Shani Davis and Cindy Klassen (CP)

Cindy Klassen of Winnipeg wins overall title at all around worlds in long track speed skating.
Canadian Sport News

CALGARY- Cindy Klassen of Winnipeg completed a golden sweep of all four races and broke her world points record to win the overall title on Sunday at the world all around championships in long track speed skating.

Klassen, who won five medals at the Turin Olympics last month, totalled 154.580 points to eclipse the 157.177 she compiled in January at the worlds qualifier at the Olympic Oval.  She won each race by at least a one full second margin.   Claudia Pechstein of Germany was second overall at 158.265 and double Olympic medallist Kristina Groves of Ottawa completed one of her best ever international performances in third at 158.295.

‘’It’s extra special to end the season this way,’’ said Klassen, who reclaims the world title she won in 2003.  ‘’Skating here at home is really great and means a lot to me.  The crowd was so supportive and so loud and that really pushed me this weekend. ‘’It’s been an awesome season and I couldn’t have done it without a great team.  They’ve been so supportive.  I also have an amazing coach (Neal Marshall) who knows the right programs for me and really inspires me.  That’s made a big difference.’’

In the 1,500, Klassen neared her world record clocking 1:51.85 with Ireen Wust of the Netherlands second in 1:54.03 and Groves with her third medal of the competition in third in 1:54.54.  Christine Nesbitt of London, Ont., was 10th.

In the 5,000 finale, Klassen made it four-for-four on the weekend clocking a Canadian record 6:48.97, the second fastest time ever.  Martina Sablikova of the Czech Republic was second at 6:50.45, Pechstein third at 6:51.11 and Groves fourth at 6:54.55. ‘’I put in two solid races,’’ said Klassen. ‘’It’s always hard going into the 5,000 but I didn’t drop-off like I normally do and held on until the end.  So I was really happy with the whole race.’’

In men’s competition, Shani Davis of the U.S., broke the world record in the 1,500 en route to the overall title with 145.752 points.  Sven Kramer of the Netherlands also smashed the world mark in the men’s 10,000 with a 12:51.60 clocking.

In the 1,500, Davis clocked 1:42.68 to break Chad Hedrick’s world mark.  Hedrick was second in 1:42.85 and Denny Morrison of Fort St. John, B.C., won the bronze clocking a Canadian record 1:42.97. They were three fastest times in history. Morrison added a 10th place in the 10,000 for fifth overall.  The performances cap a breakthrough season for the 20-year-old. ‘’The 1,500 was wicked,’’ said Morrison. ‘’I was tired and I didn’t have too many expectations.  But I followed the same basic plan that’s been successful for me all year.  But 1:42 is certainly beyond my expectations.’’

Steven Elm of Red Deer was sixth in the 1,500, Justin Warsylewicz of Regina 14th and Arne Dankers of Calgary 16th.

Brian and Robin McKeever (CP)

Paralympians tie winter mark for gold harvest: 6 first-place finishes: McKeever earns fourth medal on final weekend.
(National Post)

TURIN - A golden weekend on the ice put a brilliant finishing shine on the performance of Canada’s team at the 2006 Paralympic Games.

An emotional gold-medal victory by the men’s sledge-hockey team and a gold by a B.C.-dominated rink in wheelchair curling’s Paralympic debut helped Canada to its best finish in the Winter Games for athletes with a disability. Canada placed sixth in overall medals with 13 (6 gold), four of them by cross-country skier Brian McKeever of Canmore, Alta., who took silver yesterday in the 20-kilometre race for the visually impaired.

The medal count might well have been higher if visually impaired alpine skier Chris Williamson, who had two medals early in the week, hadn’t broken his ankle in training with two events remaining. Or if biathlete Shauna Maria Whyte’s high-tech sit-ski hadn’t broken on opening day, leaving her to use a heavier, slower backup sled. “We’re delighted with the results,” said Marg McGregor, Canada’s chef de mission. “We came here with an objective of 10 medals. We achieved that and more.

“We were the only country at the Games to win medals in all four sports [wheelchair curling, sledge hockey, alpine skiing and nordic skiing, which includes cross-country and biathlon] and, in fact, we won gold in all four sports. Twenty-five of the 33 Canadian athletes will be returning with medals hanging around their necks. That’s exceptionally positive.”

