Weekend Roundup: Another World Cup podium for Crawford, Team Jacobs wins Brier
Spring may be on the horizon, but many of Team Canada’s top winter sport athletes are still doing their thing on ice and snow.
Alpine skier Jack Crawford sped his way to another World Cup podium in Norway. Eliot Grondin continues to lead the chase for the Crystal Globe in snowboard cross. Bobsledder Cynthia Appiah had her best ever world championship performance. And there’s a new Team Canada in men’s curling.
Read on for the big headlines from a busy weekend.
Alpine Skiing: Second podium of season for Crawford, Grenier in top 5
James (Jack) Crawford finished second in Sunday’s men’s super-G at the FIS Alpine Ski World Cup in Kvitfjell, Norway. On the fog-shortened course, Crawford crossed the finish line in 1:09.36 to end up 0.38 back of the winner, Italian veteran Dominik Paris. Slovenia’s Miha Hrobat (1:09.45) completed the podium.
This was Crawford’s second World Cup podium of the season. In January, he became the first Canadian in 42 years to win the prestigious downhill in Kitzbühel, Austria. It’s his sixth career World Cup podium, but only his second in a super-G. The first also came at Kvitfjell in 2022.
READ: Crawford claims second in super-G in Kvitfjell
On Saturday, Crawford was the top Canadian in the men’s downhill securing an eighth-place finish. He’s placed in the top-10 in five of eight World Cup downhill races this season and sits fifth in the downhill standings heading into the World Cup Finals in Sun Valley, Idaho in a couple of weeks.
Meanwhile, the Canadian woman were in Are, Sweden where Valérie Grenier led the team with a fifth-place finish in Saturday’s giant slalom. It is her second top-five finish of the season, as she climbed three spots after finishing eighth in the first run.
Snowboard Cross: Grondin places third in Gudauri
Eliot Grondin raced to the third step of the podium at the FIS Snowboard Cross World Cup in Gudauri. Georgia on Saturday, despite a fall near the end of the course. The 23-year-old Canadian was knocked down by Austria’s Elias Leitner, who lost balance going over the last jump. Grondin finished behind Austria’s Jacob Dusek and Australia’s Adam Lambert.
READ: Grondin secures snowboard cross bronze at Gudauri World Cup
With four podiums in seven World Cup events this season, Grondin continues to lead the race for the Crystal Globe. Meryeta O’Dine was the top Canadian in both women’s races over the weekend, finishing sixth overall on Saturday and Sunday.
Bobsleigh: Appiah drives to fourth place at world championships
On the first weekend of the IBSF World Championships in Lake Placid, New York, Cynthia Appiah placed one spot shy of the podium in the women’s monobob. The 34-year-old posted a combined time of 3:58.53 from her four runs, finishing 0.22 back of bronze medallist Elana Meyers Taylor of the United States. Another American, Kaysha Love, took the gold in 3:57.82 while German Laura Nolte was second in 3:58.26. The fourth-place finish is Appiah’s best ever world championship result.
“This result is bittersweet. I was hoping to get on the podium because Lake Placid is a track I’ve done so well in the monobob. This is the track where I first got introduced to the sport as a brakeman and where I also learned to drive,” said Appiah, who was competing in her fourth World Championships as a pilot. “I was hoping to have a nice Cinderella story at these Worlds. All things considered though this is my best finish at World Championships, so I have to be happy.”
Kristen Bujnowski, competing in her first world championships as a pilot, placed an impressive seventh (3:58.77). After having been a brakewoman at Beijing 2022, she started training as a pilot and spent most of this season on the developmental North American Cup circuit.
The world championships will conclude this coming weekend when the two-woman and four-man races take place. Taylor Austin and Mike Evelyn O’Higgins were the top Canadians in the two-man event, placing 15th, one spot ahead of Pat Norton and Shaq Murray-Lawrence.
Skeleton: Clarke slides to seventh at world championships
Also at the IBSF World Championships in Lake Placid, 20-year-old Hallie Clarke ended up in seventh place in women’s skeleton. She had gone into the event as the defending world champion and was in good position for another podium performance after the first day of racing. Clarke was in third place following the first two runs, but dropped down the standings in the last two runs.
Kimberley Bos of the Netherlands, who finished second in the World Cup standings this season, earned her first career world title. Two-time Olympian Jane Channell finished 12th.
Curling: Team Jacobs to be Team Canada at the world championships
With a clutch shot on the final stone, Team Jacobs became the 2025 Brier champions. They earned a 5-3 win over Team Dunstone in the final on Sunday night in Kelowna, British Columbia. They had to win four straight elimination games to take the trophy.
READ: Team Jacobs is now Team Canada after victory at 2025 Brier
This is a second career Brier win for skip Brad Jacobs. He and his team of vice-skip Marc Kennedy, second Brett Gallant, and lead Ben Hebert will now be Team Canada at the World Men’s Curling Championship, taking place on home ice in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan from March 29 to April 6. At those worlds, they will also look to secure Canada’s spot in the men’s Olympic tournament. Seven spots will be awarded based on the combined standings from the 2024 and 2025 World Championships.
The team has a wealth of experience. Jacobs skipped Canada to Olympic gold at Sochi 2014. Hebert is now a five-time Brier winner while Kennedy and Gallant both have four career Brier titles. Hebert and Kennedy won Olympic gold together at Vancouver 2010 while Gallant was a member of Canada’s bronze medal-winning team at Beijing 2022.
Ski Jumping: Loutitt jumps to 10th at world championships
Alexandria Loutitt cracked the top 10 in the women’s large hill event at the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships in Trondheim, Norway. She had entered as the reigning world champion in the large hill and was coming off a tie for fifth-place in the normal hill one week earlier with fellow Canadian Abigail Strate.
Because of high winds, the final results were based only on one round of jumping rather than two. Loutitt scored 109.8 to finish one spot ahead of Strate, who scored 107.4.
Golf: Corey Conners qualifies for The Open
Corey Conners carded a 71 (-1) in the final round to finish third at the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill Golf Club on Sunday.
Conners finished two strokes back of winner Russell Henley after shooting nine-under par in the tournament. With this result, the two-time Olympian from Listowel, Ontario secured a spot at The Open Championship that will take place in July at Royal Portrush in Northern Ireland.
