Weekend Roundup: Alison Jackson wins Paris-Roubaix, Team Gushue claims world silver
It was a wild weekend for Alison Jackson, who won one of the most famed one-day races in road cycling in a crazy sprint.
Back home on Canadian ice, Team Gushue played their way into a second straight world championship final and Team Canada remained undefeated through the round robin at the IIHF Women’s World Championship.
Here’s a quick look at what you may have missed over the last few days:
Road Cycling: Alison Jackson wins Paris-Roubaix Femmes
They call it the Hell of the North. But for Alison Jackson, Paris-Roubaix was closer to paradise. The 34-year-old Canadian became the first North American cyclist to win the one-day race in northern France. While the men’s race has been held since 1896, this is the third edition for women as part of the UCI Women’s World Tour.
Jackson joined an early breakaway in the 145km race and held onto her good positioning when the group turned into the Roubaix velodrome for the finish. She saw she had the space she needed and sprinted to the victory in 3 hours 42 minutes and 56 seconds. Jackson threw her arms up in celebration and then dropped to the ground in exhaustion before getting back up and breaking into one of her trademark dances on the infield.
“It’s a dream come true…. I dream of winning. A lot of times all those dreams have stayed dreams. It’s unreal to make it happen in real life. I have few words,” Jackson said afterwards. “Either you don’t ride and you lose the race or you ride hard and you have a chance. I trusted myself and my passion an heart and it turned out with a win,” she added.
Jackson was presented with a giant cobblestone as a trophy, representative of the 17 sections of cobbles that formed more than 29km of the grueling course.
Curling: Team Gushue wins second straight world silver
Team Canada finished with the silver medal at the 2023 World Men’s Curling Championships in Ottawa on Sunday.
READ: Team Canada secures silver at World Men’s Curling Championship
Skip Brad Gushue, vice/third Mark Nichols, second E.J. Harnden, and lead Geoff Walker fell 9-3 to Scotland in the final in front of a crowd of very passionate fans. This is the third career silver medal for Gushue, Nichols and Walker, who were also runners-up in 2018 and 2022. They won the gold in 2017, the first of their four world championship appearances. Harnden joined the team this season.
READ: Team Canada advances to gold medal game at men’s curling worlds
Team Gushue had their work cut out for them when they had to play the four-time defending world champions from Sweden in a qualification playoff game. But after an 8-5 win in their final round robin match, the Canadians made it two in a row against Niklas Edin. They took down the Swedes in convincing fashion, 9-1, to advance to the semifinals.
In that game against the top-seeded Swiss, Canada came out on top, 7-5, to move onto the final against Bruce Moat and the Scots. Moat and his team won silver at Beijing 2022 now have a complete set of world medals after bronze in 2018 and silver in 2021.
Athletics: Strong start to season for Brown & Rogers
In his first 100m race of the season, Aaron Brown finished third at the Miramar Invitational in Florida. Brown clocked 9.97 seconds in the final, beating out American Ronnie Baker by 0.01 to get onto the podium. Though there was a tailwind of 2.2 m/s, Brown was still pleased with his fastest season opener ever, going under the 10-second mark. Jerome Blake placed sixth in 10.05.
Elsewhere, Camryn Rogers had an outstanding first hammer throw competition of the season. She threw 77.30m at a meet in Berkeley, California, which makes her the world leader thus far in 2023. That throw was just 37 centimetres shy of the national record she set last June.
Hockey: Team Canada undefeated at women’s worlds
Team Canada is perfect after the preliminary round at the IIHF Women’s World Championship in Brampton, Ontario. They defeated Switzerland 4-0, Czechia 5-1, and Japan 5-0 before a much tighter battle with the United States. That game on Monday night went to a shootout. With the game tied 3-3, Jamie Lee Rattray scored the winner in the ninth round of the shootout.
Sarah Fillier leads the team with four goals, which also ties her for the tournament lead. Ann-Renée Desbiens made 26 saves on 29 shots in regulation and overtime against the Americans on her 29th birthday. Canada will play in the quarterfinals on Thursday. Their opponent will be determined following Tuesday’s last preliminary round games. Canada is looking for its third straight world title.
Water Polo: Canada qualifies for World Aquatics Championships
Canada finished atop the standings in both the women’s and men’s tournaments at the 2023 Pan Am Aquatics Championships, qualifying both water polo teams for the World Aquatics Championships in Fukuoka, Japan this summer. Canada won the women’s gold medal game 16-11 against Brazil. Emma Wright was named MVP of the women’s tournament while Jérémie Côté took the men’s MVP honours.
