5 Team Canada things to watch this weekend: April 21-23
Whether they’re on curling ice in South Korea, on a velodrome at home Milton, or cycling the roads of Panama, there are many Canadian athletes to keep an eye on this weekend.
Here are some key competitions to follow so you don’t miss the performances of Team Canada athletes.
Curling
So far in 2023, Canada has won bronze at the World Women’s Curling Championship and silver at the World Men’s Curling Championship. Now it’s time for the World Mixed Doubles Curling Championship to keep Canadian fans on the edges of their seats. The tournament takes place April 22-29.
Canada will be represented in Gangneung, South Korea by Jennifer Jones and Brent Laing, who are also a couple off the ice. This will be their first appearance at the mixed doubles worlds, but they bring a ton of experience. Jones was the skip of the Canadian women’s team that won Olympic gold in 2014. She’s also won two world titles. Laing is a three-time world men’s champion who competed at PyeongChang 2018 — at the same venue where he and his wife hope to reach the podium this week.
Canada has never won a world mixed doubles title. But it was at the Gangneung Curling Centre that Kaitlyn Lawes and John Morris won gold in the Olympic debut of mixed doubles. Can this ice surface be lucky for the Canadians once again?
Jones and Laing are in Group A and will open their nine-game round robin against Scotland at 9 p.m. ET Friday night before facing the Netherlands at 5 a.m. ET on Saturday. They’ll take on Estonia at 1 a.m. ET on Sunday, followed by Italy at 9 p.m. ET Sunday night. Round robin play will continue through Thursday (in Canadian time zones), followed by the playoff round.
The top three teams from each of the two groups will advance to the playoffs. The two first-place teams will advance directly to the semifinals. The second- and third-place teams in each group will battle in playoff qualification games Thursday night to see who moves on to the Friday morning semis. The bronze medal game will be next Friday at 9 p.m. ET with the gold medal game at 1 a.m. ET next Saturday, April 29.
Track Cycling
The UCI Track Nations Cup is back in Canada at the National Cycling Centre in Milton, Ontario. Taking place April 20-23, it is an opportunity for Canada’s top track cyclists to earn ranking points towards Olympic qualification for Paris 2024.
Olympic medallists Kelsey Mitchell and Lauriane Genest will be showing off their sprinting skills in front of Canadian fans. Can these friends, teammates, and rivals share a podium once again this weekend? They’ll be joined by Sarah Orban and Jackie Boyle in the sprint events.
Among those to watch on the endurance squad is Dylan Bibic, the reigning world champion in the men’s scratch race. That is not a standalone event in Milton, but is contested as part of the four-race omnium.
This is the third and final stop of the UCI Track Nations Cup. Finals sessions will start at 6 p.m. ET on Friday and Saturday. Sunday’s finals will get underway at 4 p.m. ET.
Road Cycling
The Pan American Road Cycling Championships are taking place in Panama City, Panama until April 23. It’s an opportunity for riders to get their hands on precious points for the UCI World Ranking, which will determine the allocation of Olympic quota spots for Paris 2024, The women’s and men’s road races will take place on Saturday and Sunday, respectively.
On Tuesday, Alison Jackson finished third in the women’s individual time trial. The cyclist was fresh off her professional victory on UCI Women’s World Tour at the prestigious Paris-Roubaix one-day race.
Sunday will see Michael Woods and Guillaume Boivin race in the one-day classic Liège-Bastogne-Liège in Belgium, an event with a history dating back to 1892. The 258.5km route starts in Liège and heads south to Bastogne where the cyclists will turn around and make their way back to Liège by different roads.
On Wednesday, Woods placed fourth in La Flèche Wallonne one-day race. He has been successful at Liège-Bastogne-Liège before, finishing second in 2018.
Golf
The first LPGA major tournament of the year, the Chevron Championship, got underway on Thursday. Traditionally held for 50 years at Mission Hills Country Club in Rancho Mirage, California, it is taking place this year at The Woodlands near Houston, Texas.
Team Canada fans will be watching Brooke Henderson chase her third career major title. In January, she won the LPGA season-opening Tournament of Champions which brought together 29 golfers who had won LPGA titles over the last two years. Henderson shot one-under-par 71 in Thursday’s first round. The tournament will finish on Sunday.
Archery
The first stage of the Archery World Cup is taking place April 18-23 in Antalya, Turkey. Andrew Azores and Eric Peters have advanced to the second round of the men’s individual recurve event while Stephanie Barrett did the same in the women’s individual event.
The elimination matches in both events will continue on Friday with the entire competition finishing on Sunday.
