Weekend Roundup: Team Canada are world champions in women’s hockey, track cyclists triumph at home
Team Canada got the payback they were looking for at the IIHF Women’s World Championship, taking the gold medal back from Team USA on their home ice.
But that wasn’t the only thrill provided by Canadian athletes this weekend. Three medals were won at the home velodrome in Milton at the last competition to count towards Olympic qualification. Summer McIntosh was in fine form at a key tune-up event for the Olympic Swimming Trials next month. Meanwhile, Paris 2024 spots were secured in taekwondo and archery.
Here’s a quick look back at what you might have missed.
Hockey: Canada wins 13th gold medal at IIHF Women’s World Championship
Call it lucky number 13. In an overtime thriller on Sunday, Team Canada took down archrival Team USA in the gold medal game at the IIHF Women’s World Championship in Utica, New York.
After a back-and-forth affair, Canada came away with the 6-5 victory. Danielle Serdachny played the hero as she buried the golden goal just over five minutes into the overtime period. Captain Clutch Marie-Philip Poulin scored twice in the final, her first goals of the tournament, after an undisclosed injury had hindered her pre-worlds preparations.
READ: Team Canada wins gold at IIHF Women’s World Championship
This was the second-highest scoring final ever between Canada and the U.S., beaten only by Canada’s 7-5 win in 2015. It was the eighth time at the women’s worlds that the final went beyond regulation.
Canada had finished the preliminary round with a 3-0-1 record, picking up wins against Finland, Switzerland and Czechia, while their only loss came to this same U.S. team — 1-0 in overtime.
On Sunday, they got their revenge, not only for the earlier tournament loss, but also for the loss in last year’s gold medal game in Brampton, Ontario. With 13 gold medals, Canada adds to its record of most women’s world titles.
Track Cycling: Three Nations Cup medals at home in Milton
Canadian track cyclists made sure to give the home crowd something to cheer for in Milton, Ontario at the season’s final stop of the UCI Track Nations Cup — the last competition to count towards Olympic qualification.
READ: Canadian cyclists wins three medals at UCI Nations Cup in Milton
On Friday’s opening night of competition, the trio of Ryan Dodyk, James Hedgcock, and Tyler Rorke raced to the bronze medal in the men’s team sprint. Their time of 43.411 edged out Italy by 0.102 in the head-to-head race for third place. That podium finish bumped Canada up to eighth place in the UCI Team Sprint Olympic Ranking, which is just what they needed to achieve to qualify the men’s team sprint for Paris 2024.
Earlier in the evening, 20-year-old Dylan Bibic captured gold in the men’s elimination race, an event that is not on its own part of the Olympic program. It was the second time this year Bibic has won an elimination race, after taking gold at the opening stop of the UCI Track Nations Cup in Adelaide, Australia in February. On Saturday, Bibic placed fourth in the omnium, the Olympic program event in which the elimination race is one of four different races featured.
Lauriane Genest capped off the weekend with a bronze medal in the women’s keirin, the event in which she won Olympic bronze at Tokyo 2020. Genest had come close to another podium after racing in the first two rounds of the women’s sprint. In the bronze medal final, Jackie Boyle, Kelsey Mitchell, and Sarah Orban came up just short against Poland. But Canada is still in the top eight in the UCI Team Sprint Olympic Ranking.
Canada — represented by Erin Attwell, Ariane Bonhomme, Maggie Coles-Lyster and Sarah Van Dam — also finished fourth in the women’s team pursuit. Now fifth in the UCI Team Pursuit Olympic Ranking, Canada is well positioned to qualify in the event for Paris 2024. Coles-Lyster went on to finish sixth in the women’s omnium.
Swimming: Four wins for McIntosh highlight Canadian Swimming Open
Summer McIntosh won four events in as many nights at the inaugural Canadian Swimming Open in Toronto, a key tune-up for the Olympic Trials which will take place in that same pool at the Toronto Pan Am Sports Centre in mid-May.
