Andrew Lahodynskyj/COC, THE CANADIAN PRESS/Christinne Muschi, Dave Holland
Team Canada fans are in for a busy weekend, with athletes in action on the ice, at the velodrome, on the greens, at the archery range and in the pool.
The Canadian women’s hockey team is participating in the IIHF World Women’s Championship playoffs. Canadian track cyclists welcome the world’s best to the UCI Nations Cup in Milton, Ontario, while Canadian swimmers prepare for their Olympic trials at the Canadian Open Swimming Championships in Toronto. Canadian archers are aiming for Olympic qualification at the Pan American Championships and four Canadians are in the field for the masters tournament at Augusta National.
Hockey
Team Canada’s quest for gold continues at the IIHF Women’s World Championship in Utica, New York. After a hard-fought overtime loss to Team USA on Monday, Team Canada finished second overall in Group A with a 3-0-0-1 record.
The Canadians will then face Sweden in the quarterfinals on Thursday evening. Last year in Brampton, Ontario, the game against Sweden and Canada was an overtime thriller, with Sarah Nurse scoring the winning goal for Canada.
The semi-finals will take place on Saturday, followed by the medal matches on Sunday.
Track cycling
A total of 29 Canadian track cyclists will take part in the UCI Nations Cup in Milton, Ontario this weekend.
Kelsey Mitchell, Olympic sprint gold medalist at Tokyo 2020, and Lauriane Genest, Olympic keirin bronze medalist, will race on the velodrome, as will rising star Dylan Bibic, a two-time world championship medalist who won two medals gold at the first Nations Cup of the year in Australia.
Other national team stalwarts looking to end the Olympic qualifying period on a high note include Maggie Coles-Lyster, Michael Foley and Nick Wammes. This competition is the last to count for the 2022-2024 UCI Olympic rankings, which will be used to allocate all quota places for Paris 2024.
The finals of the women’s and men’s team pursuit events, team sprint events and elimination races will take place on Friday.
Mitchell and Genest will aim for the podium in the women’s sprint on Saturday and the women’s keirin on Sunday. On Saturday there will also be the men’s omnium, an event made up of four different races in which Bibic won gold in February.
On Sunday, Matthias Guillemette and Foley will be on the track for the men’s madison while Wammes will compete in the men’s sprint and the Coles-Lyster races in the women’s omnium. Tickets are still available if you wish. Cheer on Team Canada in person.
Swimming
Many of Canada’s best swimmers will fine-tune their preparation for the Canadian Olympic and Paralympic Trials, which take place May 13-19, by competing in the inaugural Canadian Open Swimming Championships at the Pan American Sports Center in Toronto.
Among the names to watch: current 400m IM world record holder and four-time world champion Summer McIntosh; Maggie Mac Neil, reigning Olympic champion in the 100m butterfly; Seven-time Olympic medalist Penny Oleksiak in her first competition since another knee operation three months ago; and Finlay Knox, new world champion in the 200m IM.
On the opening night of competition on Wednesday, McIntosh recorded the fastest time in the world this year in the women’s 200 freestyle. Racing will continue through Saturday, with heats in the morning and finals in the evening. You can stream the event on CBC Sports.
Archers
The Canadian men’s recurve team is aiming for Olympic qualification at the Pan American Championships in Medellin, Colombia.
Crispin Duenas, Eric Peters and Deevang Gupta qualified for the men’s team final where they will face the host Colombians for the gold medal on Sunday. The winner will earn a spot on the Olympic team for Paris 2024. The Canadians placed second in the qualifying round before winning their quarterfinal 6-2 against Chile and their semifinal 5-4 against Mexico .
Although the Canadian women were eliminated from the team event in the quarterfinals, they earned an individual Olympic quota spot earlier this week in the Pan American Olympic Qualifiers that preceded the Pan American Championships. Kristine Esebua beat Virginie Chénier in this final, but who will take the place at Paris 2024 remains to be determined.
Golf
Four Canadians will start the Masters on Thursday: Adam Hadwin, Nick Taylor, Corey Conners and 2003 champion Mike Weir.
The quartet played an all-Canadian practice round earlier in the week, with Team Ontario (Weir and Conners) taking on Team British Columbia (Taylor and Hadwin). The round was an opportunity for Taylor, Hadwin and Conners to soak up the wisdom of 53-year-old Augusta de Weir. Weir’s victory more than two decades ago remains the only time a Canadian has won not only the famous green jacket, but any major in men’s golf. This will be his 25th participation in the Masters.
READ: The best moments in Canadian golf history
Conners will be competing in the tournament for the seventh time, with a track record that includes three top-10 finishes in the last four years. Hadwin will be making his fourth appearance at the Masters, while Taylor, the reigning RBC Canadian Open champion, will be making his second appearance at Augusta National.
At the moment, Taylor and Hadwin are the Canadians in position to qualify for Paris 2024, but a good result from Conners could propel him into the official world golf rankings. These rankings will be closed on June 17 to allocate the Olympic places.
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