Gangwon 2024: Team Canada at the end of Day 3
GANGNEUNG, SOUTH KOREA (January 22, 2024) – Ten Team Canada athletes were in action in four sports on Day 3 of the Gangwon 2024 Winter Youth Olympic Games, in Jeongseon, PyeongChang and Gangneung, South Korea.
ALPINE SKIING
Thomas Carnahan (Ottawa, Ont.), who earned a ninth-place finish during Day 2’s men’s super-G, was the lone Canadian entered in the alpine combined events today, which include a super-G and a slalom run. During the men’s super-G segment of today’s combined event, Carnhan missed a gate which made him unable to finish the event. Team Canada’s alpine skiing women, Elsa Feliciello (Piedmont, Que.) and Aida Draghia (Chateauguay, Que.) will get their first taste of Youth Olympic Games racing tomorrow at the Jeongseon High 1 Ski Resort in the women’s giant slalom.
BOBSLEIGH
The bobsleigh competition got underway with the women’s monobob at the Alpensia Sliding Centre. Talia Melun (Whistler, B.C.) finished 10th in her first run, and climbed a spot in the second run to finish ninth overall. The fifteen-year-old who grew up with the world-class Whistler Sliding Centre in her backyard, is coached by four-time Olympian, Christopher Spring.
“Overall this Youth Olympic experience has been amazing and I definitely have enjoyed it a lot. I’m grateful for everyone who has helped me along the way.”
– Talia Melun
CURLING
Canada’s mixed curling team, Nathan Gray (Dartmouth, N.S.), Chloe Fediuk (Edmonton, Alta.), Owain Fisher (North River, N.S.) and Allie Iskiw (Edmonton, Alta.), earned a hard-fought victory in their fourth round robin game at the Gangneung Curling Centre. Team Switzerland was either leading or tied with Canada for the first seven ends, until Team Canada scored the winning point in the eighth and final end to earn the important win. Showing great fight and a never-give-up attitude, the team now holds a 2-2 record moving into another two-game day tomorrow where they will face Germany in the morning and hosts South Korea in the evening.
“It was great to get out there and to grab a win! It was a fight from the beginning with an unfortunate start. It wasn’t my best game, but the team made up for it admirably. We all were super positive out there and stuck it through together, and the team is feeling great! There’s been a couple of games where we have played really good but we came out on the wrong side of a few stones. To get the win today feels extra good after the close games earlier.”
– Nathan Gray
SHORT TRACK SPEED SKATING
The third day of short track speed skating saw the 500m events for both men and women. Monday’s afternoon crowd at the Gangneung Ice Arena was no less full and energetic than it had been over the weekend, and included Team Canada’s biathlon team who came to cheer on their Canadian teammates during their rest day.
All four Team Canada short track speed skaters easily qualified for the quarterfinals out of the heats. When the quarterfinal startlists were set, both Canadian women and both Canadian men ended up in the same races, having to compete against their teammate to reach the semifinal. Courtney Charlong (Campbellton, N.B) finished her day in the quarterfinal and ended up 13th overall. Victor Chartrand (Laval, Que.) had been second off the start in his quarterfinal, but took a fall after taking the lead, and ended up 17th overall.
Alexis Dubuc-Bilodeau (Trois-Rivières, Que.), who just turned 16 years old in December had to work hard and deal with some jostling in each race, proudly qualifying for the B-Final in front of the electric crowd. In the B-Final, Dubuc-Bilodeau had a good start and calmly worked his way up to finish second, ranking him in seventh-place overall which he was overjoyed with after finishing Day 1 and Day 2 in the heats.
“It felt like winning a medal! The first two days were not as good, so making it to the B-Final was just awesome, also finishing second was just amazing, so I’m pretty proud of myself for this! From the day I started skating until today, skating here in front of this amazing crowd was the best experience of my life! This crowd cheers you up and pumps you up for the next race and you just want to do it! It just makes you happy!”
– Alexis Dubuc-Bilodeau
Océane Guérard (Quebec City, Que.), who experienced many challenges throughout the past year including learning how to manage an ulcerative colitis diagnosis and overcoming the lost training time it caused, cracked the top-10 for the second day in a row. Having to wait to find out if she qualified for the semifinal by being one of the two fastest third-place quarterfinalists, she ultimately qualified for the B-Final, and soon proved her grit. After taking a fall on the first corner in the B-Final, the race was restarted after needing the coaching team to check her equipment. Following the restart, Guérard led from the start and won the B-Final, finishing sixth overall to the delight of her many family members who made the trip to South Korea to cheer her on.
“I was nervous in my first race but everything went great and I’m so happy with how I did! It’s so much fun to race here! It’s my first international competition so I came with no expectations, and everything has been so fun! My family was all crying and they made me cry too. They were so proud of me with all that happened this year.”
– Océane Guérard
For full Team Canada results from Day 3, click here.
SCHEDULE FOR THE NEXT TWO DAYS – JANUARY 23 (Day 4) / JANUARY 24 (Day 5)
*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 app.
The Olympic Channel also has 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