Canadian Roundup: Golden starts to the Olympic season
Five gold medals in Olympic events.
The winter season is officially underway and Team Canada’s path to PyeongChang 2018 is off to a strong start.
However, the summer sport season isn’t over yet and Canada has secured another world medal.
Figure Skating
READ: Virtue & Moir grab Grand Prix gold in Japan
Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir continued their winning streak in Osaka, Japan, scoring a personal best of 117.72 points for their Moulin Rouge free dance, giving them an overall total of 198.64. The pair has officially secured their spot at the Grand Prix final in December.
Bobsleigh
READ: Humphries pilots gold
READ: Kripps steers to silver
Team Canada’s sliders opened their season at the first IBSF World Cup in Lake Placid. Defending two-time Olympic gold medallist Kaillie Humphries showed she’s hungry for the top again, after racing to gold with Melissa Lotholz on American soil.
Justin Kripps and Alexander Kopacz also earned a spot on the bobsleigh podium, claiming two-man silver after finishing between American sleds.
Speed Skating – Long Track
READ: Triple medal Saturday
READ: Canada on the long track podium again
The opening weekend of the ISU Speed Skating World Cup was very successful for Canada’s long trackers, who collected eight medals in the Netherlands. Laurent Dubreuil won Team Canada’s first gold medal and added another in the men’s team sprint on Sunday.
Ivanie Blondin led the way on the women’s side with three medals – a silver in mass start, bronze medals in the 3,000 and team pursuit. Vincent De Haitre (1500m) and Ted-Jan Bloemen (5000) completed the list of Canada’s individual medallists, each with a silver.
Speed Skating – Short Track
READ: Double podium in short track
READ: Canada opens Shaghai with two short track medals
It was a doubly golden weekend for Kim Boutin who claimed her first two wins of the season in Shanghai. She won gold in both the 500m and 1000m. Boutin was joined by Marianne St-Gelais on the 1000m podium, who took silver. It was also St-Gelais’ second medal, she finished third in the 1500m on Saturday.
Charles Hamelin, Samuel Girard, Pascal Dion and Charle Cournoyer also collected a 5000m relay bronze. The end of the Shanghai event was extremely special for Team Canada, because the men’s and women’s relays qualified for PyeongChang 2018.
Skeleton
READ: Vathje steals silver
Once again, Elisabeth Vathje opened her season on the IBSF World Cup podium. However, this year she raced to silver on the ice track in Lake Placid.
Trampoline
READ: Bronze for Méthot at trampoline worlds
Sophiane Méthot surprised Team Canada with a bronze medal at trampoline worlds in Bulgaria. Méthot was the last qualifier into Sunday’s final, but the Canadian’s stellar performance landed her on the podium at her first world championships.
