Gangwon 2024: Team Canada at the end of Day 9
GANGNEUNG, SOUTH KOREA (January 28, 2024) – Day 9 of the Gangwon 2024 Winter Youth Olympic Games saw Team Canada athletes win two gold medals in the freestyle ski and snowboard big air events, as well as very successful performances in both curling and figure skating.
CURLING
Cailey Locke (Conception Bay South, N.L.) and Simon Perry (Portugal Cove, N.L.) played their second round robin game and won 8-5 against Team Hungary. Playing in the evening draw, they led the entire game and finished after seven ends. Team Canada is currently tied for first in Group A, and will face Nigeria tomorrow.
“It felt so good. The crowd is still amazing and the ice is nice to play on – couldn’t ask for any better.”
– Cailey Locke
The team so far has been soaking in the Youth Olympic Games experience, and was excited to have gone to watch Team Canada play Team Korea in men’s hockey last night, as well as check out everything in the Athlete Village.
“The buzz is settled down now, my hands aren’t shaking as much anymore now, so we’re good! Yesterday after our game we went and watched the boys’ hockey game – that was fun! The crowd was loud, it was awesome! We’ve also been around the Village, done all the pin trading, and we’ve been around the city too, we just went out to the beach today – it was so nice!”
– Simon Perry
FIGURE SKATING
Ice dancers Audra Gans (Prévost, Que.) and Michael Boutsan (Thornhill, Ont.), and Caroline Kravets (Kitchener, Ont.) and Jacob Stark (Waterloo, Ont.) competed in the rhythm dance today, finishing fourth and ninth, respectively. Both teams scored international personal best scores in the rhythm dance, with Gans and Boutsan surpassing their previous personal best score by more than 10 points, highlighted by their excellent twizzle element that received the highest level of base value attainable.
“Great skate, great crowd, great energy. I’m so glad that I’m here today and I’m able to skate where Tessa & Scott skated in 2018. Another amazing part is just the team. The team has been there the entire time. I’m type-1 diabetic so they’ve always been very accommodating, they’ve been very helpful. And without them, I don’t think me or Audra would be here today.
– Michael Boutsan
It felt great – it was really nice to have a huge crowd of people cheering us on, it was really motivating! Being here feels pretty much unreal. It does not feel real at all.”
– Caroline Kravets
Canada’s 2024 senior national champion in women’s singles, Kaiya Ruiter (Calgary, Alta.), competed in the women’s short program, landing all three of her jumping passes while exuding her joy and love of skating. The seventeen-year-old who looks up to two-time Olympic medallist, Kaetlyn Osmond, was thrilled to have the opportunity to compete on the same ice that Osmond won women’s singles bronze in at the PyeongChang 2018 Olympic Winter Games. Ruiter placed sixth in the short program and will compete her free program in the final group on Tuesday.
“Oh my goodness it was a dream come true! It’s always been a dream of mine to get to come over and compete in Asia because of how celebrated figure skating is here, and to get to skate in that rink that was full of so many people it was surreal, it was incredible! When I found out I got to be on this incredible Canadian team here in Gangwon, it was a dream come true because I knew that I’d get to be on that same PyeongChang 2018 ice – and just getting to do my short program out there, it was so incredible!”
– Kaiya Ruiter
FREESTYLE SKIING
Charlie Beatty (Horseshoe Valley, Ont.), who was one of Team Canada’s Opening Ceremony Flag Bearers, won Canada’s first gold medal of Gangwon 2024 today in the men’s freestyle ski big air final. After not performing like he had hoped in the freestyle ski slopestyle final a few days ago and finishing the event in tenth, the reigning ski slopestyle junior world champion redeemed himself today with three excellent runs, and a total score of 177.75 to win the Youth Olympic Games men’s freestyle ski big air title.
“I’m very relieved. Not putting it down in slopestyle was a little frustrating for me so I had to come out here and really buckle down. To have this medal around my neck is a big relief for me. My second run was my favourite one, the switch double cork 1440 tail grab. I went pretty big and was able to stomp the landing pretty good and held the grab, so I think that gave me a pretty good score to end up winning the gold medal.”
– Charlie Beatty
SNOWBOARD
After winning silver in men’s snowboard slopestyle on Day 6, Eli Bouchard (Lac-Beauport, Que.) won gold today in men’s snowboard big air, with a total score of 183.25, nearly four points higher than second place. Bouchard’s role model is three-time Olympic medallist Mark McMorris, who he was able to compete with at the Edmonton World Cup when he was just 14 years old. Now 16 years old, Bouchard is the first Team Canada athlete to win multiple medals at Gangwon 2024.
“I feel really great. I worked hard for that and am really happy with my runs today. Practice didn’t go that great, but I am happy that I managed to do it (in the final). I got a gold and a silver, so yeah, I think it went great. This was a great experience.”
– Eli Bouchard
For full Team Canada results from Day 9, click here.
SCHEDULE FOR THE NEXT TWO DAYS – JANUARY 29 (Day 10) / JANUARY 30 (Day 11)
*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 – 2 | 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)
– 30 –
MEDIA CONTACT:
Tara MacBournie, Team Canada’s Gangwon 2024 Communications Lead
Canadian Olympic Committee
WhatsApp: 647-522-8328
E: tmacbournie@olympic.ca