Russia topped the standings with 13 gold and 33 total medals, while the Ukraine had seven gold and 25 medals. Both countries won all their medals in cross-country and biathlon. Canada’s previous best finish was sixth in Salt Lake City in 2002, when it won six golds and 15 overall medals. However, there were 92 sets of medals awarded in Salt Lake City and only 58 in Italy following changes to the athlete classification system.

McKeever, who has only 10% vision due to a degenerative eye condition, nearly had a third gold yesterday, finishing just 11 seconds behind winner Oleh Munts of the Ukraine. “It’s definitely a tough one, but to tell you the truth, we didn’t have 11 seconds in us,” said McKeever of he and his brother, Robin, who serves as his guide. “Robin’s very ill and I’m really feeling the fatigue of a long week. But we had a good race and, overall, it was a great week. Everything came together—skis, the training, teamwork, the coaching. It was absolutely fantastic.”

McKeever might have been the individual star of the Games for Canada, but the sledge-hockey win Saturday night was the icing on the cake for the Canadian contingent in Italy. After a speaker-phone pep talk from Wayne Gretzky, the Canadians went out and beat Norway 3-0.

While it was the young line of Greg Westlake, a 19-year-old Paralympic Games rookie, Billy Bridges, 21, and Brad Bowden, 22, who got the goals and spurred the victory, it was the veterans who had been to three previous Paralympics with whom the win resonated the most. Guys like Todd Nicholson, the 37-year-old captain who seemed like a longshot for Italy when he spent five months in an Ottawa-area hospital last year fighting a serious infection and forward Herve Lord, 48. “It’s finally a big load off our shoulders because we’ve been working so hard for so many years,” said Lord, who had his right leg amputed after a car accident 23 years ago. “I don’t know, it’s like I feel so light right now.

The Canadian Paralympic Committee has set an objective of 10 gold medals and a top-three finish at Whistler in 2010. “We’re a long way back from that, particularly when you consider how far ahead Russia, the Ukraine and Germany are,” says McGregor. “We need more money in the system in order to access better technology and sport science, for targeted recruitment and for grass-roots recruitment. “We clearly need more Canadians with a disability to show up to the rinks and the slopes. We can develop high-performance athletes over time, but we need to create a feeder pool. We’re vulnerable if we’re only relying on a handful of athletes to deliver.”

Canada had only five athletes in nordic events, with McKeever, 26, winning two gold and the silver in cross-country and a bronze in biathlon, and Colette Bourgonje, 44, of Saskatoon, winning two bronze in cross-country.

McKeever says he’ll be at Whistler in 2010, but talented alpine skier Lauren Woolstencroft, 24, is hedging. The University of Victoria electrical-engineering grad, who won a gold and a silver in Italy after winning three medals in Salt Lake, is crucial to that 10-gold objective in 2010. But she starts a new job with B.C. Hydro in June and is anxious to get on with that part of her life.

“It’s absolutely critical that we keep our top athletes, knowing that they’re maybe not even at their peak yet given that alpine and cross-country is a mature sport,” said Cathy Preistner, Vanoc’s vice-president of sport. “There has to be incentives put in place so that Lauren’s and Brian’s stay in the game. And home turf in 2010? It doesn’t get any better than that.”

Beckie Scott (CP)

BECKIE SCOTT CAPS OFF GOLDEN SEASON WITH VICTORY IN WORLD CUP PURSUIT

Sapporo, Japan-Canada’s Beckie Scott finished the 2005-06 World Cup season the way she began it last November in Canada - stepping onto the podium in a pursuit race. Only this time it was the golden spot in Sapporo, Japan on Sunday.

Canada’s most decorated cross-country skier capped off a stellar campaign with her fourth gold medal of the season after crossing the line in the women’s pursuit race with a time of 45 minutes 35.0 seconds. “I’m ready for some sushi and then a party,” Scott said. “This is the way I wanted to finish the season. It was important for me to finish on top.”

Joining Scott on the podium was Norway’s Kristin Steira Stoermer in second spot at 45:36.8, while Germany’s Evi Sachenbacher Stehle was third at 46:04.9. The victory marks not only the fourth World Cup gold medal of the season for the Vermilion, Alta. native, but also in her 11-year career. It is also the 10th time the Olympic gold and silver medallist stepped onto the World Cup podium this season.

