5 Team Canada things to watch this weekend: May 12-14
This weekend marks the start of World Cup circuits in canoe/kayak sprint and mountain bike, while trampoline athletes will compete in the Pan American Championships, an important test for them ahead of Santiago 2023.
And though the Stanley Cup Playoffs are in full swing, Team Canada fans have another hockey tournament to keep an eye on as the men’s IIHF World Championship starts on Friday.
Here’s what you need to know about the competitions to watch so you don’t miss any key Canadian athlete performances.
Hockey
The 2023 IIHF World Championship takes place May 12-28 in Tampere, Finland and Riga, Latvia. Team Canada will be based in Riga for the round robin along with the rest of Group B: Czechia, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Norway, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Switzerland.
Full Team Canada roster and more info:
Team Canada looking to get back on top of podium at IIHF World Championship
Tyler Toffoli will serve as Team Canada’s captain while Lawson Crouse, Scott Laughton, Milan Lucic, and MacKenzie Weegar will wear the A as assistant captains. Team Canada will open the tournament on Friday May 12 against Latvia before facing Slovenia on Sunday. After that come matches against Slovakia (May 15) and Kazakhstan (May 17).
Canada won the world title in 2021 and the players competing have their sights set on gold after a silver medal last year. The country is a regular in the final, having played in six of the last seven gold medal games.
The round robin continues until May 23, with the medal matches on Sunday. You can watch all of Canada’s matches on TSN.
Canoe/Kayak Sprint
The first stop of the ICF Canoe Sprint World Cup is taking place in Szeged, Hungary. Racing began on Thursday and will conclude on Sunday. There are 20 Canadian paddlers in attendance, including Tokyo 2020 medallist Katie Vincent who will compete in several women’s canoe events.
On Friday, the finals of Olympic program canoe/kayak events that will be contested are the women’s C-1 200m as well as the women’s and men’s K-4 500m. Saturday will see the finals of the women’s C-2 500m and K-1 500m events, as well as the men’s C-1 1000m, C-2 1000m, and K-1 1000m events. The women’s and men’s K-2 500m finals are schedule for Sunday.
After this season opener, the next stop of the ICF World Cup circuit will be May 26-28 in Poznan, Poland. Canadian paddlers will then prepare for the National Trials taking place June 23-25 at the Olympic Basin in Montreal. That will determine the athletes who will represent the country at the ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships in Duisburg, Germany in late August.
Triathlon
Several Canadian triathletes will compete at the second stop of the World Triathlon Championship Series (WTCS) in Yokohama, Japan on Saturday.
Olympians Tyler Mislawchuk and Amélie Kretz will be in action, along with Émy Legault, Jérémy Briand, and Martin Sobey. This weekend’s events will be of Olympic distance and therefore include 1.5km of swimming, 40km of cycling, and 10km of running.
Triathlon’s most prestigious competition circuit, the WTCS will have its third stop in Cagliari, Italy on May 27-28. Canadians will then have a chance to race at home in Montreal June 24-25 when sprint distance races as well as a mixed team relay will be contested.
Trampoline
A few months before Santiago 2023, Canadian trampolinists will compete against others from the Americas region at the 2023 Pan American Championships taking place May 12-14 in Monterrey, Mexico. The competition will serve to qualify quota spots for countries at the Pan Am Games being held in October.
The continental championships will feature women’s and men’s individual trampoline events, as well as non-Olympic events in synchronized trampoline, double mini trampoline, and tumbling. Canada’s trampoline contingent includes Sarah Milette, Sophiane Méthot, Rachel Tam, Samantha Smith, Jérémy Chartier, Rémi Aubin, Keegan Soehn and Nathan Shuh.
Mountain Bike
It’s the start of the UCI Mountain Bike World Cup season. The first stop is in Nove Mesto na Morave, Czech Republic. The men’s and women’s cross-country events — which are the ones included on the Olympic program — will take place on Sunday.
Among the Canadians competing are Olympians Peter Disera and Léandre Bouchard. After this, the World Cup circuit will head to Lenzerheide, Switzerland for racing on the weekend of June 8-11. Canada will host the final event on the World Cup calendar in Mont-Sainte-Anne, Quebec in early October.
