December 9, 2024
This weekend, a real storm of success for Canadian athletes!
Seven medals were won at the third stop of the ISU Short Track World Tour, including a first career gold for Danaé Blais. Mikaël Kingsbury returned to the top step of the FIS Moguls World Cup podium, while Maïa Schwinghammer had a big breakthrough. And among a flurry of fourth places in the World Cup, Jack Crawford made an impressive start to the season in alpine skiing.
From snowy slopes to icy tracks, here is a summary of the notable performances of Canadian athletes.
Short track speed skating: Blais, Roussel and the women’s relay win gold
Danaé Blais won her first individual gold medal of her international career on Saturday, helping Canada walk away with four medals at the third stop of the ISU Short Track World Tour in Beijing. In the women’s 1000m, the 25-year-old skater took the lead from the start of the final and resisted the final attack from the Dutchwoman Xandra Velzeboer in the last lap to win with a gap of 0.039 seconds.
“Winning gold is an incredible feeling! The level of competition is extremely high this season, so I didn’t really think I was going to reach the top so soon. It’s a great feeling to know that I have what it takes to become the best,” Blais said.
Later, Blais joined Kim Boutin, Florence Brunelle and Courtney Sarault to win gold in the women’s 3000m relay, keeping Canada at the top of the overall World Tour standings.
The other two Canadian medals on Saturday were won by William Dandjinou and Steven Dubois, who earned silver medals in the men’s 1500m and 500m respectively. Dandjinou has won a medal in every 1500m event this season and remains at the top of the men’s overall rankings.
READ: Roussel wins gold as Canada secures three medals on final day of short track speed skating races in Beijing
Three other Canadians won medals on Sunday. Félix Roussel won gold in the men’s 1000m, marking his first individual medal of the season. Florence Brunelle obtained her first individual distance medal, winning silver in the women’s 500m final. Brunelle was joined on the podium by teammate Rikki Doak, who took bronze. Kim Boutin finished just behind in fourth place.
Freestyle skiing – Moguls: Kingsbury wins again, first podium for Schwinghammer
Mikaël Kingsbury makes it two wins in two races this season after winning the men’s moguls event in Idre Fjäll, Sweden. Kingsbury earned a score of 87.92, ahead of his two main rivals, Ikuma Horishima of Japan (85.89) and Walter Wallberg of Sweden (85.63). If you’re counting, it’s Kingsbury’s 92nd World Cup victory and 131st podium.
READ: Kingsbury continues winning streak at Idre Fjäll
Among the women, Maïa Schwinghammer obtained her first podium in the FIS Moguls World Cup, finishing in third place. Her score of 80.71 put the 23-year-old behind two exceptional athletes: last year’s Crystal Globe winner, Jakara Anthony of Australia (82.94), and world champion in title, Perrine Laffont of France. Schwinghammer already had a World Cup podium, but in parallel moguls in December 2023.
Unfortunately, the parallel moguls events scheduled for Saturday were canceled due to dense fog on the course.
Freestyle skiing – Halfpipe: Three top 5 for Canada
Canada was in the heart of the action at the FIS Ski Halfpipe World Cup in Secret Garden, China. Cassie Sharpe and Amy Fraser finished fourth and fifth respectively in the women’s final, while Dillan Glennie took eighth place.
In the final, which was played over three rounds, Sharpe scored 77.25 points on her final run, placing behind American Svea Irving (80.00), who took the last place on the podium. China’s Eileen Gu won with a score of 90.00 in her second run. Fourth place is an excellent result for Sharpe in her return to competition after two seasons away to become a mother.
For the men, Brendan Mackay also finished fourth, scoring 86.50 points in his second run. The 27-year-old skier missed out on preventing a sweep of the podiums by the Americans by 2.5 points. Mackay won the season opener in New Zealand in September.
Alpine skiing: Crawford just off the podium in downhill at Beaver Creek
In the first men’s sprint race of the FIS Alpine Ski World Cup season, Jack Crawford finished fourth in the downhill in Beaver Creek, Colorado. His time of 1:40.55 put him 0.19 seconds behind third-place finisher Miha Hrobat of Slovenia. Two Swiss skiers, Justin Murisier (1:40.04) and Marco Odermatt (1:40.24), finished first and second, respectively. Brodie Seger managed to place in the top 10 with a time of 1:41.14, achieving the best result of his World Cup career.
Figure skating: Great demonstration of resilience for Gilles and Poirier
After a costly fall in the rhythm dance, Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier had to climb a mountain in the free dance at the ISU Grand Prix Final in Grenoble, France. Poirier had hooked his blade on the boards during the compulsory step sequence, putting them far from the podium in sixth place. But they put that disappointment behind them to have the second-highest score in the free dance, just behind reigning world champions Madison Chock and Evan Bates of the United States. This effort allowed Gilles and Poirier to climb to fifth place in the general classification.
The reigning world silver medalists scored 199.27 points, finishing 0.57 points behind Canadians Marjorie Lajoie and Zachary Lagha, whose fourth place was their career-best result at the Grand Prix Final.
Bobsleigh: Good start to the season for drivers Appiah and Lotholz
Both Canadian drivers earned top-10 results to begin their IBSF World Cup campaign in Altenberg, Germany. In Saturday’s women’s monobob race, Cynthia Appiah finished eighth, while Melissa Lotholz took tenth place overall.
Despite the heavy snow, they both climbed the rankings in their second runs. Appiah was sixth fastest in her second run on the difficult track, while Lotholz was seventh after perhaps overcoming the stress of returning to World Cup competition. She competed on the North American Cup circuit last season after a one-year break from bobsleigh.
In Sunday’s two-woman event, Lotholz and brakewoman Leah Walkeden finished in seventh position, a best World Cup result for Lotholz since December 2021, when she also took seventh in Altenberg. Appiah and rookie Skylar Sieben finished tenth.
Judo: Bronze at the Grand Slam for Reyes and Gauther-Drapeau
Two Canadians reached the podium at the IJF Grand Slam in Tokyo. Kyle Reyes took bronze in the under 100 kg category, while François Gauther-Drapeau also won bronze in the under 81 kg category.
Reyes needed more than 10 minutes of fighting to defeat Japan’s Koki Kumasaka in his bronze medal match. This is his seventh career Grand Slam medal, but his first since March 2023.
Gauthier-Drapeau did not need to fight for the bronze medal after his scheduled opponent, neutral athlete David Karapetyan, injured his shoulder in his previous match. This is his eighth Grand Slam medal.
