AP Photo/Rick Bowmer, AP Photo/Lee Jin-man, AP Photo/Ng Han Guan
While many Canadians will undoubtedly take advantage of the weekend to practice their favorite winter sports, many Team Canada athletes will be participating in summer sports over the coming days. Meanwhile, the winter sports season continues.
The 2024 World Aquatics Championships begin this weekend and will be Canada’s last chance to secure Olympic quota spots for Paris 2024 in a few sports. Many of Canada’s top figure skaters are competing at the ISU Four Continents Championships in China, while the long track speed skating World Cup circuit draws to a close in Quebec. In their final bid for Olympic qualification, Canadian track cyclists kick off the UCI Nations Cup circuit in Australia and it’s the Davis Cup qualifying weekend in Montreal.
Here are some things you’ll want to track over the next few days.
Water sports: diving, artistic swimming, water polo, open water swimming
THE World Aquatics Championships will take place from February 2 to 18 in Doha, Qatar. Pool swimming events don’t begin until the second week, but this weekend Canadian divers, artistic swimmers, water polo players and open water swimmers will be in action.
Diving: In diving, the first finals on the program are not events on the Olympic program, but will be a good way to get started in the competition. Mia Vallée is registered in the women’s 1m springboard while Cédric Fofana will compete in the men’s 1m springboard.
The first event with Olympic implications for Canada is the women’s 10m platform. Caeli McKay and Kate Miller are both entered in Sunday’s preliminaries, with the semi-finals and final scheduled for Monday. They will also compete in the women’s 10m synchro event on Tuesday. McKay won individual bronze in the 10m at the 2023 World Aquatics Championships, securing an Olympic berth for Canada in the event.
SEE: Tracking Team Canada Paris 2024 Qualifications
The women’s 3m synchro event will take place on Wednesday and will feature Vallée alongside Pamela Ware. The next day, they will participate in the women’s 3m springboard preliminaries, before the semi-final and final on Friday. Ware’s bronze medal at the 2023 Worlds earned Canada an Olympic berth in the individual 3m event.
Wednesday is the day of the men’s 3m springboard finals, which Fofana and Carson Paul will both aim to qualify for. Thursday is when the men’s 10m synchro event will be contested with Nathan Zsombor-Murray and Rylan Wiens. They are both registered in the men’s 10m high-flying event for which the estimates are scheduled for the following day. Zsombor-Murray’s seventh-place finish at the 2023 Worlds secured an Olympic berth for Canada in the 10m individual event.
Canada aims to qualify for Olympic spots in the three synchronized events mentioned. There are four places available in each synchronized event, which will go to teams who did not win medals at the 2023 World Aquatics Championships to ensure their Olympic qualification there.
There are 12 Olympic places to be allocated in each of the individual 3m and 10m events. A country can qualify a maximum of two athletes per event. An athlete who has already obtained an Olympic quota place cannot obtain a second place for his country.
Artistic swimming: Double Olympian Jacqueline Simoneau is back with the national team. In addition to the non-Olympic solo events, she will compete alongside Audrey Lamothe in the technical and free duo events. These duo finals will take place on Monday and Thursday respectively.
READ: Breathe and have fun: Canadian artistic swimmers ahead of the World Aquatics Championships
Canada will attempt to qualify a full team for Paris 2024. The top five teams based on the cumulative results of acrobatic, technical and free routines that have not yet qualified will earn their Olympic berth. All qualified teams will also automatically qualify a duo for Paris. Three other Olympic places are available exclusively for pairs from countries not yet qualified.
Water polo: The women’s water polo tournament will begin on Sunday. To qualify for Paris 2024, Canada must be among the top two teams not yet qualified.
READ: Canadian women’s water polo team prepares for final chance at Olympic qualification at World Aquatics Championships
Canada is in a round-robin group with Italy, South Africa and Great Britain and those matches will be played through Thursday before crossover matches on Saturday to set up the quarterfinals on 12 February. Canada finished seventh at the 2023 World Aquatics Championships. Among the teams ranked ahead of them, Italy (third place) and Hungary (sixth place) are also seeking Olympic qualification in Doha.
Open water swimming: The Olympic distance events take place this weekend. Emma Finlin and Laila Oravsky compete in the women’s 10k on Saturday, followed by Hau-Li Fan and Eric Hedlin in the men’s 10k on Sunday. The top 13 swimmers in each event will earn Olympic quota places for their country, with a maximum of two places per country. They will join last year’s world medalists at Paris 2024 alongside the top-ranked athletes from each continent who have not yet qualified.
