Weekend Roundup: Canadians shine at Commonwealth Games in Birmingham
Canadian athletes showed up ready for action at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, England. Just four days into competition, Team Canada had a haul of six gold, 11 silver and 16 bronze medals.
Back at home, Canada’s 3×3 basketball team claimed top spot at the FIBA Women’s Series event in Edmonton.
Here’s a quick look back at the action-packed weekend:
Commonwealth Games: 33 medals in first four days 🏊♂️ 🚴♀️ 🏋️♂️
Summer McIntosh and Kelsey Mitchell are so far leading Team Canada’s medal haul with four medals each.
Team Canada at the 2022 Commonwealth Games
After topping the women’s 400m individual medley podium on Friday, McIntosh captured her second gold medal in the swimming pool by winning the women’s 200m individual medley title on Monday. She also helped Canada reach the podium in the women’s 4x100m freestyle relay (bronze) and 4x200m freestyle relay (silver).
READ: 2022 Commonwealth Games: Summer McIntosh wins Canada’s first gold medal on Day 1
After claiming three silver medals through the first three days of track cycling in the team sprint (with Lauriane Genest and Sarah Orban), individual sprint, and 500m time trial, Mitchell collected a bronze in the women’s keirin final on Monday.
READ: 2022 Commonwealth Games: Kelsey Mitchell collected her third silver medal on Day 3
A golden result came for Olympic champion swimmer Maggie Mac Neil on Saturday. She topped the women’s 100m butterfly podium, breaking the Commonwealth Games record with her time of 56.36 seconds.
READ: 2022 Commonwealth Games: Two medals for Maggie Mac Neil on Day 2
READ: 2022 Commonwealth Games: Maude Charron wins gold and sets records on Day 4
Gold medals were also won by Olympic gold medallist Maude Charron in the women’s 64kg weightlifting event and judoka Christa Deguchi in the women’s 57kg division.
Action at the 2022 Commonwealth Games will run through August 8 as 268 Canadian athletes compete in 18 sports and five para sports.
Basketball: Team Canada wins FIBA 3×3 Women’s Series event 🏀
The trio of Michelle Plouffe, Katherine Plouffe, and Paige Crozon defeated the United States 21-17 to win their first FIBA 3×3 Women’s Series event of the year in Edmonton. Michelle Plouffe led the way with 13 points in that final game while her twin sister Katherine recorded nine rebounds in their hometown. Kacie Bosch was the fourth member of the team who helped them go 5-0 in the tournament but did not see action in the final.
READ: Team Canada wins 3×3 Women’s Series event in Edmonton
Michelle Plouffe, who was named MVP of the event, led all scorers with 43 points overall. Team Canada, who was seeded third, had finished Friday’s group play with a perfect 3-0 record, earning them a bye into Saturday’s semifinals. The semifinal was a close match as Canada came away with the 21-20 victory over Force 10.
Golf: Taylor Pendrith finishes second ⛳️
Taylor Pendrith had a career best result on the PGA Tour as he finished tied for second at the Rocket Mortgage Classic in Detroit. Pendrith ended with a final round score of even par to put him in a three-way tie at 21-under for the tournament. American Tony Finau finished at 26-under for the victory.
On Sunday, Pendrith made a bounce-back birdie on the par-5 17th hole to get back to even par for the round. On Saturday, Pendrith birdied four of the last five holes in a 6-under par 66 to head into the final round tied for the lead alongside Finau.
The PGA Tour will close out the regular season at the Wyndham Championship, with the North Carolina event opening on Thursday.
On the LPGA Tour, Maude-Aimee Leblanc finished in a tie for eighth at the Women’s Scottish Open
Multiple Canadian medals at Under-23 Worlds
Some of the next gen of Canadian athletes made their mark on the world stage. At the 2022 World Rowing U23 Championships, Canada won two medals — silver by Grace VandenBroek and Elisa Bolinger in the women’s double sculls and bronze by Stephen Harris in the lightweight men’s single sculls.
Meanwhile at the UCI BMX World Championships, Molly Simpson won bronze in the women’s U23 race while her teammate Teigen Pascual finished fifth.
