Gangwon 2024: Team Canada at the end of Day 2
GANGNEUNG, SOUTH KOREA (January 21, 2024) – The Gangwon 2024 Winter Youth Olympic Games second day of competition saw sixteen Team Canada athletes in action in six sports.
ALPINE SKIING
Thomas Carnahan (Ottawa, Ont.) kicked off Team Canada’s performances in alpine skiing at Gangwon 2024 with a top-10 result in the Men’s Super-G at the Jeongsong High 1 Ski Resort. Placing ninth in a field of 54 skiers, the seventeen-year-old who looks up to the ‘Crazy Canucks’ finished with a time of 55.14 seconds, just .72 seconds off the gold medallist’s time.
BIATHLON
Cheyenne Tirschmann (Whitehorse, Yuk.) and Luke Hulshof (Calgary, Alta.) teamed up in the Single Mixed Relay, where the women ski 6km and the men ski 7.5km. Tirschmann, one of two Team Canada athletes at Gangwon 2024 from the Yukon, had an excellent first leg which had the team in ninth. Some missed shots in later legs bumped the team down to rank 20th overall. The biathlon team will have a rest day tomorrow before the sprint events on Day 4.
CURLING
Nathan Gray (Dartmouth, N.S.), Chloe Fediuk (Edmonton, Alta.), Owain Fisher (North River, N.S.) and Allie Iskiw (Edmonton, Alta.), Canada’s mixed curling team, played two games on Day 2. They began the day with a morning game against Team Brazil, which they won 14-0 and ended after six ends. After a short rest, they were back in action for the evening session against Team Great Britain. This match was particularly interesting for Lisa Weagle, Team Canada’s Chef de Mission, as her curling competitor from PyeongChang 2018 and Beijing 2022, Eve Muirhead, is the Chef de Mission for Team Great Britain. The Canadian and British fans sat beside each other in the stands, allowing Weagle and Muirhead to catch up in the same venue they played against each other in during PyeongChang 2018. The match was competitive from the start, with Team Canada leading after three ends. Team Great Britain pulled ahead in the fourth end and won the match 6-3.
LUGE
On the second day of luge competition, after having supported his female teammates at the sliding center on Day 1, it was Bastian Van Wouw (Red Deer, Alta.)’s turn to race down the track at the Alpensia Sliding Centre. Van Wouw seized the moment, building off the positive energy from his teammates Maya Yuen (Calgary, Alta.) and Ava Lucia Huerta (Calgary, Alta.), and finished the competition in eighth place.
“I’m really happy with how it went, the top-10 finish is all I could ask for, I’m really happy with it. I’ve had a few messages from friends and family already following the race congratulating me and it’s really good to see that I have people supporting me. The experience of being at such an important competition will help me know how to relax when I need to for the runs that I need to put down in the future. I’m so happy to be here, it’s been a lot of fun.”
– Bastian Van Wouw
SHORT TRACK SPEED SKATING
The short track fans were treated to another exciting day at the Gangneung Ice Arena with the 1000m races. Océane Guérard (Quebec City, Que.), the top placing Canadian short track athlete on Day 2, had been hanging back in fifth for the first six laps of the quarterfinal, and surged ahead during the final lap to place second. She finished her day in the B-Final, cracking the top-10 in a field of 35 competitors. Courtney Chartrand (Campbellton, N.B) finished the day in 11th, Victor Chartrand (Laval, Que.) placed 18th and Alexis Dubuc-Bilodeau (Trois-Rivières, Que.) placed 21st.
SNOWBOARD
The snowboard cross events concluded today with the mixed team event – the first time the event appeared on the Youth Olympic Games sport programme. Hannah Turkington (Whistler, B.C.) teamed up with Anthony Shelly (Whistler, B.C.), who won silver in the men’s event yesterday – Team Canada’s first medal of Gangwon 2024. The team was penalized in the quarterfinal after another competitor protested that Shelly had impeded his line, which resulted in the Canadians being unable to qualify for the semifinal. Canada’s other entry in the mixed team event was Rose Savard-Ferguson (Baie-Saint-Paul, Que.) and Olivier Gagné (Lac-Etchemin, Que.). After winning pre-heat 1, the team faced a competitive quarterfinal with the eventual gold medallists from France, and finished the event in 14th place.
After the event, the four athletes were able to catch up with two-time Olympian Tess Critchlow, who is a Gangwon 2024 Athlete Role Model, as part of the IOC’s Athlete Education Program. Reflecting on their entire Youth Olympic Games experience, the snowboard cross team was overjoyed.
Savard-Ferguson, daughter of Marie-Claude Savard-Gagnon, Nagano 1998 Olympian in pairs figure skating, transitioned to snowboard just two years ago after competing for many years as a figure skater.
“It was amazing, especially considering I’m racing for Team Canada on a snowboard, never imagined that! It’s such an honour, and I actually did really well so I’m really happy. Some of the highlights would have been my first pre-heat here, starting way back and managing to catch up, and honestly just the general atmosphere with the other countries. It’s been a really great experience!”
– Rose Savard-Ferguson
Turkington, who at 3-years-old after watching Maëlle Ricker win Olympic gold at Vancouver 2010 told her parents that she wanted to be an Olympian in snowboard, shared how special it was to compete at the Youth Olympic Games.
“It was amazing, absolute dream come true, it’s like nothing I ever thought it would be like. Just the whole experience, getting to represent Team Canada with the flag on our backs, it’s pretty cool. A dream come true.”
– Hannah Turkington
For full Team Canada results from Day 2, click here.
SCHEDULE FOR THE NEXT TWO DAYS – JANUARY 22 (Day 3) / JANUARY 23 (Day 4)
*The “Potential / Comp. possible” column represents a potential phase of competition should a competitor advance. Rows in red are medal events.
TEAM CANADA MEDAL COUNT:
Gold – 0 | Silver – 1 | Bronze – 0
HOW TO WATCH:
As the official Gangwon 2024 broadcaster in Canada, CBC/Radio-Canada will provide coverage of the Games on cbcsports.ca, radio-canada.ca/sports and the CBC Sports and Radio-Canada Sports apps. The Olympic Channel will also have coverage of Gangwon 2024, live-streamed on their free app.
RESOURCES:
PHOTOS: Submit a request to Tara (tmacbournie@olympic.ca) for editorial photos from images.olympic.ca. Additional photos for editorial use only are available to media at oisphotos.com
VISIT: Olympic.ca/press-resources/ for athlete bios and other Gangwon 2024 information.
FOLLOW: @teamcanadapr on Twitter (X)
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MEDIA CONTACT:
Tara MacBournie, Team Canada’s Gangwon 2024 Communications Lead
Canadian Olympic Committee
WhatsApp: 647-522-8328
E: tmacbournie@olympic.ca