hennel/COC
One last chance to qualify for Paris 2024 is what’s at stake over the coming days for some Canadian wrestling and kitesurfing athletes as they compete in the final World Olympic Qualification Tournament and the World Championships, respectively. of Formula Kite. Team Canada triathletes will take part in a leg of the World Triathlon Championship Series, while Canadian paddlers will compete in the first Canoe Sprint World Cup of the season.
There’s plenty of action in summer sports, but the IIHF Men’s Hockey World Championship should provide a good show for Team Canada winter sports fans as the tournament gets underway this weekend -end in Czechia.
Speed canoeing
This weekend, the town of Szeged, Hungary will host many of the world’s best for the first ICF Canoe Sprint World Cup of the season. Team Canada will be represented by a strong contingent of nineteen paddlers, seven of whom won gold medals at the Santiago 2023 Pan American Games.
Katie Vincent and Sloan MacKenzie are a duo to watch at the C-2 500m. Their bronze medal in this event at the 2023 Worlds secured a quota place for Canada in this event at the Paris 2024 Games. They also won gold at the Santiago 2023 Pan American Games, where Vincent was one of the winners. -flags during the closing ceremony.
Other Pan American Games gold medalists who will be in action in Hungary include Craig Spence and Alix Plomteux (C-2 500m), Michelle Russell (K-1 500m), as well as Ian Gaudet and Simon McTavish (K-2,500m).
Struggle
Nine wrestling athletes from Canada are in Istanbul, Turkey, for the final World Olympic Qualification Tournament which takes place May 9-12. This is the last opportunity for athletes to qualify for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games; the three best athletes in each weight category will qualify for the Games. Team Canada has already qualified five wrestling athletes for Paris.
TRACKING TEAM CANADA QUALIFYING FOR PARIS 2024
Karla Godinez Gonzalez, in action in the women’s 53 kg category, will try to imitate her sister Ana, who is qualified for Paris 2024 in the 62 kg event. Genevieve Morrison (50 kg) and Linda Morais (68 kg) will also try to qualify in women’s wrestling.
Nishan Randhawa is one to watch in the men’s 97 kg freestyle category, having won a bronze medal in this event at the Santiago 2023 Pan American Games last fall. Darthe Capellan (57 kg), Lachlan McNeil (65 kg) and Stone Lewis (74 kg) will also be in action in men’s freestyle wrestling.
Triathlon
A stage of the World Triathlon Championship Series (WTCS), the most prestigious triathlon circuit, takes place in Yokohama, Japan, on Saturday.
The athletes will take to the course for women’s and men’s Olympic distance events: 1.5 km swimming, 40 km cycling and 10 km running.
Dominika Jamnicky and Emy Legault will be in action for the women’s race. The two triathletes finished fifth and sixth, respectively, in the triathlon at the Santiago 2023 Pan American Games. Most recently, in February, Legault won a silver medal at the Americas Cup.
Charles Paquet, Martin Sobey and Tyler Mislawchuk will take part in the men’s race. Mislawchuk, who competed at the Tokyo 2020 Games, finished ninth at the 2023 Sprint Distance Triathlon World Championships in Hamburg last September.
Another stop in the World Triathlon Championship Series will take place in Cagliari, Italy on May 25, just before the World Triathlon Olympic Qualification Individual Ranking closes on May 27. This ranking will be used to determine the 55 athletes of each gender who will take part in the individual Olympic triathlon event at the Paris 2024 Games.
Hockey
The 2024 IIHF World Championship gets underway this weekend in Czechia. Team Canada will try to win the world title for the second year in a row after last year’s gold medal.
Canada’s last two consecutive titles came in 2015 and 2016. Team Canada has won four of the last eight men’s world hockey championships and has played in seven of the last eight gold medal finals.
The players representing Canada in the Czech Republic all played in the National Hockey League this season and come from teams that either did not qualify for the Stanley Cup Playoffs or were already eliminated. This year’s Championship could be an opportunity for some players to stand out with the aim of being selected for the team for the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic Games in which NHL players are expected to participate.
In action in Prague-based Group A, Canada will play two round-robin matches over the weekend. Team Canada will first face Great Britain on Saturday at 6:20 a.m. ET, before playing Denmark at 10:20 a.m. ET on Sunday morning. The round robin will continue until May 21.
READ: Team Canada seeks gold for second consecutive time at IIHF World Championship
Veil
The 2024 Formula Kite World Championships taking place in Hyères, France, will be a decisive competition to determine which athlete will represent Team Canada in women’s kitesurfing at Paris 2024. The competition will take place from May 14 to 19, and the athletes will be on the water this weekend for training.
Canada has secured an Olympic quota spot in women’s kitesurfing at the Santiago 2023 Pan American Games. Currently, Emily Bugeja leads the Canadian selection process, closely followed by Marie-Ève Mayrand, Nataliya Leshko and Martyna Dakowicz. The selection will be based on the combined scores obtained by the athletes at the Trofeo Princesa Sofía regatta which took place in April and these World Championships. The Olympic quota place will be awarded to the athlete with the lowest total score, meaning the highest ranking for both regattas combined.
