Sport Shorts: Canadians Making Waves
Making Bobsleigh History: The first Canadians to win Olympic women’s bobsleigh gold are now the first to win a World Championship medal. Kaillie Humphries and Heather Moyse captured bronze on Saturday in Germany. Humphries piloted the sled to a four-run combined time of three minutes 26.74 seconds to achieve the milestone. It was a sweet ending to their post-Olympic season – just days removed from their triumphant gold medal run in Vancouver.
“It feels really good and this is a great result because it is no secret this has been a season of ups and downs to say the least with injuries and driving,” said Humphries. “With everything we’ve been through, to become the first Canadian women to win a World Championship medal makes it sweeter.”
Harvey Wins Silver: Cross-country speedster Alex Harvey continued his breakout season by capturing silver on Sunday in a World Cup sprint race. It was the up-and-coming star’s best-ever World Cup result in a tight race that saw the top two competitors post times differing by only 0.6 seconds. Next up for Harvey and his teammates are this week’s World Championships. Good luck!
Eight Short Track Medals The Canadian short track speed skating team had a huge weekend in Germany, registering eight medals on their last World Cup event of the season. Marianne St-Gelais led the way with her 4th and 5th gold medals of the season in the 500 metres. Marie-Eve Drolet also took home a pair of medals, first a silver in the 1,500 metres, followed by a bronze in the 1,000 metres race. On the men’s side, Guillaume Bastille was outstanding with his silver medal in the 1,000 metres while Michael Gilday won bronze in the 1,500 metres and the relay teams finished with two bronze medals.
Nesbitt Keeps Rolling: Christine Nesbitt captured another medal in her outstanding World Cup season, this one a bronze in the 1,500 metres. Fellow Canadian female skaters also came out with strong performances with Cindy Klassen finishing 7th and Brittany Schussler 8th overall.
Divers Earn High Marks: Rising star Jennifer Abel won her first career Grand Prix gold medal on Friday in Madrid, winning the women’s three-metre springboard event. Teammates Meaghan Benefeito and Roseline Filion won silver in the women’s 10-metre synchro event after earning high marks showcasing their new reverse dive with three-and-a-half somersaults.
At the Four Continents: Canadian figure skaters took home three medals at the Four Continents event in Taipei City. In pairs, Meagan Duhamel and new partner Eric Radford won the silver medal, followed by Paige Lawrence and Rudi Swiegers winning bronze. Over in ice dance, the duo of Vanessa Crone and Paul Poirier won bronze, narrowly clipping teammates Kaitlyn Weaver and Andrew Poje in 4th. In singles action, Cynthia Phaneuf was the top Canadian in 6th spot.
Morison Nabs Bronze: 2010 Olympic snowboarder Matthew Morison took home bronze in parallel giant slalom at a World Cup stop in Stoneham, Que. over the weekend. In the big air event, Sebastien Toutant won his second career World Cup medal.
Gough’s Season Closes: Calgary’s Alex Gough narrowly missed another medal in her record-shattering luge season. At the final World Cup event, she made a slight mistake and finished 4th. In all, she has won a remarkable five medals this season, including a gold medal.
Magnificent Milos: Milos Raonic’s eight-match winning streak was snapped Sunday by Andy Roddick in a thrilling final at the ATP tournament in Memphis. “It didn’t work out the way I wanted to, but it was a brilliant final,” said Raonic. Raonic’s results of late will move his ranking to #37 in the World, making him the highest-ranked Canadian male singles player in history. Vancouver’s Rebecca Marino also had a great tournament and made her way to her first WTA final. Daniel Nestor and his partner Max Mirnyi were crowned champions in doubles.
