Gangwon 2024: Team Canada at the end of Day 10
GANGNEUNG, SOUTH KOREA (January 29, 2024) – Team Canada won another gold medal and had another very successful showing on Day 10 of the Gangwon 2024 Winter Youth Olympic Games. Today, nine Team Canada athletes, in addition to the hockey team, competed in four sports.
CROSS COUNTRY SKIING
Team Canada’s cross country skiers kicked off their Youth Olympic Games competition today with the men’s and women’s sprint free. Aramintha ‘Minty’ Bradford (Whitehorse, Yuk.) placed ninth out of 79 racers, and Cedric Martel (Thunder Bay, Ont.) placed 11th. Martel’s placement is the highest-ever for a Canadian male cross country skier at the Youth Olympic Games, while Bradford’s is the highest female placement since Innsbruck 2012 when Maya MacIsaac Jones placed eighth in the women’s sprint free.
“I came into this race with no expectations, so, my goal was pretty much just to qualify for the sprint and I was definitely very surprised, I feel pretty glorious about the result! After winning the quarterfinal, I changed my goal up a little bit – I wanted to come tenth – little bit off I came eleventh, but still very happy with the day!”
– Cedric Martel
“It was a really fun race, I had a lot of fun! In the quarterfinal I was able to keep with the pack, in the semis I dropped off, but I didn’t give up and managed to pass one person – so don’t give up!”
– Minty Bradford
CURLING
Cailey Locke (Conception Bay South, N.L.) and Simon Perry (Portugal Cove, N.L.) continued their winning streak, and beat Team Nigeria, who are coached by Canadian Scott Hill, 14-0 in seven ends. Team Canada still sits in first in Group A and are the only team in their group who has not lost a game so far. They will face Czechia tomorrow morning, who are tied for Great Britain for second place in Group A.
FIGURE SKATING
Pair skaters Annika Behnke (Peace River, Alta.) and Kole Sauve (Edmonton, Alta.) won Canada’s first-ever figure skating gold medal in Youth Olympic Games competition. Leading by just over two points after the short program, Behnke and Sauve won the free program by over 12 points. This is Canada’s first Youth Olympic Games figure skating medal in an individual discipline. The other two, which were bronze, were won in the mixed NOC team events which are no longer on the Youth Olympic Games sport programme.
The pair showed incredible mental strength when Behnke took a fall on the approach to the twist element. Sauve did not let go of her, and after a split-second reset, they still went for the twist. Following that, the skaters successfully executed all their elements, highlighted by two successful side-by-side triple jumps, while every other team in the event attempted easier side-by-side double jumps.
“I wasn’t expecting that to happen, but we parked it and kept on going. You have to remember that everybody makes mistakes and you have to go out there and know that you made a mistake, but I’m going to go wrap it up. I was thinking just to stay calm, and I could still do it, and we did it and I’m really proud of myself.”
– Annika Behnke
“I knew she was still going to go for it. There wasn’t a lot of speed but she went aggressively into it, which was good. After that happened and we got the twist done, we forgot about it. It’s a lot easier to have another person there with you, so they can bring you back up after a mistake. The program felt great, I was glad we could show what we could do.”
– Kole Sauve
David Li (Richmond, B.C.) moved up a spot to crack the top-10 in the men’s singles event after placing eighth in the free program. Li landed all his jumping passes and achieved a new ISU international personal best in the free program, surpassing his previous personal best by nearly five points. All three skaters will also compete in the figure skating team event on Day 13 – the final day of competition.
“Representing Canada, wearing the maple leaf – it’s been a huge honour so far and I feel really proud. The Olympic Winter Games have the team event too, so it’s really good to have that opportunity here too and be able to cheer on our team and be supportive of each other.”
HOCKEY
Team Canada faced Team Finland tonight to wrap up the preliminary round play of the men’s hockey tournament. Alessandro Di Iorio (Vaughan, Ont./Vaughan, GTHL-U16) scored a hat-trick, while Ryan Lin (Richmond, B.C./Delta Hockey Academy, CSSHL-U18) scored a short-handed goal while Canada was down two men. Canada’s 4-1 victory tonight secured the top placement in Group B, and they will face Team USA, who placed second in Group A, tomorrow night in the semifinal.
“My line played good, all my teammates played amazing, our goalie was really solid so all those things contributed to my performance today. Amazing opportunity to be a part of this and I’m looking forward to the next steps of these Games.”
– Alessandro Di Iorio
For full Team Canada results from Day 10, click here.
SCHEDULE FOR THE NEXT TWO DAYS – JANUARY 30 (Day 11) / JANUARY 31 (Day 12)
*The “Potential / Comp. possible” column represents a potential phase of competition should a competitor advance. Rows in red are medal events.
TEAM CANADA MEDAL COUNT:
Gold – 3 | Silver – 2 | Bronze – 0
HOW TO WATCH:
As the official Gangwon 2024 broadcaster in Canada, CBC/Radio-Canada will provide coverage of the Games on cbcsports.ca, radio-canada.ca/sports and the CBC Sports app.
The Olympic Channel also has coverage of Gangwon 2024, live-streamed on their free app.
RESOURCES:
PHOTOS: Submit a request to Tara (tmacbournie@olympic.ca) for editorial photos from images.olympic.ca. Additional photos for editorial use only are available to media at oisphotos.com
VISIT: Olympic.ca/press-resources/ for athlete bios and other Gangwon 2024 information.
FOLLOW: @teamcanadapr on Twitter (X)
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MEDIA CONTACT:
Tara MacBournie, Team Canada’s Gangwon 2024 Communications Lead
Canadian Olympic Committee
WhatsApp: 647-522-8328
E: tmacbournie@olympic.ca