5 Team Canada sports to watch this weekend: March 1-3
It’s a big weekend for Team Canada athletes at home and abroad.
Some of Canada’s top track and field athletes will take on the World Athletics Indoor Championships in Glasgow, Scotland. Canadian divers aim to put on a show at home at the World Aquatics World Cup in Montreal and there’s lots of excitement for curling in Regina with the 2024 Brier.
Further afield, Team Canada’s ski jumpers and cross-country skiers are both competing in World Cups in Lahti, Finland, while Canadian surfers are riding their way through the ISA World Surfing Games in Arecibo, Puerto Rico.
Here’s what you don’t want to miss this weekend:
Athletics
Team Canada is sending an experienced team to Glasgow, Scotland for the World Athletics Indoor Championships this weekend, led by Olympians Sarah Mitton (shot put) and Alysha Newman (pole vault), both of whom set new Canadian records in their disciplines already this month.
Mitton will hope to get things going for the team, with the women’s shot put being the first final of the meet, taking place on Friday. She threw 20.08m to set a new Canadian indoor record during the World Athletics Indoor Tour stop in Czechia earlier in February.
READ: Shot putter Sarah Mitton on her Olympic goals and inspiring the next generation
Other Team Canada athletes to watch out for on Friday include a pair of middle distance Olympians: Charles Philibert-Thiboutot, who has left a series of Quebec records in his wake during the lead up to World Indoors, including the outdoor mile and the indoor 3000m; as well as Lucia Stafford, who has opened up with a strong indoor season thus far.
READ: Charles Philibert-Thiboutot: From the toughest of times to running back to the top
Fans will have to wait until Saturday to see Newman in action. She improved on her own Canadian record in the pole vault earlier in February, clearing 4.83m at the All Star Perche event in France.
CBC Sports will provide live stream coverage of the entire competition.
Curling
The 2024 Brier kicks off this weekend in Regina. This iteration of Team Gushue — comprised of Brad Gushue, Mark Nichols, E.J. Harnden and Geoff Walker — will attempt to win a second straight title, which would be a third straight for Gushue, Nichols, and Harnden. If successful, the Newfoundland-based team would match Randy Ferbey’s Edmonton team, which won three straight from 2001 to 2003.
Team Gushue will play its first game against Nova Scotia’s Team Matthew Manuel on Friday. Other Friday match-ups include an Alberta vs Alberta showdown when Team Aaron Sluchinski takes on Team Kevin Koe, himself a four-time Brier champ. Saskatchewan’s Team Mike McEwen will take on Prince Edward Island’s Team Tyler Smith. Jamie Koe’s Northwest Territories team will battle against Team Quebec, skipped by Julien Tremblay.
The champions won’t be crowned until next Sunday, March 10.
Diving
The World Aquatics Diving World Cup circuit kicks off in Montreal this weekend. Many of the world’s best divers will be in action at the Centre sportif du Parc olympique as part of their preparations for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
Twelve Canadian athletes are competing, including several divers who recently took part in the World Aquatics Championships in Doha, Qatar.
Caeli McKay and Kate Miller, who booked their ticket to Paris 2024 in the women’s 10m synchro at the Worlds in Doha, will compete in that event over the weekend as well as the women’s individual platform event. Pamela Ware will be in action in the women’s 3m, an event in which she won bronze at the 2023 Worlds. Springboard specialist Mia Vallée, meanwhile, has opted to skip the competition to concentrate on the National Olympic Trials, which will be held May 17-19 in Windsor, Ontario.
Nathan Zsombor-Murray and Rylan Wiens, who also secured qualification for the next Olympic Games in the men’s 10m synchro at the last world championships, will represent Canada in that event in Montreal and will also compete in the men’s individual 10m event. Wiens took advantage of his time in Doha to secure an Olympic quota spot for Canada in the men’s 10m with his fifth-place finish, adding to the quota obtained by Zsombor-Murray at the 2023 World Championships. Bryden Hattie and Cédric Fofana will also be in action in the men’s 3m springboard event.
The women’s 3m and men’s 10m preliminaries took place on Thursday, followed by the women’s 10m and men’s 3m preliminaries on Friday. On Saturday, the finals of Thursday’s events will be held, along with those of the men’s 3m synchro and the women’s 10m synchro. On Sunday, it will be the finals of the events for which the prelims took place on Friday, as well as the women’s 3m synchro and the men’s 10m synchro.
Ski Jumping
Skiing will be in the spotlight in Lahti this weekend, as the Finnish town hosts stages of the FIS Ski Jumping World Cup and the FIS Cross-Country Skiing World Cup.
The women’s large hill ski jumping event is on the program Friday, featuring Canadians Alexandria Loutitt and Nicole Maurer.
Loutitt, currently fourth in the overall World Cup rankings, has been consistent and finished close to the podium in both events last weekend. She has collected two second- and three third-place finishes on the circuit this season.
Eight Canadian cross-country skiers will take part in their World Cup, which kicks off on Friday with the women’s and men’s team sprint events in classic technique. This will be followed by the 20km classic for each gender on Saturday and the sprint freestyle events on Sunday.
Surfing
Canadian surfers continue to battle their way through the rounds at the ISA World Surfing Games in Arecibo, Puerto Rico.
READ: Surfing 101 with Sanoa Dempfle-Olin
Sanoa Dempfle-Olin, who qualified for Paris 2024 with her silver medal performance at Santiago 2023, is the last Canadian standing in the women’s event. She aims to keep advancing through the repechage to get into the final.
On the men’s side, Cody Young is still in the main round, after advancing from round four on Thursday. He’s hoping to snag one of the five remaining men’s Olympic spots up for grabs. The competition continues through Sunday.