The 17-year-old had opened the meet by posting the fastest time in the world this year in the women’s 200m freestyle, clocking 1:54.21.
On Friday, she upset Maggie Mac Neil in the 100m butterfly, out-touching the reigning Olympic champion in the event by 0.05 as McIntosh posted a personal best 57.19 seconds. That came a day after they had also finished 1-2 in the women’s 100m freestyle, with McIntosh taking the win in 53.90 to Mac Neil’s 54.01. Mary-Sophie Harvey rounded out the podium with a time of 54.27, slightly ahead of Penny Oleksiak, who finished fourth in 54.43. McIntosh wrapped up the meet on Saturday with a victory in the 200m individual medley.
“I’m continuing to work on back-to-back races and more races on the sprintier side of things,” McIntosh said. “I’m more of a mid-distance swimmer overall, but kind of developing my speed and finishing off races as well as possible is something that I learned a lot at this meet.”
Finlay Knox, the reigning world champion in the men’s 200m IM, did not compete in that event this weekend, but did reach the podium in several events. He won the 100m breaststroke and 100m butterfly and finished second in the 200m breaststroke.
Taekwondo: Kafadar qualifies for Paris 2024
Skylar Park will be joined at Paris 2024 by Josipa Kafadar, who finished top two in the women’s 49kg at the Pan American Olympic Qualification Tournament earlier in the week. Kafadar defeated Colombia’s Andrea Ramirez in the semifinal to book her Olympic ticket.
Archery: Men’s team just misses Olympic qualification
The Canadian men’s recurve team is coming home from the Pan American Archery Championships with the silver medal after a tough loss to the host team in the final in Medellin, Colombia. Canada — represented by Eric Peters, Crispin Duenas, and Devaang Gupta — were in the lead after the first two sets before the Colombians came back to tie it by winning the next two sets, sending the match to a shootout. Canada’s three arrows scored 9, 7 and 9 while Colombia hit 10, 9 and 9 for the win.
The gold medal would have qualified Canada in the men’s team event for Paris 2024. Currently, Canada has won men’s Olympic quota spot thanks to Peters’ silver medal at the 2023 World Archery Championships. They still have the opportunity to qualify a full team at the Final World Qualification Tournament in June.
In other events, Virginie Chénier won bronze in the women’s individual recurve and joined with Peters to win bronze in the mixed team event. Just ahead of the continental championships, Chénier and teammate Kristine Esebua were the finalists in the women’s individual recurve at the Pan American Olympic Qualifier, securing one quota spot for Canada for Paris 2024.
Rowing: Top 5 finish for Moffatt and Casson at World Cup opener
Jill Moffatt and Jenny Casson raced to fifth place in the women’s lightweight double sculls at World Rowing Cup I in Varese, Italy. They were the only Canadians entered at the opening stop of the circuit. The duo had finished fourth at the 2023 World Rowing Championships, which qualified Canada in the event for Paris 2024.
The next World Rowing Cup takes place May 24-26 in Lucerne, Switzerland. Moffatt and Casson will be joined there by the women’s eight, in which Canada is also qualified for Paris 2024. That competition will be preceded by the World Rowing Final Olympic Qualification Regatta at the same venue. Canada will be sending the men’s eight and women’s quadruple sculls to race for Olympic quota spots.
Badminton: 6 medals for Canada at Pan Am Championships
As the Olympic qualification window moves closer to closing, Canadian badminton players won six medals at the Pan American Championships in Guatemala.
Michelle Li won silver in women’s singles, sharing the podium with bronze medal-winning teammate Rachel Chan. Brian Yang won bronze of his own in men’s singles.
Adam Dong and Nyl Yakura took the silver medal in men’s doubles. Josephine Wu captured a pair of bronze medals, in women’s doubles with Catherine Choi and in mixed doubles with Ty Lindeman.
The BWF “Race to Paris Ranking List” on April 30 will be used to allocate by name all Olympic spots for Paris 2024.
