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WEEK
IN REVIEW |
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DOAN AND WOTHERSPOON TAKE WORLD SPRINT TITLES HAMAR, NOR(CSN)--Catriona Le May Doan and Jeremy Wotherspoon will march into Salt Lake City with new world champion crowns after both placing first overall Sunday at the World Sprint Championships in Hamar, Norway.
"It's great to come here and skate four solid races," said Wotherspoon. "I wasn't really gearing up for this weekend because the Olympics are approaching and that's where all the focus is. And to keep the title in Canada is a huge thing for us."
On the women's side, Le May Doan completed a sweep of both 500 races then took silver in the 1,000 to reclaim the world sprint crown with 152.680 points. Andrea Nuyt of the Netherlands was second at 153.420 and Anzhelika Kotyuga of Belarus third at 153.635.
In the 500, Le May Doan placed first in 38.10 - she has lost only once in the distance over the past two seasons. Nuyt was second in 38.33 and Kotyuga third at 38.45. In the 1,000, Sabine Volker of Germany was first in 1:16.17. Le May Doan solidified herself as a medal contender at the Games in that event too clocking 1:16.28 for second spot while Nuyt was third in 1:16.71. The next major event for the Canadian speed skaters are the Olympic Games which start February 8. "I'm ready to go home right now and rest," said Le May Doan. "It's been intense here the last few days with a lot of racing. But I feel good." CANADIAN SKELETON RACERS WIN THREE MEDALS AT FINAL WORLD CUP ST. MORITZ, SUI--The Canadian skeleton program showed off its depth at the final World Cup race of the season in St. Moritz, Switzerland on Friday. Team members Michelle Kelly and Lindsay Alcock won gold and bronze in the women's competition, while Duff Gibson captured a bronze medal in the men's competition.
The bronze medal placing by Alcock placed her third in the overall World Cup standings for the year. Coomber of Great Britain and Pederson of Switzerland placed first and second. For Alcock this is an astonishing result as this is her first year on the World Cup circuit. In five races Alcock won one gold and two bronze medals.
Skeleton team head coach Mark Wood commented, "We came to St. Moritz knowing that we have a strong team. Both the men's and women's team demonstrated that and as a result we secured the maximum number of places for our athletes for the Salt Lake Olympic Games. I'm very proud of all of their performances today." Meet our Olympic skeleton racers LUEDERS & ZARDO WIN BOBSLEIGH GOLD CORTINA, ITA--1998 Olympic 2-man champion Pierre Lueders, paired with rookie brakeman Giulio Zardo, posted his best World Cup performance since 1998, winning gold Saturday at the 2-man World Cup race in Cortina, Italy, in a field of 36 sleds from 21 nations.
"We were very happy with the results today," said Lueders. "We set a new start record in Cortina, and we equalled it on the second run. It was a surprise for everyone. I don't think about records when I go out and race, but Giulio really wanted a track record today, and we got it." Describing the gold-medal run, Lueders said, "I had a few driving errors but on this track, everyone has problems. But we put together two very consistent runs and it was good enough for gold. Today's results are beyond are wildest expectations, but Giulio is the number one brakeman in training and I'm the number one driver, so it was only a matter of time."
It was a disappointing day for Lueders and the Canada 1 team of Ken LeBlanc, Zardo and Pascal Caron on Sunday in the 4-man competition as the team finished 19th after a major crash in their second run. Canada 1, piloted by Lueders, had a solid 4.87 push start in their first run, until their left push bar jammed, killing their speed. They finished their first run with a time of 52.96 for 11th place. After corrections were made to the sled, the team matched their 4.87 push start in their second run. While the team drove well in the top corners, an error in the "Cristallo" corner caused the sled to come off late and hit the right wall, resulting in significant damage to the sled and injuries to the crew. Brakeman Caron was sent to the hospital with an injured right foot, ankle and lower leg and will likely return to Canada for further observation. Lueders, Ken LeBlanc, and Zardo were bruised but not injured. The men's bobsleigh World Cup tour now moves to La Plagne, France for the 7th and final World Cup race of the season. The 2-man race will be held Friday, January 25th, followed by the 4-man event on Saturday, January 26th. CANADIAN DISABLED ALPINE SKI TEAM OPENS 2002 SEASON IN FRANCE QUEYRAS, FRA--The Canadian Disabled Alpine Ski Team (CDAST) opened their 2002 season last week in Queyras, France with men and women's giant slaloms. The team produced some respectable results, considering other nations had already competed in five or more races to date.
Woolstencroft earned her second World Cup podium in as many days as she claimed gold in the women's standing class slalom in Molines, France on Thursday. The 20-year-old defeated New Zealand's Rachael Battersby and American Lee Joiner to record her second podium finish. Other impressive results through the men and women's slaloms in France included a podium (3rd) for Williamson and his guide Harriott in the slalom(Blind class) while Wisniewska placed sixth in the same Standing class slalom that Woolstencroft won. The Canadian Disabled Alpine Ski Team continues World Cup competition on Friday with another slalom before heading off to Austria for another five races. SIMARD RECORDS FIRST ALPINE WORLD CUP PODIUM BERCHTESGADEN, GER--Canadian Alpine Ski Team Member Genevieve Simard soared in Saturday's Giant Slalom in Berchtesgaden, Germany, recording her first career World Cup podium and Canada's second of the 2002 season.