Figure skating
Eighteen Canadians are competing at the ISU Four Continents Championships in Shanghai, China. This is the last major event before the ISU World Championships in Montreal in mid-March.
Following the short program, Deanna Stellato-Dudek and Maxime Deschamps occupy first place in the pairs event, almost four points ahead of the peloton. Lia Pereira and Trennt Michaud occupy sixth place while Kelly Ann Laurin and Loucas Éthier occupy eighth place. Stellato-Dudek and Deschamps have consistently been among the best teams in the world this season and won bronze at the ISU Grand Prix Final in December. This free skating will take place on Saturday.
Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier are also looking for a good warm-up for the world championships. Last year’s world bronze medalists will begin rhythm dancing on Friday. Also registered are Laurence Fournier Beaudry and Nikolaj Soerensen as well as Marie-Jade Lauriault and Romain Le Gac. The free dance will be skated on Sunday.
New national champion Wesley Chiu will compete in the final flight of the men’s free skate on Saturday after placing sixth in the short program. This is her first appearance at the ISU Senior Championship. Roman Sadovsky is in ninth place halfway through his first international competition of the season while Conrad Orzel is 17th.
Madeline Schizas occupies ninth place after the women’s short program, ahead of Sara-Maude Dupuis (12th) and Justine Miclette (14th). Their free skate will take place on Friday.
Long track speed skating
Canada will have 29 athletes at the sixth and final stop of the ISU Speed Skating World Cup season in Quebec. Several of them are on track to finish among the top three overall in their respective events.
Valérie Maltais and Ivanie Blondin are 1-2 in the women’s group start standings heading into Sunday’s final. Maltais is currently ranked third overall in the women’s long distance and is coming off a bronze medal in the 3000m last weekend in Salt Lake City. She will aim for more points in this event on Friday.
Laurent Dubreuil occupies second place in the men’s 500m standings after podiums in his last three starts over this distance. He will look to maintain his momentum during his races on the ice where he trains regularly. There are 500m races on Saturday and Sunday.
Ted-Jan Bloemen is third in the men’s long distance rankings. He just won a bronze medal in the 5000m in Salt Lake City and will line up for that event on Friday.
This is the first time since 1992 (when it was outdoors!) that Quebec has hosted a speed skating World Cup. Tickets for three days of competition at the Indoor Ice Center start at $8.00 for adults and $4.00 for children for general admission.
Track cycling
The first UCI Track Nations Cup of the season will take place in Adelaide, Australia. Canadian cyclists will look to add valuable points to the country’s UCI Olympic track rankings in each event. This ranking, which includes results dating back to July 9, 2022, will close on April 14, following the third Nations Cup of the year which will take place in Milton, Ontario. All Olympic quota places will be allocated based on the UCI Olympic track rankings.
Lauriane Genest, Sarah Orban and Jackie Boyle will compete in the women’s sprint events, starting with the team sprint on Friday. Genest and Orban will also compete in the individual sprint on Saturday and Olympic bronze medalist Genest will compete in the keirin on Sunday.
James Hedgcock, Tyler Rorke and Nick Wammes make up the men’s team sprint trio. Rorke and Wammes will also compete in the sprint, while Wammes will also compete in the keirin.
Ariane Bonhomme, Maggie Coles-Lyster, Fiona Majendie and Sarah van Dam will form the Canadian quartet in the women’s team pursuit on Friday while Dylan Bibic, Michael Foley, Mathias Guillemette, Carson Mattern and Sean Richardson will join forces for the men’s team. continued the same day.
Bibic and van Dam will compete in their respective heat races on Friday. Start lists have not been released for the other endurance events, but both Coles-Lyster and Bibic have experience in the omnium.
Tennis
It is in front of their fans in Montreal that Canadian tennis players will try to win their duel against the Republic of Korea during the Davis Cup qualifiers this weekend. This is the first time since 2018 that Canada will have home field advantage in a Davis Cup tie.
Vasek Pospisil, Gabriel Diallo and Alexis Galarneau should do the heavy lifting for Canada, but will be supported by Milos Raonic and Liam Draxl in the best-of-five matchup. On Friday, Diallo and Pospisil will each play a singles match then Galarneau will team up with Pospisil for the doubles. On Saturday, Diallo and Pospisil will be back in singles against the opposing player from Friday.
At No. 132, Diallo is the highest-ranked Canadian singles player on the team. Along with Pospisil and Galarneau, he was a member of the 2022 Davis Cup champion team. Pospisil received his 25th Davis Cup nomination, making him the veteran of the team. Draxl wears Canadian colors for the very first time in his career.
If Canada beats South Korea, it will advance to the 16-team group stage of the Davis Cup final scheduled for September.
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