ATHLETE RESULTS

MOLICKI WINS WORLD CUP SPEED SKATING SILVER

INNSBRUCK, AUT--Dustin Molicki raced to a silver medal in the men's 1,500-metres Saturday at the second stop on the World Cup long track speed skating circuit. Molicki, who raced in the fourth pair with German Jan Friesinger, finished in 1:51.36 for his second career World Cup medal.

Molicki on form in the 1500m (AP-Kerstin Joensson)

"I didn't expect to hold on to second place," said Molicki, the Canadian all around champion. "But I was feeling pretty good today. My pair had a lighting quick start and my strategy was to keep up with him. After the first lap I was ahead so I knew it was a good one." Kevin Marshall of Coquitlam, B.C., was 10th. Cindy Klassen finished fourth in both the 1500m and 3000m - her best results this season. "Cindy is just consistently improving and she had an excellent race today," said Klassen's coach Moira d'Andrea. "She saw her potential at the end of last year and worked hard over the summer. A year ago at this time she wasn't there."

Kristina Groves was 17th in the 1500m and 14th in the 3000m. Clara Hughes and Nicole Slot finished 13th and 19th respectively in the 3000m.

Mark Knoll placed second and Steven Elm third in group 2 action of the men's 5000m on Sunday. However they posted the seventh and eighth best times of the day respectively and should be back in Group 1 next week.

The World Cup circuit moves to The Hague, the Netherlands next weekend.

LUEDERS WINS FIRST BOBSLEIGH MEDAL OF THE SEASON

LAKE PLACID, USA--Pierre Lueders piloted the Canada 1 sled to its first medal of the season, winning bronze in the 2nd race of the 2-man Bobsleigh World Cup. Lueders and brakeman Mark LeBlanc came third in a field of 30 sleds from 18 nations. Lueders and LeBlanc posted runs of 55.93 and 56.53 to finish with a final combined time of 1:52.46.

The Canada 2 sled piloted by Yannick Morin with brakeman Guilio Zardo, finished 0.92 seconds behind the gold-medal winning team, with a final time of 1:53.08 to finish in 12th spot. The Canada 3 sled of pilot Jayson Krause and brakeman John Sokolowski, finished 21st with a final combined time of 1:53.84. The following day, the Canada 1 four-man bobsleigh team of pilot Lueders, Ben and Matt Hindle, and Pascal Caron, posted runs of 55.65 and 55.72 to place 10th, with a final combined time of 1:51.37.

Lueders, left, sprays United States driver Todd Hays, center, as brakeman Garrett Hines, right, sprays the crowd at the World Cup Two-Man Bobsled competition. (AP Photo/ Jim McKnight)

"We were happy with our first run, but we were very surprised by the time," said Lueders.

"Our second run was much more competitive. The ice definitely played a factor for us today. This is a highly competitive field. Our goal was to finish in the top 10, so we've reached our goal. However, there is always room for improvement and we haven't reached our full potential yet."

The men's team is now moving to Winterberg Germany for the next series of World Cup races.

SWIMMERS BRING HOME THE HARDWARE FROM FIRST WORLD CUP

RIO DE JANEIRO (CSN)-Rick Say won his second and third gold medals and broke a Canadian record Sunday at the opening stop on the World Cup short course swimming circuit.

Morgan Knabe swims the final of the men's 200m breaststroke REUTERS/Sergio Moraes

In the 200 freestyle, Say, the 400 freestyle winner Saturday, clocked one minute and 45.84 seconds to eclipse the previous national record of 1:46.32 set by Turlough O'Hare of Vancouver 10 years ago. Gustavo Borges of Brazil was second in 1:46.48 and Scott Tucker of the U.S., third in 1:47.56. With his three victories, Say returns home with $3,000 (US). "In the 200 I went out fast to make sure I got in the 1:45 range," said Say. "Borges was catching me but I thought in my head there's $1,000 bucks on the line here and I made sure I held him off. The 1,500 was tough because the pool conditions make it difficult to turn and to breathe. The water's very warm and murky."

