Sport Shorts: Burnett Does Not Take the Easy Road
Burnett: Canada’s top men’s trampoline gymnast further demonstrated why he is one of the world’s best on Saturday. En route to capturing a silver medal, the Toronto native broke the world record for degree of difficulty in the final. The previous owner of that record: himself. His additional multiple aerial twists scored 18.8 points for degree of difficulty, the most ever. Burnett was clipped, barely, by reigning world champion Dong Dong (China) for the gold medal. Dong had 41.90 points to Burnett’s 41.80. Burnett won Olympic silver in 2008 in much the same fashion: executing very difficult moves. Burnett added a silver on Saturday with Charles Thibault (Quebec City) in the synchro event. Rosannagh MacLennan, 2010 Canadian silver medallist, finished fifth at the World Cup in Davos, SUI. She was also part of a Toronto tandem with Samantha Smith, finishing fourth.
Hayden: One of this country’s top swimming talents is finding his groove. Brent Hayden (Mission, B.C.) rocked the Mare Nostrum swimming circuit over the past week or so, collecting six medals in six races. Over the eight-day event, Hayden won three gold and three silver medals in 100- and 200-metre freestyle races. He called it a “strenuous tour” but is very pleased with his performance. Many other Canadian swimmers secured medals along the way, including Vancouver’s Annamay Pierse and Montreal’s Audrey Lacrois and Victoria Poon. In 2007, Hayden won the 100 m freestyle world title, the first swimming championship for Canada in 21 years.
Felicien, Abdulai, Armstrong: Perdita Felicien (Pickering, Ont.), veteran hurdler, took home silver on Saturday at a Grand Prix track meet in New York. Teammate and top competitor Priscilla Lopes-Schliep (Whitby, Ont.) was fourth. In long jump, Ruky Abdulai (Coquitlam, B.C.) took a big “leap” forward winning silver medal – just 0.12 metres off gold. Edmonton’s Megan Wright was sixth on the women’s side. Rebecca Johnstone (Sudbury, Ont.) was fifth in 800 metres. Last Thursday in Rome, Dylan Armstrong won a silver medal in shot put with another impressive performance. All are competing in the ongoing Diamond League.
Clarke and Bjorn: Canadian sailors Richard Clarke and Tyler Bjorn had an excellent performance at the Star European Championships in Viareggio, ITA. In the star class, they won the bronze medal (although tied for second overall) after a strong and consistent multi-day race.
17: In Caracas, VEN starting June 23, 17 ladies will make up Canada’s softball team competing at the World Championships. Many are Olympians in the sport that is lobbying to be reinstated on the Olympic program. Canada’s first game is against Cuba on June 24.
