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Canada’s winter Olympic athletes won four medals at World Cup events in Europe today and just missed out on a couple more.
Three of the medals came at a ski cross tour stop in Austria. India Sherret and Hannah Schmidt won gold and bronze, respectively, in the women’s event while Kevin Drury took bronze in the men’s. Freestyle skier Megan Oldham earned silver in a women’s slopestyle competition in Switzerland.
For Sherret and Schmidt, it was their second medal in as many days as they swapped podium positions from Thursday at the same venue. Schmidt was awarded the bronze today after a crash in the four-skier final left her and fellow Canadian Brittany Phelan unable to complete the course. Sherret crossed the line ahead of Switzerland’s Fanny Smith to leapfrog Germany’s Daniela Maier for top spot in the women’s World Cup standings.
Meanwhile, alpine skier Jack Crawford experienced another agonizingly close fourth-place finish. The reigning super-G world champion and Olympic combined bronze medallist who memorably missed an Olympic downhill bronze by 0.07 of a second was just four hundredths off the podium in today’s super-G in Wengen, Switzerland.
Crawford will have another shot at a medal in Saturday’s downhill. Here’s more on that, plus other Canadians to watch this weekend in the winter Olympic sports realm.
WATCH | CBC Sports previews what to watch this weekend:
Our CBC Sports team previews the sports weekend, highlighting the Canadian national skating championships.
Alpine skiing: Crawford, Grenier go for gold at marquee tour stops
Crawford’s near-podium performance in today’s super-G bodes well for his chances in the classic Lauberhorn downhill Saturday on the same slope in Wengen. While the diabolical Steif course in Kitzbuehel, Austria (coming up next week) is more revered, the lung-busting Lauberhorn is the longest and fastest in all of ski racing.
Canada’s Cam Alexander should be in the podium mix too after placing eighth in today’s super-G. He owns four World Cup downhill medals and took bronze at the most recent world championships. Wengen will also host a men’s slalom on Sunday.
The women are in the Italian Alps for downhill and super-G races at Cortina d’Ampezzo, the gorgeous destination that will host the women’s alpine events at next year’s Olympics.
Canada’s Val Grenier won a World Cup downhill bronze at Cortina last year. This time, her competition will include Lindsey Vonn, who ramped up her comeback last weekend with a pair of top-six finishes in Austria. The 40-year-old U.S. star has won a record 12 times at Cortina (six each in the downhill and super-G). Vonn crashed near the end of Thursday’s training run and appeared a bit shaken up, but she was back on the course for today’s practice session.
American Mikaela Shiffrin, who broke Vonn’s all-time women’s World Cup wins record following Vonn’s 2019 retirement, remains out as she recovers from the puncture wound she suffered in a late-November crash. Shiffrin is back skiing on her own at home in Colorado, but it’s still unclear when she’ll be able to compete.
You can watch all of this weekend’s alpine races live on CBCSports.ca and CBC Gem.
Figure skating: Extra pressure at the Canadian championships
Results from the nationals in Laval, Que., will help decide who gets picked to represent Canada at the world championships in Boston in March. And the world championships will determine how many entries Canada gets for next year’s Winter Olympics in Italy.
At the moment, it appears Canada has two serious contenders for an Olympic medal — both in a doubles event. Leading the way is the pairs team of Deanna Stellato-Dudek and Maxime Deschamps, who captured Canada’s first figure skating world title since 2018 last year in Montreal. They won both of their regular Grand Prix events this season before an illness forced them to miss the prestigious Grand Prix Final in December.
Ice dancers Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier missed the podium at the Grand Prix Final after Poirier tripped on the boards in the opening round. But they’ve won a medal at three of the last four world championships, highlighted by a silver in Montreal.
The main senior-level events at the nationals get started this evening and run through Sunday on CBCSports.ca and CBC Gem. Watch this preview with CBC Sports’ Brenda Irving and Asher Hill. And, if you missed Wednesday’s newsletter, here’s our primer on the Canadian championships.
Other stuff to watch:
* The Grand Slam of Curling series continues with the Masters in Guelph, Ont., where Canada’s Rachel Homan is the skip to beat on the women’s side. The reigning world champion went undefeated at the last two Slams to capture her record-extending 16th and 17th women’s titles and run her record this season to 40-2. Homan’s 26-game winning streak ended today with a loss to Sweden’s Isabella Wrana, but the Canadian still advanced to the playoffs. Here are the women’s and men’s standings.
* Canadian women’s hockey captain Marie-Philip Poulin and the Montreal Victoire will face the Ottawa Charge on Sunday afternoon in Quebec City. The neutral-site game at the 18,000-seat
Videotron Centre is part of the PWHL’s Takeover Tour of NHL-size arenas as the league considers potential expansion locations. Here’s more on Quebec City’s audition.
* Canadians are competing in World Cup events around the globe in bobsleigh, ski jumping, aerials and cross-country skiing. To see which events you can watch on CBCSports.ca and CBC Gem, check the full streaming schedule.