Weekend Roundup: World titles in figure skating and curling; Crystal Globes in snowboard cross, slopestyle and ski cross
It was a banner weekend for Team Canada athletes, with many of them taking the opportunity to shine on home ice and snow, or hoist trophies abroad.
On the home front, Deanna Stellato-Dudek and Maxime Deschamps were crowned world champions in the pairs event at the ISU World Figure Skating Championships held in Montreal. Still on ice, but this time in Sydney, Nova Scotia, Team Homan took top honours at the World Women’s Curling Championships. Eliot Grondin, who had already secured the Crystal Globe in men’s snowboard cross, took advantage of a final World Cup of the season at home in Mont-Sainte-Anne, winning two gold medals.
Beyond the Canadian border, Marielle Thompson conquered the Crystal Globe in women’s ski cross, winning a gold medal in Sweden, while Liam Brearley snagged Canada’s first ever Crystal Globe in snowboard slopestyle in Silvaplana, Switzerland.
Catch up on the results here:
Curling: Canada, Team Homan takes gold in Sydney
After a week of spectacular play, it was a golden finale for Team Canada at the 2024 World Women’s Curling Championship. The Canadian squad of Rachel Homan, Tracy Fleury, Emma Miskew, Sarah Wilkes and Rachel Brown won the world title in front of a supportive hometown crowd in Sydney, Nova Scotia.
Skip Homan and her team defeated Switzerland 7-5 in the final. The Canadians moved through the preliminary round with a record of 11 wins and just one loss, at the hands of Team South Korea, the same team the Canadians emerged victorious against in the semi-final.
This is a first world title for Canada since the nation won in 2018, led by Jennifer Jones, and Homan and Miskew’s first since 2017. It also ends a streak of four consecutive World Cups won by Switzerland.
Trailing by one point at the start of the 9th end, the Canadians managed to score three points thanks to a perfect rock placement by Homan to take a decisive lead of two, enough to win.
Wow! The roof almost comes off as Rachel Homan puts Canada into a two-point lead heading into the 10th end
— World Curling (@worldcurling) March 24, 2024
Watch live on the Curling Channel: https://t.co/u1IYfEBOkx #WWCC #curling pic.twitter.com/Qv3UpyN6Tu
READ: Canada, led by Homan, takes gold at 2024 World Women’s Curling Championship
Figure skating: Canadians shine on home ice
With Team Canada fans watching with bated breath, Canadian skaters did not disappoint with incredible performances on home ice as the 2024 ISU World Figure Skating Championships came to a close this weekend in Montreal.
Pairs skaters Deanna Stellato-Dudek and Maxime Deschamps led the way for Team Canada, storming to a personal best score of 221.56 to win the world title on Thursday. Stellato-Dudek, at age 40, made history by becoming the oldest woman to ever win a world title in figure skating–a testament to her perseverance.
READ: World title at home is “dream come true” for figure skaters Stellato-Dudek & Deschamps
(@isufigureskating)The duo scored a personal best score of 144.08 in their free skate, set to the Interview with the Vampire soundtrack, a result they credit in part to the support of the hometown crowd.
“We were lucky to have worlds here in Canada, as much pressure as we felt from it, the audience really carried us through the second half of that program,” Stellato-Dudek said afterwards.
Stellato-Dudek and Deschamps were joined on the podium by last year’s champions, Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara of Japan, who took silver, as well as the German pair of Minerva Fabienne Hase and Nikita Volodin with bronze.
But Stellato-Dudek and Deschamps were not the lone Team Canada representatives on the podium.
On Saturday, Canadian ice dancers Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier brought the drama to the free dance to secure the world silver medal in front of the zealous Canadian crowd. The Canadian duo performed last in the group, to music from Wuthering Heights.
Canada's Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier capture silver on home ice
— CBC Olympics (@CBCOlympics) March 23, 2024
The Canadian ice dance duo claim silver at the ISU World Figure Skating Championships in Montreal after an incredible free program
Fellow Canadians Marjorie Lajoie and Zachary Lagha finished fifth pic.twitter.com/tL4e1wxTo4
The three-time Canadian champions earned a personal best 133.17 in the free dance, ranking them first in that portion of the event. That gave them an overall total of 219.68 – also a personal best — moving them up to take the silver medal.
Americans Madison Chock and Evan Bates won their second straight world title with 222.20 points. Italy’s Charlene Guignard and Marco Fabbri dropped down to third place, finishing with a score of 216.52.
Marjorie Lajoie and Zachary Lagha also posted personal best scores in both phases of the competition to finish fifth – marking their ascent into the top flight of ice dancers.
Ski cross: Thompson wins her fourth Crystal Globe
Twelve years after winning her first Crystal Globe, Marielle Thompson made it all the way back to the top in women’s ski cross. She capped off her incredible 2023-24 season with her sixth gold medal of the year, at the FIS Ski Cross World Cup in Idre Fjäll, Sweden.
Thompson headed into the day with an overall lead in the FIS Cup standings despite a fifth place finish in the first race of the weekend. She clinched the overall title just by qualifying for the Big Final on Saturday, allowing her to coast to gold.
“When they told me I won the Crystal Globe just my making it to the Big Final, I kind of just felt free. It’s kind of been looming over me,” Thompson told FIS following the race.
