Sport Shorts: Golden Saturday for Gough & Guay
Golden Guay: What a Saturday for veteran skier Erik Guay. At the alpine World Championships in Germany, Guay surprised the field with a gold medal in downhill. He tore through the 3.3 km course in a time of one minute, 58.41 seconds to finish first overall. “This is the best feeling in the world,” said Guay, who dedicated his win to his injured teammates. “This title is for them, who are recovering. They will be back.” Now, Canada has won back-to-back downhill world titles, after John Kucera took the crown in 2009. Guay is now the first Canadian man to win a world alpine title as well as a Crystal Globe – which he captured last year as World Cup champion in super-G.
Gough Makes History: Amid luger Alex Gough’s record-shattering season, what happened this weekend surely takes the cake. Germany had won 105 straight World Cup races in women’s luge up until Gough won Canada’s first-ever gold medal in Paramonova, Russia Saturday. In so doing, Gough made luge history by being the first non-German to win gold since an Austrian won a luge race in November 1997. Gough was in Grade 5 at that time.
“I always knew that this winning streak would come to an end one day, but I never thought that I would be the one to do it,” Gough said after the race. The gold is her 5th medal this season, after three World Cup bronze medals and one World Championship bronze.
Short Track Takeover: Marianne St. Gelais skated her way right to a gold medal in the women’s 500 metres at a World Cup in Moscow on Sunday. It comes just days before the anniversary of her silver medal at the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games. Amazingly, St. Gelais has won every 500 metre race she has entered this season. She also snagged silver in the 3,000-metre relay with Marie-Ève Drolet, Jessica Hewitt and Jessica Gregg. The Canadian men’s short track speed skating team was equally impressive with Francois Hamelin racing to receive a silver medal in the 1,000m event and Michael Gilday capturing bronze in the 1,500 metre race. The men’s relay team won bronze in the 5,000 metres, bringing Canada’s medal count in Russia to five.
Nesbitt 2nd Overall in the World: Christine Nesbitt achieved yet another podium finish in her outstanding season over the weekend. She won the silver medal at the World Allround Speed Skating Championship in Calgary. Cindy Klassen had an excellent showing, placing 4th overall followed by Brittany Schussler in 5th. The top Canadian man in the overall standings was Lucas Makowsky in 12th spot.
Super Ski Cross: Chris Del Bosco thrilled fans at Blue Mountain in Collingwood, Ontario by winning gold in a ski cross World Cup. The win adds to superb season for Del Bosco, who has posted a World Cup win last month in France, a 2nd-place finish at the X Games, and of course his first world title last week in Park City, Utah.
100% Cotton: Nova Scotia’s Amy Cotton won a silver medal on Sunday at a women’s World Cup judo tournament in the 78 kg event. The ladies are back in action next weekend in Germany.