Morgan Knabe, took the men's 200 breaststroke with a personal best 2:09.50 which is less than a second off Victor Davis's 14-year-old national record.

"It's my first time under 2:10 and I was surprised to swim that fast early in the season," said Knabe. "But I've revamped my training this year and it's making a difference. I came out strong in the 200 and I felt I still had a lot left." Knabe also took home bronze in the 100 breast.

Next week the international swimming world focuses on Canada. First on Wednesday November 21 is the $20,000 SEARS Skins Meet in Calgary, a made-for-television event which features a mystery medley and a freestyle eliminator on the schedule. Then on November 23-24 it's the second stop on the World Cup circuit in Edmonton.

SMITH AND STRINGER CRASH AT WOMEN'S BOBSLEIGH WORLD CUP

KONIGSSEE, GER--It was a bitter sweet day for the Canada 1 team of pilot Christina Smith and brakeman Lesa Stringer at the third stop on the women's World Cup in Germany. Smith and Stringer's first run of 50.24 was faster than the bronze winning USA2 team. Their second run was clocked as the 2nd fastest coming out of the kreisel - a 360 degree turn, and the final pressure point on the Königssee track.

"We took it too hard and we crashed," said Smith. "It hurts to finish 21st after knowing that we were in 2nd place. We're both pretty banged up, mostly ice burns and bruises." Asked whether the team would compete tomorrow, Smith replied, "we live on the edge in this sport, and we have to take the bumps and bruises when they come. This is a competitive track, we're in a competitive field and we are definitely up for tomorrow's challenge." Canada 1 finished with a final time of 1:43.87 to finish 21st. The Canada 2 sled piloted by Christine Fraser and brakeman Paula McKenzie posted runs of 50.69 and 50.35 to finish 10th, placing higher than the Canada 1 sled for the first time this season.

Suzanne Gavine-Hlady

Fraser and McKenzie finished 9th the following day in the 4th World Cup, clocking runs of 50.30 and 50.74 to finish with a final combined time of 1:41.04. Smith, overcoming bruises and scrapes from yesterday's crash, and brakeman Suzanne Gavine-Hlady finished 16th, posting runs of 52.91 and 50.34 to finish with a final combined time of 1:43.25. This was the first World Cup in Gavine-Hlady's rookie year.

The Canadian national women's bobsleigh team is now enroute to Igls, Austria to compete in the fifth and sixth rounds of the Women's World Cup tour on Thursday, November 22 and Friday, November 23.

NO SURPRISES AT SHORT TRACK OLYMPIC TRIALS

ABBOTSFORD, BC - It's a battle between Marie-Eve Drolet of Chicoutimi, Que., Alanna Kraus from Calgary and Amelie Goulet-Nadon of Laval, Que at the Olympic trials for Canada's short track speed skating team.

Alanna Kraus

In the 1000 Drolet took the win with a time of 1:37.839. Kraus placed second in 1:38.414 and Goulet-Nadon of Laval, Que., third in 1:38.696. In the 1,500, Drolet won in 2:36.683 for her third victory in four races. Goulet-Nadon was second in 2:37.273 and Kraus third in 2:37.483. The men's competition so far is a battle between Marc Gagnon and Jonathan Guilmette, both of Montreal. They've each won two races so far. In the men's 1,000, Gagnon placed first in 1:29.552, double Olympic medallist Eric Bedard of Ste-Thecle, Que., was second in 1:29.861 and Mathieu Turcotte of Sherbrooke, Que., third in 1:29.955.

There are four finals for each Olympic distance, the 500, 1,000 and 1,500-metres, with the three best results in each distance counting towards the final score. The top-two overall in each distance makes the team. Competition resumes on Tuesday and concludes on November 25.

