Canadian Roundup: World Cup champions, gold medals and double podiums
PyeongChang 2018 is just 18 days away and Team Canada is ready to compete.
Here are the weekend’s success stories.
Bobsleigh
READ: Kripps and Humphries world cup season champions
Kaillie Humphries claimed her fourth crystal globe as the overall women’s World Cup champion. After her silver medal win on Saturday with teammate Phylicia George, Humphries finished the season with 1631 points.
Justin Kripps was also crowned World Cup season champion in the men’s two-man event. Kripps never finished below fourth place this season, including a bronze medal in the two-man race on Saturday with teammate Alex Kopacz, and finished with 1631 points. Chris Spring finished the season in third place with 1347 points.
The Canadian bobsleigh team for PyeongChang 2018 will be announced on Wednesday. Canada has qualified three sleds in each of the men’s two-man, four-man and women’s two-man events.
Long Track Speed Skating
READ: Blondin golden, Boisvert-Lacroix takes bronze at speed skating World Cup
READ: Bloemen wins bronze at speed skating World Cup in Germany
Team Canada brought home three medals from the final speed skating World Cup before the PyeongChang 2018 Games. On Sunday, Ivanie Blondin claimed her first gold of the season in the women’s 3000m. Alex Boisvert-Lacroix took bronze in the men’s 500m.
On Saturday, world record holder, Ted-Jan Bloemen, took bronze in the men’s 5000m for his fifth individual World Cup medal of the season. These athletes will head to PyeongChang in just a few weeks where they will aim for the Olympic podium.
Freestyle Skiing – Moguls
READ: Three podiums for Team Canada at freestyle skiing World Cup in Quebec
Team Canada won three medals on home snow on Saturday at the moguls World Cup in Mont-Tremblant, Quebec. Justine Dufour-Lapointe got her first win of the season and shared the podium with teammate Andi Naude who took silver.
On the men’s side, Mikaël Kingsbury won silver with a score of 93.27. This was the first time in 13 World Cup events that Kingsbury was not on top of the podium. All three of these athletes were named to Team Canada Monday morning and will compete at PyeongChang 2018.
Freestyle Skiing – Slopestyle
READ: Harle wins gold, McEachran secures bronze at ski slopestyle World Cup
Team Canada secured a double podium in men’s slopestyle at the World Cup in Mammoth Mountain, California on Saturday. Teal Harle won the second gold medal of his career and Evan McEachran won his second World Cup medal of the season with bronze. This morning, both athletes were named to Team Canada for PyeongChang 2018.
Freestyle Skiing – Aerials
READ: Rochon skis to bronze at aerials World Cup in Lake Placid
Olivier Rochon won bronze at the World Cup in Lake Placid for his first medal of 2018. Rochon was named to the freestyle skiing Team Canada this morning and will compete in aerials in PyeongChang.
Track Cycling
On the track, Team Canada’s cyclists had a strong showing at the UCI Track World Cup in Minsk, Belarus. Stefan Ritter of Edmonton, Alberta won silver in the men’s keirin after having to go through the “second chance” repechage race to qualify for the semifinal. Ritter won his semifinal and competed against six riders in the final to take second. The NextGen women’s team pursuit of Erin Attwell, Maggie Coles-Lyster, Devaney Collier and Laurie Jussaume took bronze.