Scott also barely missed out on winning the overall World Cup title in the final event of the season. Norway’s Marit Bjoergen finished fourth to hold on to the title. Only 66 points separated Scott and Bjoergen heading into Sunday’s race and Scott needed to win the pursuit and for Bjoergen to finish no higher than eighth. Defending champion Bjoergen finished the season with 1,036 points. Scott was second with 1,020 points. “I’m very happy with the victory, but I was hoping to win it all,” Scott said. “I would have liked the World title, but I did all I could today and during the season. It was a dream year.”

Meanwhile, the Canadian men, who proved they are ready to contend against the world’s best each time they hit the start line, were also in action on Sunday in the men’s 2 x 15 kilometre pursuit race. Devon Kershaw, of Sudbury, Ont., and George Grey, of Rossland, B.C., finished 36th and 39th respectively.

Recognized by many around the world as a strong short-distance skier, Beckie Scott’s remarkable season proved she is a force to reckon with in all World Cup distances. To go along with her four gold medals, the Canadian also racked up five silvers and one bronze in nearly every discipline on the World Cup circuit this year, which brought her to races in Canada, Europe, Scandinavia and Asia.

While Scott also claimed numerous top-10 finishes, one of her season highlights came last month when she joined forces with longtime World Cup comrade, Sara Renner, to claim a silver medal in the team sprint at the Olympic Winter Games in Torino, Italy.

The success of the Canadian cross-country ski team did not end with its leader. The senior squad combined to win a total of 15 World Cup and two Olympic medals between December and March, marking the most successful season in the history of the national program. Other highlights of the historic year include:
•        Devon Kershaw winning a World Cup bronze medal in the men’s sprint marking the first medal in nearly two decades for a Canadian male;
•        Chandra Crawford winning Olympic gold and World Cup bronze medals in women’s sprint events;
•        Sara Renner claiming the first four World Cup medals of her career (two silver, two bronze in 10 kilometre classic, sprint, team sprint);
•        Numerous personal bests and top-20 finishes for young men’s and women’s team.

Renner, Crawford and Kershaw will return to Canada on Monday, March 20. The trio will arrive at the Calgary International Airport around 2 p.m. on Air Canada flight 210 from Vancouver.

Kyle Shewfelt (CP)

Marie Pier Boudreau Gagnon (CP)

Jean Lassen

Day 5 Team Canada Highlights at the Commonwealth Games:

Benoit Huot (Swimming Canada)

MELBOURNE - Benoit Huot of Montreal earned the world record in his disability category in the men’s 100-metre freestyle and was awarded the silver medal on Monday to highlight a triple medal performance for Canada in swimming action at the Commonwealth Games.

Huot said he wasn’t disappointed to settle for silver despite a world record performance. ‘’It’s tremendous accomplishent to improve my best time by a half second in the 100 freestyle,’’ said Huot, also second in the 50 freestyle on the weekend.  ‘’I prepared for six months for these Games and all I could control was my own performance.  And I almost had a perfect race, I can’t ask for more.  Cowdrey broke his world record by 1.2 seconds which is incredible.’’

In able-bodied swimming, Erica Morningstar of Calgary, Victoria Poon and Geneviève Saumur, both of Montreal and Sophie Simard of Quebec City combined forces to win the bronze in the women’s 4X100 freestyle relay. 

In the men’s 200 IM, Johns took another big step in his comeback from a serious shoulder injury earning the bronze medal with a great freestyle leg in the final 50. ‘’To be able to get a medal here is a pretty big deal for me,’’ said Johns, who’ll also swim in the medley relay on Tuesday.  ‘’I had some struggles at the start of the week and to comeback within a second of my best time is very satisfying.  The shoulder has been pain free for awhile but I’m only at 85-90 percent right now.  In the race tonight, I couldn’t get distracted by anyone else.  When we went into the freestyle, I knew I was in the hunt and I just put my head down and gave it all to the wall.’’