POWELL TAKES WOMEN'S OPEN TITLE AT US RACQUETBALL CHAMPIONSHIPS

MEMPHIS,USA-- Lori Jane Powell won the Women's Open event at the US OPEN Racquetball Championships on Sunday. Earlier in the day, Powell lost in the quarter finals of the Women's Pro event as she came up against the current queen of the courts, American Cheryl Gudinas. Facing off on the glass court, Powell just couldn't get going against Gudinas, who has won the last seven pro tournaments.

In the Men's Pro event, Kane Waselenchuk, 20, of Edmonton, came close to beating the second seed, but lost the tiebreaker 11-5 in a two-and-a-half hour marathon of amazing gets and rallies. "It is only a matter of experience", said coach Ron Brown. "Kane definitely has the talent." His thirty-five year old opponent, Cliff Swain, knows how good Waselenchuk is. "I've never seen anybody so happy to win", said Powell. "The other pros all know how good Kane is, and they know this may be the last time they beat him."

Lori-Jane Powell

Powell with join other top Canadian women at the Ladies Professional Racquetball Association event in Saskatoon November 30-December 1, where the Canadians will have a chance to exact some revenge against top American players.

IN THE NEWS....

DIVER LIBERTY HAILED AS A HERO

CALGARY--Olympic diver Jeff Liberty made the news this week after he rescued Shannon Roberts, a 22-year-old pregnant, diabetic woman from her trapped car in the Bow River in Calgary.

Liberty, a three-metre diver who represented Canada at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia, swam out about four metres to the rapidly sinking car and began pounding on the closed driver's window, signalling Shannon to open it. The dazed woman was only able to partially comply before Liberty reached in, rolled it the rest of the way down and undid her seat-belt. "You could tell she was in shock, so I managed to get one of her arms out the window and then her other arm out," he said. "Then I just pulled her out through the window." Liberty swam the woman to shore where other bystanders helped the woman onto the bank.

BRYDON RECUPERATING - POSITIVE OUTLOOK FOR SALT LAKE

CALGARY--Canadian Alpine Ski Team member Emily Brydon is recovering following a successful surgery to reconstruct her left knee. Brydon, of Fernie, BC, suffered a tear of her Anterior Cruciate ligament (ACL) while training Super-G at Copper Mountain in Colorado last Sunday.

Following surgery, Dr. McConkie was positive with respect to Brydon's return to competition at Salt Lake City. "As far as the Olympics are concerned, we're planning that she's going to be there," said Dr. McConkie. "If she can move through this without losing too much in the way of muscle strength - I'm optimistic she'll be able to ski technical at the Games." Wednesday's surgery was the second performed on Brydon in the past 10 months. The rising star also underwent reconstructive surgery last February following a season-ending injury that saw her tear the ACL, Medial Collateral ligament (MCL) and medial meniscus in her right knee in the women's downhill event at the St. Anton (Austria) championships.

MEN'S BOBSLEIGH ROSTER CUT

CALGARY--The Canadian Men's National Bobsleigh Team will compete in the balance of the 2001/2002 FIBT World Bobsleigh Tour with 16 athletes, six fewer than were presented to the media at the October 26 news conference in Calgary.

"We will field a team of three pilots and a combination of crewmen for the remainder of this season leading up to the 2002 Salt Lake Games," said Jeff Hugill, Managing Director of Bobsleigh CANADA Skeleton. "We are going with an Olympic program that is focussed on results. The season opening World Cup event in Calgary this month gave us important additional data to refine the men's bobsleigh program so that our energies and funds go towards developing the best athletes to compete in the Salt Lake Games, and beyond to the 2006 Games."

Pierre Lueders, 1998 Olympic 2-man gold medallist, continues to anchor the men's team. He is the only Canadian pilot to have achieved full Olympic qualifying status. Piloting the Canada 2 and Canada 3 sleds are Jayson Krause, 24, of Okotoks, Alberta, and Yannik Morin, 26, of Montreal. No longer named to the 2001/2002 Canadian Men's National Bobsleigh Team are pilots Tom Samuel, 36, of Red Deer, and Brian Zarsky, 27, of Calgary.