Weekend Round-Up: Patrick Chan beats everyone, including himself
It was a very solid weekend for Canada on world ice of all types. In the end, Canada collected seven medals including three gold.
Patrick Chan blows away his own world marks
The figure skaters were in Paris for the Trophée Eric Bompard and were fantastic. Actually, that’s not doing Patrick Chan justice. The three-time World Champion obliterated his own world records, scoring 98.52 in the short program and 196.75 in his free skate for 295.27 overall. His old world record was 280.98 by the way.
He won, obviously. Also the best on the weekend were Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir, taking their second Grand Prix ice dance gold. Meagan Duhamel and Eric Radford skated to silver in pairs.
Canadian Happy Gilmore wins first World Cup race
Calgary’s Gilmore Junio won his first World Cup race by dropping his personal best over 500m to 34.258 in Salt Lake City. The 23-year-old was dead even with Japan’s Joji Kato earning them both gold medals.
Canada also managed a silver in the women’s team pursuit. Christine Nesbitt, Brittany Schussler and Kali Christ combined for silver in a time of 2:56.90.
Alex Gough fast enough for the podium
Alex Gough delivered a medal in luge at the first World Cup of the season, sliding to bronze in Lillehammer. The women’s team veteran clocked 1:36.233 which was just 35 1/1000ths of a second ahead of the fourth place competitor. It’s competitive on the circuit and Gough showed she can hold her own.
Charles Hamelin holds his form to finish World Cup season
It’s getting routine and that’s just the way Charles Hamelin likes it. The short track all-star won another World Cup gold in the 1000m, this time in Kolomna, Russia. And he did it with a bruised thigh. Valérie Maltais represented for the women, winning a silver in the 1500m with a time of 2:25.190. Medals aside, the short track team did its job with Olympic qualifying complete. The team earned 20 out of a possible 20 spots for Sochi 2014.
