Canadian roundup: Multiple medal weekend for moguls and short track
Here are five recent stories featuring Canadian athletes competing at international events.
World Cup moguls, Val Saint-Côme
Bottom line: On Saturday, World Cup points leader Mikaël Kingsbury triumphed, while Chloé Dufour-Lapointe won silver with teammate Audrey Robichaud third in Val Saint-Côme, Quebec.
Kingsbury continues to dominate World Cup circuit
Women’s Sevens Series, Brazil
Bottom line: In Brazil, Canada earned their second-straight third place finish on the sevens tour with a 19-0 win over France.
SEE ALSO: Women’s rugby team arrives in Brasil after lengthy travel delays
Despite one heck of a travel delay getting down to São Paulo the Canadian women delivered another top-3 performance. After a 3-0 first day, Canada beat Russia 22-10 to get to the semifinals but were knocked off by a last minute Australian try to miss the finals with a 12-7 loss. In the third place game Canada overcame France 19-0 with try scorers Bianca Farella (2) and Ghislaine Landry. Canada now has 32 points through two events and sits in third position. Remember, the top-4 teams at the end of series automatically qualify for Rio 2016.
Short track World Cup, Germany
Bottom line: The Canadian team delivered four medals in Dresden, Germany starting with a Marianne St-Gelais 1000m bronze on Saturday, then a triple medal day on Sunday thanks to the Hamelin brothers plus the women’s relay.
St-Gelais added to her medal collection on Saturday with a bronze and her fifth straight World Cup on the podium. Second place at one point in the race, the 24-year-old went for the win “I was going for gold and it’s too bad that it didn’t work out, because I had the legs to win,” said St-Gelais on the Speed Skating Canada website. “In the position I was in, the silver medal was a sure thing, but I decided to go for one more spot, so I tried it again on the outside. Unfortunately, I ended up closer to the Korean that I expected, and my turn ended up being too wide.” South Korea’s Kim Alang took gold with China’s Fan Kexin earning the silver.
On Sunday, St-Gelais contributed to a gold medal in the women’s 3000m relay. Kim Boutin, Audrey Phaneuf and Kasandra Bradette completed the team who were ahead of Italy (2) and France (3). François Hamelin was a silver medallist in the 500m with his brother Charles third on the podium in the 1500m.
François Hamelin celebrates his silver medal in the 500m.
Canada now has 21 medals in five World Cups, (3 gold, 7 silver, 11 bronze), the sixth and final World Cup in in Erzurum, Turkey, Feb 13-15.
World Cup skeleton, Igls
Bottom line: Elisabeth Vathje rolled on with her outstanding rookie season by winning another silver medal, this one in Igls, Austria on Saturday.
Elisabeth Vathje, a 20-year-old from Calgary is ripping up the World Cup tour, now with four medals, (1 gold, 3 silver). Lizzy Yarnold of Great Britain won in one-minute, 49.46 seconds, Vathje clocked a time of one-minute, 49.64 seconds while Austria’s Janine Flock raced to one-minute, 49.83 seconds.
“Silver is my new favourite colour I guess,” said Vathje on the Bobsleigh Canada website. “I’m pretty excited. I had two personal best pushes on both runs today. It was such a close race and I just kind of let it go and let the sled do its job again today.”
Tennis, Fed Cup
Bottom line: Appearing for the first time in the World Group of Fed Cup play, Canada was eliminated 4-0 by a strong Czech side.
READ MORE: Canada loses Fed Cup tie to top-ranked Czechs
