Weekend Roundup: Team Canada manages winter action abroad with podium performances
Despite the snowy weather, Team Canada came out on top of the World Cup action in Italy, China and Atlanta with a total of eight medals, and helped dominate the inaugural finale of the International Swimming League in Las Vegas for another exciting weekend.
Catch up on what you might have missed below:
Freestyle Skiing – Ski Cross
READ: Drury and Phelan collect two medals at ski cross World Cup in Italy
READ: Thompson returns to Ski Cross World Cup podium in Innichen
Despite weather cancellations, Team Canada picked up two more podium finishes on Saturday at ski cross World Cup in Innichen, Italy. Kevin Drury won gold and Brittany Phelan collected her first podium of the World Cup season with bronze.
The qualification results stood as the official race results. Drury picks up his third gold medal of the season ahead of Germany’s Florian Wilmsmann and France’s Jonathan Midol. After capturing bronze, Phelan was joined on the podium by Marielle Berger Sabbatel of France and Sweden’s Sandra Naeslund.
Marielle Thompson also returned to the podium for the third time in over a week. She secured two gold medals in last week’s competitions. Heading into the weekend she only managed fifth place, however, on Sunday Thompson won silver to complete the weekend. Switzerland’s Fanny Smith won gold and Germany’s Daniela Maier secured third.
Freestyle Skiing – Halfpipe
READ: Bowman claims World Cup victory at Secret Garden
Team Canada’s Noah Bowman skied to a gold medal victory and Rachael Karker won bronze at the FIS Freeski Halfpipe World Cup in China on Saturday.
Bowman put down a clean and stylish run to earn his second career World Cup victory. His second and best run of the day put him at 91.50 points to defeat the Americans Aaron Blunck (90.75) and Lyman Currier (89.75), who finished with silver and bronze respectively.
On the women’s side, Karker won a silver medal with 88.75 points in her first run of the day. Russia’s Valeriya Demidova took gold with 92.50 points and Fanghui Li of China finished in third place with 83.25 points.
Freestyle Skiing – Big Air
READ: Canadians claim silver and bronze at FIS Big Air World Cup in Atlanta
READ: Harle soars to World Cup medal for second straight week
Team Canada’s Nicolas Laframboise took home silver at Snowboard Finals 2019 Visa Big Air presented by Land Rover at SunTrust Park, Atlanta on December 20th, 2019. (Photo by: U.S. Ski & Snowboard).
On Friday at the FIS Big Air World Cup, Nicolas Laframboise won silver and Brooke Voigt added a bronze medal during the nighttime competition in Atlanta, USA.
Laframboise took home the silver medal after two solid runs and an overall score of 166.75 points. On the women’s side, after a strong first run, Voigt captured the bronze medal with a total of 143.25 points.
On Sunday, Teal Harle also managed to soar to great heights for the second week in a row to reach the podium. His score of 185.25 points gave him the bronze medal. Alexander Hall from the USA scored a 187.50 and France’s Antoine Adelisse managed a 186.50 for silver.
Swimming
READ: Canadian swimmers made a splash on day one of ISL Grand Finale
READ: Five Canadians swim to the inaugural International Swimming League title
Canadian swimmers took to the pool over the weekend for the highly-anticipated International Swimming League Grand Finale event in Las Vegas. The Energy Standard team which includes fellow Canadians Penny Oleksiak, Kayla Sanchez, Mary-Sophie Harvey, Rebecca Smith and Kierra Smith claimed the inaugural title.
On Friday, Oleksiak and Sanchez finished in first place in the women’s 4 x 100m freestyle relay. On the men’s side, Yuri Kisil swam to first place with the London Roar taking maximum points in the same event.
Sydney Pickrem, representing the London Roar, swam to a second-place finish in the women’s 400m individual medley. Pickrem also won the 200-metre individual medley. In the same event, Energy Standard’s Sanchez came third and Mary-Sophie Harvey claimed seventh. Pickrem and Sanchez tied for the Grand Finale points for Canadians to end 15th overall.
Other top finishes came for Kelsey Wog with third in the 200m breaststroke and Kylie Masse also achieved third place in the women’s 200m backstroke.
On day two of the event, Oleksiak received a handoff from Sanchez and won the 4x100m mixed freestyle event. The success of this event helped Energy Standard minimize the gap and eventually push past London Roar for the title.
The competition returns in September 2020 with an addition of Toronto and Tokyo.