In the other men’s finals, Scott Dickens of Vancouver was fifth in the men’s 50 breaststroke and Thomas Kindler of Montreal eighth in the 100 butterfly. In women’s finals, Poon and Morningstar were fourth and seventh in the 50 freestyle; Landice Yestrau of Winnipeg was sixth in the 50 backstroke in a personal best; Brittany Reimer of Victoria and Maya Beaudry of Vancouver were sixth and eighth in the 400 freestyle and Lauren Van Oosten was seventh in the 100 breaststroke.

Nathan Gafuik (CP)

Gafuik wins silver in men’s all-around gymnastics at Commonwealth Games.
CP Wire

MELBOURNE, Australia (CP) _ To an athlete, adrenalin is like gas to a car. Nathan Gafuik is always running on empty.

The Calgary gymnast, who suffers from a chronic condition called Addison’s disease that prohibits the body from producing adrenalin, collected a silver medal in the men’s all-around final of artistic gymnastics Saturday at the Commonwealth Games.
It was a gratifying result for the 19-year-old gymnast, who once looked like he may have to give up on his sport. “It’s been a little bit of a rocky road for me coming up to where I am now,” said Gafuik. “I feel like I’m finally getting back on track to what my goals were when I was young.”

Gafuik won the silver with a score of 88.350. Teammate Adam Wong, also of Calgary, was fourth with 87.400. Australian Joshua Jefferis captured the gold medal with a score of 89.450 while compatriot Philippe Rizzo finished third with 88.200.

When Gafuik was young, he was loaded with talent, but over the span of several years his career went downhill as his condition worsened _ with no explanation why. “When he was 10 or 11 he was phenomenal and then slowly every year we were hanging on and hanging on and then finally we were both at a point where we thought maybe this wasn’t going to work out,” said his coach Tony Smith.

The disease had sapped him of strength and stunted his growth. “When he was 16, he looked like he was 11. It’s really hard to pick up girls when you look 11,” said Smith, chuckling. Gafuik hit rock bottom when he was 15, when he was admitted into hospital for dehydration. It was then that the doctors diagnosed Addison’s disease. “If it hadn’t been for that, we probably never would have figured out what was wrong,” said Smith.

Gafuik takes medication twice daily to keep his condition in check, and tops it up during competitions such as the Commonwealth Games, since any kind of stress on his body such as travel or lack of sleep makes it worse. He has a “therapeutic use exemption” from the International Gymnastics Federation and World Anti-Doping Agency.

Most times though, Gafuik tries not to think about it. “We kind of turn a shoulder and pretend it’s not there because it’s easier to take that approach, to work hard and not really think about it,” Gafuik said on his condition. “But there are days I wake up and I don’t have anything in my system because it takes longer for me to recover from things like travelling, normal day-to-day activities like tests at school.” Gafuik is a student at the University of Calgary.

Size-wise, he’s starting to catch up _ he’s five foot three and 126 pounds. And his medal performance bodes well for his future. He was an alternate at the 2004 Athens Olympics, and Saturday night’s event was his first individual medal in a major Games. He was also a part of the five-man squad that won gold in Thursday night’s team event. “What happened today was phenomenal,” said Smith. “Even Nathan’s place on the Canadian team, he’s always been near the bottom. “His nickname in our gym is Alter-Nate. He seems to be the alternate for an awful lot of events.”

Gafuik’s medal is the third for the gymnastics team here _ the women won bronze Friday night in the team event. With individual events scheduled for Monday and Tuesday, and Olympic gold medallist Kyle Shewfelt competing in two more events, Gafuik says the goal for the Canadian men is to win 12 more medals in Melbourne.

Gafuik’s best events were the floor and vault _ he finished second on each. Wong, meanwhile, had the top score in the vault and was second-best on the parallel bars, but some mistakes on the pommel horse cost him dearly. His score in that event was ninth in the field of 24. “I had a couple mistakes on pommel horse, I missed a few moves and I fell, so that kind of took me out right there,” said Wong, 20. “It was tough, but I just kept going. I know what I need to work on when I get home. “It was a little rough on some events, but overall I’m happy with how it went.”

