Canadian Roundup: Team Canada claims Olympic spots and World Cup medals
Both at home and away, Team Canada spent the weekend winning gold and booking spots at PyeongChang 2018.
Here are the weekend’s success stories.
Figure Skating
READ: Figure skaters nominated to Team Canada for PyeongChang 2018
READ: Virtue & Moir’s perfect score, Chan’s 10th title highlight national championships
Canada’s national figure skating championships were held this weekend and included a number of highlight performances. In their final performance on home ice, Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir skated a perfect free dance to claim their eighth Canadian ice dance title. Patrick Chan won his record tenth gold medal and Gabrielle Daleman celebrated her 20th birthday by winning her second women’s national title. Meagan Duhamel and Eric Radford won their seventh gold in the pairs competition.
At the end of the competition on Sunday, the 17 figure skaters nominated to represent Canada at PyeongChang 2018 were announced. The team is led by veterans and includes a few athletes who will make their Olympic debuts in February.
Bobsleigh
READ: Spring steers Canada to four-man bobsleigh bronze in St. Moritz
Chris Spring, Bryan Barnett, Lascelles Brown and Neville Wright won bronze in four-man bobsleigh at the IBSF World Cup event in St. Moritz, Switzerland on Sunday. With a combined time of 2:08.95 seconds, Team Canada finished behind two German sleds, including Johannes Lochner and his team who lead the four-man World Cup standings.
This event was the penultimate bobsleigh World Cup event of the season and the final event that counted toward Olympic qualification for Canadian sliders. The official athletes nominated to Team Canada for PyeongChang 2018 will be announced later this month. Canada has officially qualified three sleds in each of the men’s two-man, women’s two-man, and the four-man events.
Skeleton
READ: Vathje secures skeleton bronze at World Cup in St. Moritz
Elisabeth Vathje won World Cup bronze in St. Moritz, Switzerland on Friday. Vathje raced the second fastest time in the first heat but was edged out by Germany’s Tina Herdman in the final and finished third. Vathje is now ranked second on the overall World Cup circuit with one competition remaining. Canada has officially qualified three women and three men for PyeongChang 2018.
Ski Cross
READ: First career World Cup ski cross podium for Sherret
India Sherret earned the first World Cup podium of her career on Saturday when she won bronze in Idre Fjall, Sweden. Sherret got great starts in the quarterfinal and semifinal heats that allowed her to take the lead and advance to the final where she finished third.
Freestyle Skiing – Halfpipe
READ: Cassie Sharpe wins gold at Snowmass
Cassie Sharpe won her third World Cup gold medal of the season at Snowmass on Friday. Sharpe sat in first place after the qualifying runs and put down an incredible third run in the final to score 93.5 points and take gold.
Freestyle Skiing – Slopestyle
On Sunday, Evan McEachran won slopestyle skiing bronze at the Toyota US Grand Prix in Aspen, Colorado. McEachran reached his first career World Cup podium in November when he took silver at the season opener. There is one more Freestyle Skiing event January 19th and 20th before the PyeongChang 2018 team will be named.
