Jeremy Wotherspoon (CP)

Wotherspoon golden at 500-metre speed skating event.
(CBC.ca)

Canada's Jeremy Wotherspoon capped a great weekend in style on Sunday with a gold medal. Wotherspoon of Red Deer, Alta., earned his first victory of the long-track speed skating World Cup season in the men's 500-metre event in Milwaukee.

He clocked a track record time of 34.91 seconds. It was the first sub-35 second time on the Pettit National Ice Centre. On Saturday, Wotherspoon won a silver medal in the men's 1,000 metres and bronze in the 500. Dmitri Dorofeyev of Russia was second in Sunday's race. Casey FitzRandolph of the U.S. and Kang-Seok Lee of South Korea tied for third.

"I built a lot of speed coming out of the first turn and the last 300 was really solid," said Wotherspoon, who added to his career-leading World Cup wins total for men with his 55th victory. "I had the last inner today which is usually the harder turn to hold and it went really smoothly. I was pretty happy with that."
Brock Miron of Calgary was 15th.

Lee kept his lead in the 500 World Cup standings with 330 points after four of 12 races. Wotherspoon, who has won the title the past four years, is second at 310. He earned bronze medals in the three other 500 races this year, including Saturday.

"Being this consistent is pretty big for me," said Wotherspoon. "I haven't felt totally on physically or technically so far this year. But I've still been able to respond to the challenge which is a really good sign for later in the season when I'll be at my best."

The men's 1,000-metre race was an American sweep, with Shani Davis first, Joey Cheek second and FitzRandolph third. Wotherspoon was fourth. Miron was 17th. Wotherspoon was interfered with by Stefan Groothuis of the Netherlands on the first crossover in the 1,000. Groothuis was disqualified. "I contemplated during the race whether I should ease up and re-skate but I was skating so well," said Wotherspoon. "It's extremely rare to a get a faster time on a re-skate. It's really difficult to know how much the crossover problem affected my final time."

Davis has won all four 1,000 metre races this year and leads the standings at 400 points. With Saturday's silver, Wotherspoon stands second at 270. In the B Group races, Mark Nielsen of Calgary was second in the 500 and Vincent Labrie of Ste-Foy, Que., ninth.

In women's competition, Shannon Rempel of Winnipeg was the top Canadian placing 10th in the 1,000 and 13th in the 500. In the women's 500 B group race, Kim Weger of Regina was fifth, Krisy Myers of Lloydminster, Sask., was eighth and Marilou Asselin of Ste-Foy, Que., 16th.

Brandon O'Neill (CP)

Canada’s Brandon O’Neill wins silver medal on floor at 2005 world gymnastics championships.
(Gymnastics Canada)

MELBOURNE, Australia- Brandon O’Neill of Edmonton completed a spectacular world gymnastics championships debut on Saturday with a silver medal performance in the men’s floor final.

O’Neill is the fourth Canadian in history to win a medal at the worlds and a slight misstep on his final landing is probably all that prevented him from becoming Canada’s first ever world gymnastics champion. It’s also a second straight major international medal for Canadian gymnastics in the last two years. In 2004, Kyle Shewfelt of Calgary won the gold medal, also on floor, at the Olympics.

Diego Hypolito of Brazil won the gold medal Saturday scoring 9.675 for his routine while O’Neill followed with a 9.625. The difference: Hypolito stuck his final landing while O’Neill took a small step. Robert Gal of Hungary and Fuliang Liang of China tied for third at 9.587.

“It feels great to get the medal I’m really happy with myself,” said O’Neill, 20, who was red hot coming into the worlds on floor with three straight World Cup wins and the Pan Am Championships and World University Games titles. “I was a little nervous but I knew I had to hit my routine and hopefully stick that dismount. When I was done I knew it was good enough for a medal.”

Liang Cheng, who has coached O’Neill for the past eight years, knew his star pupil was capable of achieving major international success.

“I’m extremely proud of him, he was under a lot of pressure and he delivered his routines,” said Cheng. “He’s a guy that never gives up and is dedicated in his training and that makes the difference. He’s always shown great potential. And he had this dream to go the Olympics and world championships and win medals.”

O’Neill shares Canada’s best world championship result with Toronto’s Curtis Hibbert who took silver on horizontal bars in 1987, and Montreal’s Alexandre Jeltkov, who won silver in the same event at the 1999 worlds. Shewfelt, who took a year off following the Games and is now back training, earned bronze medals on floor and vault at the 2003 worlds.

Sara Renner (CP)

Renner, Jeffries win cross-country sprint titles.
(CBC.CA News)

Sara Renner of Vernon, B.C., appears primed for the Torino Winter Olympics after a doubly golden weekend.

Renner, of Canmore, Alta., won the opening Madshus cross-country skiing sprint event of the season in the Hawyood NorAm series. The event took place at the Sovereign Lake Nordic Centre near Vernon, B.C. on Sunday. On Saturday, Renner won the women's pursuit race. She followed up by claiming the opening of four Madshus sprint events on Sunday.

