Weekend roundup: red & white on podiums worldwide
The past weekend was a busy one with Canadian athletes finding the podium at various events around the globe.
Figure Skating
Canada came away with two gold medals from the Grand Prix Final in Barcelona, Spain. Meagan Duhamel and Eric Radford won their third title of the season with a score of 220.72 in the pairs competition. In ice dance, Kaitlyn Weaver and Andrew Poje also made it three straight gold medals, winning with 181.14 points. The two teams are enjoying identical seasons, winning Skate Canada and the NHK Trophy in the Grand Prix series before taking the Barcelona title. National and world championships are next on the radar.
Luge
Samuel Edney became the first Canadian ever to win a men’s luge World Cup gold medal.
The weekend started and ended with Canadian luge history as a group of Olympians won four World Cup medals on their home track in Calgary. On Friday, Tristan Walker and Justin Snith won bronze in the doubles, then Alex Gough and Arianne Jones followed up in the women’s race with respective silver and bronze medals. On Saturday, Samuel Edney triumphed in the men’s race becoming the first Canadian ever to win luge World Cup gold in that event.
Short track speed skating
Marianne St-Gelais won her fifth individual World Cup medal of the season.
Charles Hamelin and Marianne St-Gelais led the way as Canada won eight World Cup medals in Shanghai, China. Hamelin took the 1000m title and St-Gelais is up to a team-leading five individual medals this season after winning two more in China.
Long track speed skating
Ivanie Blondin (number 2 helmet) won her second mass start World Cup gold of the season.
Ivanie Blondin won her second mass start World Cup title of the season, this time in Heerenveen, Netherlands. The mass start is not on the Olympic calendar though the International Skating Union is pushing for it. Laurent Dubreuil won bronze in the men’s 500m to make his fourth consecutive trip to a World Cup podium.
Dew Tour
Canadian freeskiers and snowboarders had a tough go under less-than-crisp conditions in Breckenridge, Colorado, but the weekend was salvaged by Sebastien Toutant and Tyler Nicholson, both medalling in the men’s snowboard slopestyle final with a silver and bronze respectively.
Moguls
Phil Marquis at the top of the dual moguls podium in Ruka, Finland.
Dual moguls kicked off the 2014-15 season at Ruka, Finland and a couple of Team Canada Olympians found their way to the podium. Philippe Marquis won gold in the men’s event, while Chloé Dufour-Lapointe took women’s silver where unfortunately Canadian competitors had to knock each other out on way to the final.
Skeleton
Elisabeth Vathje smiles through her mouthguard after taking a World Cup debut silver.
Elisabeth Vathje won a silver medal in the opening World Cup race of the season in Lake Placid, New York with a two-run time of 1:51.90. It was the first World Cup outing for the 20-year old.
Synchronized swimming
At the 2014 FINA World Team Trophy competition Canada took bronze behind China and Russia. The team hadn’t been on the podium at this event since 2011.
Curling
At the first-ever Canadian Open, Ottawa’s Rachel Homan had to settle for second place to Scotland’s Eve Muirhead – Sochi 2014 bronze medallist – 5-3 in Yorkton, Saskatchewan.
Taekwondo
In Portland, Oregon Maxime Potvin and Marc-Andre Bergeron each won a gold medal in the Pan Am Open.
