Lintao Zhang, THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP-Hugh Carey, Stephen Fisher/WCF
There’s plenty of Team Canada action to watch this weekend, much of which will take place in Canada, specifically Calgary! The city hosts the ISU World Single Distance Speed Skating Championships, an FIS Halfpipe Freeski World Cup and one of the biggest events on the curling calendar, the Tournament of Hearts, all in one weekend. end.
Beyond Calgary, Canadians continue to swim for medals at the World Aquatics Championships in Doha, Qatar, and Team Canada’s short track athletes will compete in their final ISU World Cup of the season in Gdansk, Poland .
Here’s what you don’t want to miss:
Swimming
The swimming events at the World Aquatics Championships continue until Sunday in Doha, Qatar, and Canadians hope to take advantage of the final days of competition to shine.
After winning her fifth career medal at the Long Course World Championships on Monday by winning silver in the women’s 200m individual medley, Sydney Pickrem will swim Friday in the final of the 200m breaststroke, an event in which she won the gold at the Santiago 2023 Pan American Games.
Women’s 50m and 100m backstroke bronze medalist Ingrid Wilm will swim the 200m backstroke heats on Friday, while Finlay Knox, who was crowned world champion in the men’s 200m individual medley on Thursday, will be back in the pool for the start of the 100m. butterfly.
Katerine Savard, member of the women’s 4x100m freestyle relay who won bronze in the first days of the competition, will participate in the 50m butterfly (an event which is not on the Olympic program). The semi-finals of these events will take place in the evening, and the finals the next day. Also on Friday, Ella Cosgrove will swim in the 800m freestyle heats, with the final taking place the following day.
On Saturday, Javier Acevedo will swim the men’s 50m backstroke and Sophie Angus the women’s 50m breaststroke, two non-Olympic events, while Sarah Fournier will compete in the women’s 50m freestyle. The semi-finals of these events will take place on Saturday evening and the finals on Sunday.
Ella Jansen and Tessa Cieplucha will compete in the women’s 400m individual medley heats on Sunday morning, hoping to reach the final that evening.
The men’s 4x200m freestyle relay will be contested on Friday and the mixed 4x100m freestyle relay on Saturday. The world championships conclude on Sunday with the men’s and women’s 4x100m medley relays.
Long track speed skating
For the first time in over 25 years, Calgary is hosting the ISU World Single Distance Speed Skating Championships. The world’s best long track speed skaters will gather at the Olympic Oval, a legacy of the 1988 Winter Games.
The home team is loaded with talent and will look to put on a show for the Calgary crowd. Nineteen Canadians will compete against the rest of the world in 12 individual events and four team events. Team Canada is made up of seasoned veterans such as Ivanie Blondin, Isabelle Weidemann, Valérie Maltais, Laurent Dubreuil and Ted-Jan Bloemen but also newcomers to the World Championships Alison Desmarais, Anders Johnson, Yankun Zhao and Jake Weidemann.
Team Canada won seven medals at last year’s World Single Distance Championships in Heerenveen, Netherlands. At six World Cup stops this season, Canadian speed skaters have reached the podium 23 times, winning five gold, 11 silver and seven bronze medals.
Among the most consistent athletes were Maltais and Blondin, who finished 1-2 in the World Cup standings in the mass start. Bloemen (5,000m/10,000m) and Dubreuil (500m) finished second overall in their main events. Team Canada also finished second in the women’s team pursuit standings.
After starting on Thursday, the races will continue on Friday, Saturday and Sunday afternoon. General admission tickets are still available.
Short track speed skating
The final ISU Short Track Speed Skating World Cup of the season will take place in Gdansk, Poland. The Canadian team will try to build on its six medals won last weekend in Dresden.
Among the men, several skaters could reach the podium in the general classification this season — and even win a Crystal Globe. Steven Dubois and William Dandjinou occupy second and third places respectively in the general men’s all-event ranking. Unfortunately, Dandjinou will not be able to participate in the season finale due to injury.
Dandjinou currently leads the 1500m standings, having won three gold medals as well as a silver and a bronze in the event. Jordan Pierre-Gilles leads the 500m standings, having won three gold medals and one silver over this distance. Dubois is second in the 1000m standings after winning a medal of each color.
Winner of a gold and a silver medal last weekend, Félix Roussel will also look to expand his collection. Pascal Dion, Maxime Laoun and Philippe Daudelin complete the men’s team.
Kim Boutin, Danaé Blais, Courtney Sarault, Claudia Gagnon, Renee Steenge and Rikki Doak will take part in the women’s events. Silver medalists last weekend, Canada is second in the season standings in the women’s 3000m relay, while in the men’s 5000m relay, the Canadians are ranked third.
Qualifying rounds for all events will take place on Friday. On Saturday, the women’s and men’s 500m and 1,500m finals will take place, as well as the mixed relay. On Sunday, the men’s and women’s 1000m and another series of 500m are on the program, as well as the men’s and women’s relays.
Freestyle skiing – Halfpipe
The FIS Freeski Halfpipe World Cup circuit concludes this weekend with the Snow Rodeo at Canada Olympic Park in Calgary.
The Canadian team will be led by Olympian Amy Fraser, who is having a good season. She earned her first career World Cup victory at Mammoth Mountain, California, earlier this month. She also earned a third-place finish in December at Secret Garden and sits second in the overall World Cup halfpipe standings.
On the men’s side, Andrew Longino, 21, is an athlete on the rise. A gold medalist at the 2020 Winter Youth Olympic Games, he placed in the top 10 at the first three World Cup stages of the season.
There are two events for each gender this weekend. The first finals will take place on Thursday evening. Then there will be qualifying on Friday for another set of finals on Saturday.
Curling
The Tournament of Hearts, the annual national women’s curling championship, begins Friday in Calgary.
Jennifer Jones, who made headlines earlier this week by announcing she would retire from women’s curling at the end of the season, will play in her 18th and final Tournament of Hearts. She ranks second on the all-time Canadian Women’s Championship games played list.
Representing Manitoba, Jones would like to come away with a seventh title. She is tied with Colleen Jones for the most Tournament of Hearts victories by a captain. One of the teams trying to stand in her way is Team Kerri Einarson, who is aiming for a record fifth straight title.
The 18-team field includes the current Canadian team, 13 provincial/territorial champions and four qualified teams based on ranking. Divided into two pools, they will play an eight-game round robin within their pool before the top three teams from each pool qualify for the playoffs. The tournament will end next weekend.
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