Chandra Crawford, also of Canmoe, Alta., joined Renner on the podium on Sunday. Crawford finished second while Australia's Esther Bottomlie earned the bronze medal.

Meanwhile, Chris Jeffries of Chelsea, Que., took the men's Madshus sprint title. Jeffries made his first trip to the podium of the 2005-06 competitive season. Known more for his distance racing talents, Jeffries held off a strong field to win his first gold medal of the year. "It was an awesome start to the season," said Jeffries, who added the first couple of rounds in the head-to-head heats were low key. "I had lots of energy for the final and knew that I would need it to beat Phil (Widmer). He was on my tail the whole way, but ran out of energy near the end, and I knew I could do it. It was a fun race."

Phil Widmer, of Banff, Alta., finished second, while George Grey, of Rossland, B.C., was third.

In two weeks, Canada's top cross-country skiers will return to the Canmore Nordic Centre when it hosts a World Cup, marking the first time in nearly two decades that Canadian cross-country skiers will compete at home in a World Cup.

"We are definitely looking forward to competing here for the World Cup," said Chris Jeffries. "We spent the last week figuring out where things are going and I think this course will, give me for sure, that little competitive advantage I need to get over my World Cup hump."

Moffat Brothers (CP)

LOCAL LUGERS BOOK TICKET TO TORINO.
(The Calgary Sun)

Calgary brothers Chris and Mike Moffat finished eighth at a luge World Cup event yesterday to earn a berth in the Turin Olympics.

Racing on their home track, Germany's Sebastian Schmidt and Andre Forker won their first men's doubles race this season in one minute 24.616 seconds. Christian Oberstolz and Patric Gruber of Italy, the overall leaders, were second, followed by Patric Leitner and Alexander Resch of Germany.

The Moffat siblings are making their return to the sport after a three-year hiatus. "It's kind of a blast from the past for us," said 26-year-old Chris Moffat. "We knew coming back this year that we had a big job ahead of us ... Now we've hit our stride, we know we can constantly push the top-five guys."

Germany's Tatjana Huefner won the women's singles. Regan Lauscher of Red Deer was 14th, while Meaghan Simister of Regina was 16th and Alex Gough of Calgary, 19th. Madison Dupuis of Calgary did not finish.

Hayley Wickenheiser (CP)

U.S. women beat Canada in exhibition hockey shootout.
(CBC Sports)

Sarah Parsons came up big in a shootout on Sunday to lead the United States women's hockey team to a 2-1 victory over Canada in exhibition play in Columbus, Ohio. It was the Americans' first victory over Canada since a 1-0 shootout win in the final of the women's world hockey championship last April.

Katie King scored in regulation to give the U.S. a 1-0 lead. King beat Winnipeg's Sami Jo Small 4:57 into the second period, marking the first time the U.S. had scored against Canada in 234 minutes and 10 seconds, a span of nearly four games.

The lead that nearly stood up through regulation, but with just 3:12 to play Jayna Hefford of Kingston, Ont., tied the game after taking a pass from Toronto's Vicky Sunohara.

Close wasn't nearly close enough for Canadian coach Melody Davidson. "The U.S. came to play and we didn't," Davidson said after the loss. "We just didn't have the work ethic that we've come accustomed to. "We got to find a way to play and win in every situation."

Canada had won six straight over the U.S. but failed to score on U.S. goalie Chanda Gunn in the shootout. Natalie Darwitz and Parsons both found the net for the U.S.

The Canadian women will now travel to Chicago, where they will face the U.S. in another exhibition game on Dec. 1.

Davidson said she would put her squad through the rigours in practice with the hope of producing a better effort. "Teams are teams, some days they don't show up and play when you expect them to," she said. "We've had some time off but that's no excuse – we'll get back to the drawing board. "We'll get back into some flow."

Erik Guay (Alpine Canada)

Lake Louise World Cup Completes First Week with Men's Competition.

Lake Louise, Alberta (November 27, 2005) - The world’s best alpine speed skiers took to the Men’s Olympic Downhill track today under cloudy skies and light snow to compete in the men’s super G at the Lake Louise Winterstart World Cup presented by Husky.

For the second day in a row, a Norwegian racer grabbed a spot on the podium. Aksel Lund Svindal, the 23 year old racer from Oslo, took the coveted gold. Svindal, who skied to a career best downhill result yesterday with a 6th place finish, was satisfied with his showing in the first speed race of the season but felt he had yet to ski his best in a race context. "I didn’t exactly know when my first gold medal would come but I knew I was close," affirmed the five-discipline racer.

Austria’s Benjamin Raich, who failed to finish yesterday’s downhill, came 2nd. "I was very happy with my performance today, it was not an easy course," told Raich. "This is my best super-G result ever so I am very happy." American Daron Rahlves, who is struggling to get out from under the shadow of dominant teammate Bode Miller, took bronze.

Coming back from yesterday’s disappoin ting downhill run where he finished 17th, Canada’s Erik Guay, (Mont-Tremblant, QC) turned it up today to finish 11th. "Today’s course was challenging and very technical," told Guay who has met the Olympic selection criteria for Turin in super G by clinching a second top 12 result following a 6th place finish in Lenzerheide (SUI) in 2005. "I had a good, conservative run and I am much happier with today’s race than yesterday’s. I’m trying to build on every race. I hope to be able to peak at the Olympics in February."