Thompson is now a four-time World Cup Ski Cross Champion.
READ: Thompson clinches fourth career Crystal Globe with gold in season finale
She was joined on the podium by teammate Brittany Phelan, who won bronze in the race and also won the overall bronze for the season. She had a productive weekend after claiming gold in Friday’s race.
Also in Friday’s race, India Sherret claimed silver to make it a double podium for Canada. She finished in sixth in the overall standings.
On the men’s side, Reece Howden jumped to second in the standings to claim an overall silver after racing to silver on Saturday. He secured a bronze the day before, and the weekend’s effort was enough for him to leapfrog Alex Fiva of Switzerland for second.
Also on Saturday, Canada secured the Nations Cup, the award presented each year to the country that tops the FIS standings. This is Canada’s third win in a row. Canada has won the Cup 11 times in the 17 years that it has been presented.
Snowboard cross: Grondin claims first career Crystal Globe
Just 55 minutes from where he grew up in Sainte-Marie, Quebec, Eliot Grondin won both his races on the weekend and the Crystal Globe in snowboard cross at the FIS Snowboard Cross World Cup in Mont-Sainte-Anne, Quebec.
Grondin was so far in front in the standings, he already had the Crystal Globe tied up even before hitting the snow this weekend. He further cemented his dominant status with a double gold weekend. Grondin finished the season with a total of 10 podiums.
The dream season continues for Canada’s Éliot Grondin on home snow with GOLD
— CBC Olympics (@CBCOlympics) March 23, 2024
Grondin, who has clinched the Crystal Globe, wins the men’s World Cup snowboard cross big final for his 6th victory of the season
Fellow Canadian Evan Bichon finished 4th in a photo finish pic.twitter.com/Xf0cTPZUPV
Canada’s Evan Bichon finished in fourth on Saturday.
READ: Grondin secures double gold, clinches first career Crystal Globe
Snowboard slopestyle: Brearley becomes first Canadian to win Crystal Globe
21-year-old Liam Brearley made Canadian history on Saturday after he raced to a gold in the FIS Snowboard World Cup in Silvaplana, Switzerland.
With his fourth victory of the season, Brearley passed Ryoma Kimata of Japan into top spot in the final rankings.
“I really thought one of the Canadian squad would have done it before me,” he told FIS following the win. “I had no clue about that coming into this contest. But it’s super sick to be the first one and I’m glad I could do it here.”
On the women’s side, Laurie Blouin finished fourth in the women’s event.
Diving: Canada takes home multiple medals from Berlin
Team Canada had a successful outing at the World Aquatics Diving World Cup in Berlin, Germany over the weekend, bringing home three silver and one bronze medal.
On Sunday, Rylan Wiens and Nathan Zsombor-Murray took silver in the men’s 10m synchronized platform, finishing with a score of 408.99, behind Great Britain’s Tom Daley and Noah Williams.
Caeli McKay finished with a bronze medal in the women’s 10m platform, finishing with a score of 331.30.
On Saturday, McKay and Kate Miller teamed up to capture silver in the synchronized 10m dive. They finished 23.28 behind the American gold medal winners. It’s the first time the pair have reached the podium on the World Cup circuit so far this season.
On the men’s side, Wiens dove to a personal best of 494.50 points to come away with silver on the 10m tower.
Judo: Gold for Beauchemin-Pinard
Catherine Beauchemin-Pinard claimed gold in the Tbilisi Judo Grand Slam in the under 63kg category on Saturday.
An incredibly close finish! Cat BP clinches it
— Judo (@Judo) March 23, 2024
Follow all the action on https://t.co/5YYXyE0nko#JudoTbilisi #Judo #Tbilisi #Georgia #Sport #Olympics #OlympicQualifiers #roadtoparis2024 #WJT #Taishan pic.twitter.com/oinAMwEMN8
It’s Pinard’s first Grand Slam gold since winning in Abu Dhabi in October 2023, and her fifth Grand Slam victory of her career.
On Sunday, Shady El Nahas secured his first podium finish of 2024, capturing a silver medal in the men’s under 100 kg category.
The day prior, Team Canada had two medallists from the under 57kg category, with Jessica Klimkait claiming silver, and Christa Deguchi claiming bronze.
Bobsleigh: Appiah takes bronze at final World Cup
Cynthia Appiah fought her way onto the podium with a bronze medal finish at final IBSF World Cup of the season, which took place in Lake Placid this weekend. The achievement marks the 10th World Cup monobob podium of her career.
Team Canada’s 4-man bobsleigh crew of Taylor Austin, Shaq Murray-Lawrence, Anthony Couturier and DeVaughn McEwan finished in fifth at the final IBSF World Cup of the season. The team snagged the gold medal in the Pan American Championships held in conjunction with the World Cup race.
“Today’s race was fun. The boys have been putting in a tremendous amount of work and it really showed today. They stepped up when it mattered,” pilot Austin said post-race.
Ski Jumping: Loutitt flies to silver
Alexandria Loutitt won the silver medal in the women’s normal hill event at the FIS Ski Jumping World Cup in Planica, Slovenia, on Thursday. This performance in the final World Cup event of the season also secured her position as third overall in the women’s World Cup ski jumping standings.
READ: Loutitt takes silver at the Ski Jumping World Cup in Slovenia