What you missed this weekend

Medals in Moscow for figure skaters

The final ISU Grand Prix was in Moscow and the good news is four Canadians proved they are comfortable performing on Russian soil.

The first of two medals at the Rostelecom Cup was a bronze from Waterloo-based Kirsten Moore-Towers and Dylan Moscovitch in the pairs event.

Then it was Kaitlyn Weaver and Andrew Poje who skated a strong free dance to end up with a silver medal behind Russia’s Ekaterina Bobrova and Dmitri Soloviev. If it wasn’t for missing technical opportunities in the short dance Weaver and Poje might have ended up winning.

The next step in Sochi preparation is the ISU Grand Prix Final in Fukuoka, Japan. That starts at the end of next week December 5-8.

And guess what? Canada has five entries to watch including Patrick Chan, Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir, Kaitlyn Weaver and Andrew Poje, Kirsten Moore-Towers and Dylan Moscovitch and Meagan Duhamel and Eric Radford.

Luge athletes slide to team silver

The combination of Alex Gough, Sam Edney and doubles team Tristan Walker and Justin Snith ripped down the Igls track in Austria to a silver medal in the team relay on Sunday.

They clocked a 2:12.172 behind the dominant Germans at 2:11.798 but ahead of Italy at 2:12.266.

“Silver was a huge day for us,” said Sam Edney, 11-year veteran of the national squad. “Going into an Olympic year it’s nice to show ourselves we are still there, and knowing that we still push together to get better each week, until the big race with the final goal being in February.”

If you didn’t know, the team relay includes one female sled, one male sled and one doubles team. They each put up the fastest single run they can manage, and the time is added up. The coolest part is that the previous sled has to hit a pad to open the gate for the next team member. Literally punch a pad. Missing is obviously disastrous.

Next up for the Canadians is racing on German turf at Winterberg.