Guay added that Lake Louise is the biggest race for the Canadian team on the circuit as they try to prove they are amongst the best in the world on home turf and in front of friends and family. François Bourque (New Richmond, QC) was the 26th best racer down the track and was disappointed with his performance. "Ski racing is not always fun and you don’t always do as well as you’d like, but that’s just the way it i s," said Bourque.

Whistler, B.C.’s Jeff Hume recorded his career best super-G result finishing 39th. Brad Spence, the 51st racer down the course, slid on his right side towards the top section of the course and crashed on his shoulder. He skied down but doctors confirmed a right dislocated shoulder.

Mike Brown (CP)

Swimmers Mike Brown and Andrew Hurd earns ticket to Commonwealth Games.

VICTORIA- Mike Brown of Calgary, a silver medallist this past summer at the world championships, secured his spot for the Commonwealth Games in March 2006 with an impressive victory Friday in the men’s 200-metre breaststroke at the Canadian swimming team trials.

Brown clocked the victory less than a second off his Canadian record set in his second place finish at the worlds in Montreal this past July. Mathieu Bois of Montreal was second and Scott Dickens of Vancouver third. “I wanted to post a fast time in the final especially after a slow morning swim,” said Brown, who broke onto the international scene at the 2002 Commonwealth Games with a bronze medal in the 200 breaststroke. “I was a bit discouraged after the prelims but I bounced back with a swim that I can build on. It’s kind of cool to know I’m going back to the Games where my international career really took off.”

For complete results from the trials, please visit www.swimming.ca

Pierre Lafontaine, CEO/National Coach for Swimming Canada, is happy how the Canadians are responding to the tough challenge to make the Commonwealth Games team. “It’s not easy to get the standards this weekend especially when you consider the little time there’s been since the worlds to these trials.”

Canadian swimming team nominees announced Sunday by Swimming\Natation Canada:

Men: Ryan Cochrane, Victoria; Scott Dickens, Vancouver; Brent Hayden, Vancouver; Andrew Hurd, Toronto, Brian Johns, Vancouver; Mathieu Bois, Montreal; Mike Brown, Calgary; Thomas Kindler, Montreal; Yannick Lupien, Quebec City; Matt Rose, Peterborough, Ont.; Darryl Rudolf, Vancouver; Colin Russell, Toronto; Rick Say, Victoria; Desmond Strelzow, Victoria.

Women: Erica Morningstar, Calgary; Brittany Reimer, Victoria; Lauren Van Oosten, Calgary; Maya Beaudry, Vancouver; Marie-Pier Couillard, Sherbrooke, Que.; Erin Gammel, Calgary; Audrey Lacroix, Montreal; Victoria Poon, Montreal; Genevieve Saumur, Montreal; Sophie Simard, Quebec City; Landice Yestrau, Winnipeg.

Swimmers with a disability
Men: Benoit Huot, Montreal; Brian Hill, Montreal; Donovan Tildesley, Vancouver.
Women: Anne Polinario, Montreal; Valerie Grand’Maison, Montreal; Chelsea Gottel, Antigonish, N.S.
Coaches: Randy Bennett, Victoria; Jan Bidrman, Calgary; Jamie Connors, Calgary; Tom Johnson, Vancouver; Benoit Lebrun, Montreal.

Nordic combined athlete snaps Canadian Olympic drought.
(CBC Sports)

The challenge of breaking onto the international nordic combined scene has never been greater. For a few Canadian trailblazers it's a solemn road of hard work and patience.

A lot of Canadians probably couldn't say what this sport is even though it's been contested for some 5,000 years. Put simply, nordic combined is ski jumping and cross-country skiing, in that order. It's yet another Winter Games sport at which Norwegians excel, maintaining their stronghold with a white-knuckle grip.

The Calgary Olympic Development Association's (CODA) decision last March to withdraw program funding to nordic combined and ski jumping was a harsh blow to development programs. There was some consolation in that high-performance athletes will benefit from a one-time $25,000 grant to fund the Olympic aspirations of a select few.

Canadian nordic combined athletes won't likely land on podiums, but despite funding pitfalls Canada is back in the Games after an 18-year absence in nordic combined. Jason Myslicki is the first Canadian nordic combined athlete to qualify for the Olympics since Calgary 1988.

Myslicki, 28, of Thunder Bay, Ont., also became the first Canadian since 1992 to compete full-time on the World Cup nordic combined circuit.

Myslicki isn't always alone on the international circuit. A handful of young Canadian athletes such as 21-year-old Max Thompson of Calgary are steadily moving up the ranks. Thompson competed in his first International Ski Federation (FIS) nordic world ski championships last February, when he was the sole Canadian competitor. In December 2004, his first year of competition, he earned his first of two Olympic qualifying results on the World Cup B circuit when he finished in 11th.

With Canada back in the Games, more Canadians may tune in to nordic combined at the Torino Games.