Thomas Grandi (CP)

Thomas Grandi third in slalom, strong second-place finish for Simon in giant slalom.
The Ottawa Citizen

The Canadian alpine ski team finished the 2006 season in style. Genevieve Simard of Val-Morin, Que., took second place in the giant slalom at the World Cup final yesterday in Are, Sweden, while Thomas Grandi of Canmore, Alta., was third in the slalom. It was Grandi’s fifth podium finish of the season.“Gen and me were together in the lodge between runs and were both very relaxed,” Grandi said. “We could feel the positive vibes going around.”

The Canadian alpine team finished the season with 12 podium finishes—twice as many as last season. Canada finished sixth overall. Simard was thrilled after her second podium finish of the season. “I’m already looking forward to training for next year and next season,” she said. “I’m going to keep going and keep climbing my little mountain one step at a time."

Jenn Heil (CP)

Heil collects overall title: Places second in final race of season.
The Edmonton Journal

PENTICTON, B.C. - Jennifer Heil just keeps on winning. The Spruce Grove moguls skier won her third straight overall title Saturday after finishing second in the event to Nikola Sudova of the Czech Republic. Before accepting her third straight crystal globe, Heil said this victory was the most rewarding. “To be surrounded by friends and family is more special than receiving the crystal globe,” said Heil, who won gold at the Olympics in Turin last month. “This will be the most special of the three because it’s here in Canada.”

Dale Begg-Smith, a Canadian who competes for Australia, won the men’s event on Saturday as well as the overall title. Begg-Smith beat Warren Tanner of Grimsby, Ont., in the men’s final while Guilbaut Colas of France finished third. It was the first World Cup medal of Tanner’s career. “It tells me I’m legitimate,” Tanner said. “When you don’t have a medal, it’s hard, even if you know you’re capable of it.”

Heil was second to Sudova in the women’s final. Hannah Kearney of the U.S. was third in 26.38, while superstar Kari Traa of Norway finished fifth in the last World Cup of her illustrious career. Traa, the 2002 Olympic champion who has 37 World Cup gold medals, finished second to Heil in the season standings. “Jennifer’s an awesome skier and so focused,” Traa said. “I do think she will be the queen for the future.”

THAT’S GYM DANDY; SHEWFELT AND ‘MATES STRIKE GOLD AT COMMONWEALTH GAMES.
(The Calgary Sun)

With the partisan crowd at the Rod Laver Arena firmly supporting the Australians, Canada’s men’s gymnastics team stole the thunder Down Under. The Canucks walked out of the team event on Day 1 of the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, Australia, yesterday with the gold medal, beating the Aussies by less than a point.
Team Canada, which included Calgary’s Kyle Shewfelt, Grant Golding, Nathan Gafuik, Adam Wong and Halifax’s David Kikuchi, finished with 269.5 points, while Australia had 268.85.

Shewfelt, who was competing in his first major competition since the 2004 Olympics where he won a gold on the floor, said he and his teammates weren’t put off by the rabid fans. “They announced all the different teams competing and Australia was last, then the crowd just went wild,” he said. “We knew the crowd was going to be on the Aussies’ side but we had a gameplan heading in to just go out there, be relaxed, have fun and just hit our routines. There was absolutely no way we would have been disappointed if we’d done that and come second.”

Canada finished first on all the apparatus except the pommel horse and rings, where they were second. England, the defending gold medallist, finished third with 260 points. “We supported each other the whole way and, as the competition went on, we knew we were going to win,” Shewfelt said.

The Canadians last won team gold at the 1994 Games in Victoria and heading in, Shewfelt said the main goal was to win it all this year after taking silver in 2002. “We accomplished our major goal for the games, so now the first mission’s accomplished,” Shewfelt said.

With the team event out of the way, the Canadians will now focus on the individual events. Shewfelt is the defending Commonwealth Games champion on floor and vault. And, showing no signs of rust from not competing since 2004, Shewfelt qualified for three event finals by finishing first on floor and vault and second on high bar. He’ll return to competition Monday for the floor event then move on to vault and high bar Tuesday.

Wong and Gafuik, the only Canadians to compete in all six events, also came through with flying colours, placing second and third, respectively, overall behind Australia’s Joshua Jefferis and advance to tomorrow’s individual all around final.
“I’ve competed at a lot of high level meets but nothing so far like the atmosphere at a big Games like this,” said Gafuik in a statement. “I absolutely loved the atmosphere. It was very exciting.”

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