"I was so overwhelmed when I climbed the podium," said Simard of her experience following the race. "I just had a constant smile on my face as I looked around and thought back of everything that got me here. I've learned that you have to just keep fighting all time. Coming into today's race, I was confident," she continued. "I can definitely ski fast on flat hills so I knew that if I skied well, I'd be in there."
Forsyth was the sole Canadian to advance to the second manche in the slalom on Sunday and finished 25th in a time of 1:59.31. In men's competition, Darin McBeath clocked a time of 1:57.24 to take 28th place on the famous Hahnenkamm downhill at Kitzbühl, Austria, while Edi Podivinsky finished 32nd in 1:57.45. Meet our Olympic alpine skiers FREESTYLERS TURN IT ON AT WORLD CUP LAKE PLACID, USA--Deidra Dionne finished third at a Freestyle Skiing World Cup last weekend, behind teammate Veronica Bauer who took the gold.
Meet our Olympic freestyle skiing athletes LUGE TEAM RETURNS TO WORLD CUP CIRCUIT Sigulda, LAT--Canada's National Luge team got back onto the World Cup Circuit at the Sixth Viessmann World Cup over the weekend.
"We didn't have really great runs today," added Pothier, "but I suppose we can't complain about a seventh place finish with the runs we had. However we are maintaining our consistency from heat to heat, and are feeling pretty good about the quality of our sliding as we get closer to the Olympics." The other Canadian team of Grant Albrecht and Mike Moffat finished seventeenth. "I did the best I could, but it just wasn't good enough today," said a disappointed Albrecht. "Hopefully, our best will give us better results next week." In the women's event, Regan Lauscher finished fifteenth. "I can't say that I was disappointed with my result, although fifteenth is definitely not where I wanted to finish," said Lauscher. "However, training went very well all week and I feel my sliding is pretty much where it should be with three weeks to go to the Games." Difficult weather conditions marked the men's singles event held the following day. Heavy snow throughout the race caused progressively worse track conditions and poor visibility. Chris Moffat was the top-placed Canadian, finishing fifteenth. With the points he collected in this race, he now stands 16th in the world. "I'm disappointed with my results today," said Moffat, who will compete in both singles and doubles events in Salt Lake City. "However, I do think that it says a lot about how much we have progressed when I can look at a fifteenth place finish and actually be disappointed." "I'm looking at my results here today and thinking that I am going to have to do some soul searching over the next two weeks," said Tyler Seitz, who finished eighteenth. "I'm really going to have to focus and get back to the top of my game for the Olympics". The other Canadian in the race, Kyle Connelly, finished twenty-sixth. The final Viessmann World Cup of the 2001-2002 season will take place next weekend in Winterberg, Germany. Meet our Olympic luge athletes SAY AND KNABE SET NEW CANADIAN RECORDS AT SWIMMING WORLD CUP PARIS, FRA--Rick Say and Morgan Knabe both broke Canadian records Saturday for medal performances to conclude the seventh stop on the World Cup short course swimming circuit.
"My plan was to give him (van den Hoogenband) a good race," said Say, who led with 25 metres to go. "I can't complain but after this morning I felt really good and I thought perhaps I could time in the 1:43 range. But I guess I need a couple of days more rest."
"I had a pretty solid race considering I just came off altitude training camp. I just wanted to stay as close as possible to those guys. It sets me up pretty good for this year." The eighth of nine stops on the World Cup is Tuesday and Wednesday in Stockholm. CIARAMIDARO CONTINUES TO IMPRESS IN ROOKIE BIATHLON SEASON RUHPOLDING,GER(CSN)--Maryke Ciaramidaro of Canmore, AB., one of Canada's most promising young competitors in biathlon, is disappointed that no Canadian biathletes will get the opportunity to compete at the Winter Olympics next month.
Martine Albert and Robin Clegg of Canmore, came the closest to qualifying for the Games coming up one qualifying result short each. The cut-off date was last weekend. They had met the criteria set by the International Biathlon Union but not the COA standards. Ciaramidaro has been Canada's top international performer this season on the World Cup. "I'm pleased with my progress," said Ciaramidaro. "The skiing today for me was just terrible though. The sprint was held last night and to come back in the morning was very hard. I had never done two races so close together like that." Albert and Zina Kocher, 19, of Canmore were 81st and 82nd respectively in the women's sprint Saturday and didn't qualify for the pursuit. In the men's 10 kilometre sprint on Friday Clegg was 63rd and David Leoni, 19, of Camrose, Alta., was 94th. CANADA'S NATIONAL WOMEN'S TEAM ADJUSTS ROSTER FOR SALT LAKE CITY CALGARY,CAN--Canada's National Women's Hockey Team has released forward Nancy Drolet and added forward Cherie Piper to its roster for the 2002 Winter Olympic Games, General Manager/Head Coach Danièle Sauvageau announced last Monday.
Piper, a native of Scarborough, ON, also scored 18 goals in 13 games, while starring over the past two seasons with Canada's National Women's Under 22 Team. Canada's National Women's Team will continue to train in Calgary, AB over the few weeks before leaving for the 2002 Winter Olympic Games on February 6th, 2002. Canada's first game at the Winter Olympics will be on Monday, February 11th against Kazakstan. |
| HOW
WE'RE DOING: Medals at Major Games: Medals at World Championships: 4 Gold, 4 Bronze World Records: 7 |
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