5 Team Canada things to watch this weekend: May 26-28
We’re heading into the last weekend of May and there could be a lot for Team Canada fans to celebrate before the calendar flips to June.
Damian Warner is making his highly anticipated return to decathlon competition at one of the world’s most famous venues where he’s got an incredible history of success. Canada’s hopes for a fourth straight medal at the men’s hockey world championships are still strong as the team heads into the semifinals. Brooke Henderson looks to out-match her opponents in Las Vegas, while Canada’s top divers look to book their tickets to this summer’s world championships. And what might Derek Gee have in store for the final days of the Giro d’Italia?
Read on to know everything you’ll want to keep an eye on.
Athletics
Damian Warner will make his return to decathlon competition at the iconic Hypomeeting in Götzis, Austria starting on Saturday. The reigning Olympic champion has not competed in the 10-discipline event since he strained his hamstring while running the 400m at the World Athletics Championships last July. He had been leading after the first four events while in search of the one gold medal that has so far eluded him.
With seven titles, including the last six in the row, Warner is already the winningest decathlete in the history of the Hypomeeting, considered one of the world’s most prestigious competitions for combined events. Competing alongside him this weekend will be Pierce LePage, the silver medallist at the 2022 World Championships who finished second to Warner in Götzis in 2021, as well as Warner’s training mate in London, Ontario, Nathaniel Mechler.
Representing Canada in the heptathlon will be Georgia Ellenwood. She’s making her return to combined events competition for the first time since suffering a ruptured Achilles tendon in February 2022.
On Sunday, Rabat, Morocco will be the site of the second Diamond League meeting of the season. Shot put specialist Sarah Mitton will make her first appearance on the circuit this year. Last year the 26-year-old reached the podium in three Diamond League events, highlighted by a silver medal at the Diamond League Final.
Middle distance runner Marco Arop will also kick off his Diamond League campaign. Bronze medallist in the 800m at last year’s worlds, Arop was on the podium in four Diamond League events in 2022, making him the overall Diamond League winner for the men’s 800m.
The Diamond League competition will be streamed by CBCSports starting at 2:00 p.m. ET on Sunday.
Meanwhile, there are a whole bunch of Canadians entered in the USATF LA Grand Prix taking place Friday night and Saturday afternoon. Among those to keep an eye on are Camryn Rogers and Jillian Weir in the women’s hammer throw, Alysha Newman and Anicka Newell in the women’s pole vault, and Aaron Brown alongside Brendon Rodney in the men’s 200m. That will all be streamed by CBCSports as well.
Hockey
Team Canada is into the final four at the IIHF World Championship. After finishing second in Group B during the preliminary round, the Canadians were faced with the tough prospect of taking down Finland on their home ice in Tampere. But they succeeded in that quarterfinal matchup, earning a relatively easy 4-1 victory. Jack Quinn, Samuel Blais, and Michael Carcone scored the first three goals before Tyler Toffoli added an empty netter late.
The semifinals will be on Saturday. Canada will face Latvia, who had their own home ice advantage in Riga for their quarterfinal win over Sweden, but will now travel to Finland where the rest of the tournament will play out. That game is at 7:20 a.m. ET. The United States and Germany will square off in the other semi later in the day.
The bronze and gold medal games are scheduled for Sunday. TSN will have broadcast coverage of all of those playoff games. Canada was the runner-up last year after winning the gold medal in 2021. Canada has played in six of the last seven gold medal games at the men’s world championship.
Golf
Brooke Henderson is playing in her first tournament in nearly a month at the LPGA’s Bank of Hope Match-Play near Las Vegas, Nevada. Two weeks ago she withdrew from a tournament due to illness.
Henderson, one of just two top-10 ranked players in the field, won her first head-to-head match at Shadow Creek on Wednesday. In match-play, a player wins a hole by completing it in fewer strokes than their opponent. A match is won when a player is winning by more holes than are left to be played.
The round robin continues through Friday. Players are divided into 16 groups of four. The 16 golfers at the top of their groups will move onto the knockout rounds starting on Saturday. The semifinal and championship matches will take place on Sunday.
Diving
The Summer Senior National Championships are taking place this weekend in Toronto. The competition at the Pan Am Sports Centre will see the best divers in the country take aim at earning a spot on the team for the 2023 World Aquatics Championships in Fukuoka, Japan at the end of July.
Among those in action will be Mia Vallée, silver medallist on 3m springboard at last year’s worlds, and Pamela Ware, who won silver in that same event at the World Aquatics World Cup in Montreal a couple weeks back. Olympians looking to book their tickets to the world championships include Caeli McKay, Celina Toth, Nathan Zsombor-Murray, and Cédric Fofana.
Friday afternoon will see the first finals in the women’s 1m and men’s 3m events. Saturday will bring the finals in the men’s 1m and women’s 10m events. Competition will conclude on Sunday with the women’s 3m and men’s 10m events. CBCSports will stream the preliminary and final rounds live every day starting at 10:00 a.m. ET.
Road Cycling
Since the Giro d’Italia began almost three weeks ago, Derek Gee has established himself as one to watch in professional cycling. As of Thursday’s 18th stage, he had finished in the top four on five occasions, including a trio of second-place finishes in the eighth, 10th, and 14th stages.
Heading into the last three stages, the first year pro with the Israel-Premier Tech team sits second in the points classification and fifth overall in the standings for best climber.
READ: Everything you need to know about road cycling’s Grand Tours
The climbing skills of the cyclists will be tested in Friday’s 19th stage. The penultimate stage on Saturday is an 18.8km time trial. The first Grand Tour of the year will finish up with a 135km flat stage in Rome on Sunday.
