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One of Canada's world title drought ended last night. Another company could go down on Sunday. And Canadians could sweep the World Cup trophy in one of winter's most dangerous sports. Here's what you need to know for an exciting weekend of Olympic sports.
After a great night in Montreal, another Canadian duo will aim for gold at the World Figure Skating Championships.
Last night at the Bell Center, the pairing team of Diana Stellato-Dudek and Maxime Deschamps capped off the performance of a lifetime with a historic victory in front of an enthusiastic crowd in the city where they live and train.
The Canadian duo built a lead on Wednesday with a personal best short program and beat Japan's Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara in the free skate, setting another personal best and securing their first world title. The defending champion won silver, while Germany's Minerva Fabienne Haase and Nikita Volodin won bronze in their first world competition.
Stellato-Dudek and Maxime Deschamps are the first Canadian figure skating world champions since 2018, and the first pair of Canadians since Megan Duhamel and Eric Radford won back-to-back titles a few years earlier. won the world title. Stellato-Dudek, 40, is the oldest woman to win a world title in the history of the sport. “40 is the new 20,” she said. “It's something I'm proud of.”
Her road to the top was a long one. In 2000, at age 16, the Chicago native won a silver medal in singles for the United States at the World Junior Championships. But her chronic lower back injury forced her retirement before she reached her 18th birthday. After being away from her sport for a decade and a half, she returned as a pairs skater, but she didn't have much success and she moved to Montreal in 2019, having had eight different partners before her. He teamed up with Deschamps, who had a lot of experience.
WATCH | Stellato Dudek and Deschamps achieve historic victory at World Championship in Montreal:
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Canada's Diana Stellato-Dudek and Maxime Deschamps won gold in the pairs competition at the World Figure Skating Championships in Montreal. Stellato-Dudek, 40, becomes the oldest woman to win a world title.
This new pair clicked really well last season, winning Canada's first title and first Grand Prix Tour gold medal. They placed fourth in the prestigious Grand Prix Final and again in their World Championship debut. This season, they took it to the next level, winning two Grand Prix events, winning a bronze medal in the finals, repeating as Canadian champions, and winning gold at the Four Continents Championships (for non-Europeans). Now they are world champions. “This is truly a dream come true,” Stellat-Dudek said.
Now she has her sights set on an even bigger prize: an Olympic gold medal. But the clock is ticking. Not only will Stellato-Dudek be 42 by the time the 2026 Winter Games begin in northern Italy, he will also need to obtain Canadian citizenship. While a place of residence is sufficient to represent a country in most international events, a matching passport is required for the Olympics. Stellato-Dudek says she is confident she will land in time.
Today in Montreal, Canadian ice dancers Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier are looking to follow in the footsteps of Stellato-Dudek and Deschamps to win their first world titles. Like the pairing team, Gilles and Poirier have won two races on the Grand Prix circuit this season, winning a bronze medal at the Finals and a gold medal at the Four Continents. They won their second world championship bronze medal in three years in Japan last March, becoming Canada's only medalists. Jill underwent surgery for ovarian cancer just two months ago.
The opening stage of the ice dance event concludes late this afternoon. Medals will be decided during Saturday's free program starting at 1:30 p.m. ET. Of the 24 qualifying games, the leaders will be the last to take to the ice.
WATCH | Gilles and Poirier reflect on their experiences around the world.
Take a peek at their World Championship lookbooks and their first encounter with Toller Cranston.
The women's free skate will take place tonight at 6pm ET. Japanese star Kaori Sakamoto placed fourth in the short program, putting her third consecutive world title in jeopardy. European champion Roena Hendricks (Belgium) is the leader. The only Canadian, Madeline Scissas, is in 17th place.
The men's free will take place Saturday at 6pm ET. Japan's Shoma Uno came out on top in yesterday's free skate, putting him in position to win his third straight victory. But American rival Ilya Marin is a close third, with Quadgod's wealth of jumps capable of producing dizzying scores at any time. The top Canadian is Roman Sadovsky in 11th place.
All World Championship skates can be watched live on CBC Gem, CBCSports.ca and the CBC Sports app. These platforms will also host a closing ceremony on Sunday at 2pm ET. CBC TV Network coverage continues tonight at 8pm ET and Saturday at 3pm ET.
Rachel Homan's team could end Canada's curling drought.
Ottawa skip and teammates Tracy Fleury, Emma Miskew and Sarah Wilkes clinched the top seed in the playoffs with an 8-2 victory over Scotland at the Women's World Championship this afternoon in Sydney, N.S. Obtained. The Canadians' 27 consecutive wins bring their tournament record to 11-0 heading into tonight's final round-robin match versus playoff berth against South Korea.
Canada will receive a bye into Saturday night's semifinals against the second-place team in the round robin. Defending champions Switzerland, Italy and South Korea (all 9 wins, 2 losses) are competing for the spot. Sweden (7-4) and Denmark (6-6) round out the six-team playoffs, which begin Saturday morning. The gold and bronze medal matches will be held on Sunday.
Homan is a four-time Canadian champion who won gold at the 2017 world championships, silver in 2014 and bronze in 2013, and is looking to win Canada's first major curling world title in six years. Most of the best athletes in the sport. To do that, they need to end the reign of Swiss skip Silvana Tirinzoni, who is aiming for a fifth consecutive world title. Here are today's latest results.
Canadians have a near monopoly on ski and snowboard World Cup titles.
Canada's Brittany Phelan and India's Sherett won gold and silver medals today in Sweden at the penultimate Women's Ski Cross World Cup competition of the season. Canada's Mariel Thompson finished fifth and maintained her lead in the standings, having won five of the previous seven events. The former Olympic and world champion will seek his fourth World Cup title in the season finale Saturday at 7 a.m. ET. Phelan is third in the season-long points chase, with Canadian Hannah Schmidt fourth and Sherett sixth.
Canada's Reece Howden still has a chance to win his third Men's World Cup crown in four years after winning bronze today. He is chasing Sweden's David Mobaerg, who won this race, and Switzerland's Alex Fiba, who will go into Saturday's final.
Ski cross is a sport in which athletes race in elimination style in heats on four down courses with dangerous elements such as twists, turns, rollers and jumps. Fast wipeouts are very common.
Ski cross's non-identical twin is snowboard cross. Last week, Canada's Elliott Grondin missed out on the podium for the first time in nine tournaments this season, but won his first World Cup in Austria, including five gold medals. Saturday and Sunday at noon ET, the two-time Olympic medalist will look to close out the season with another win or two in his hometown of Mont-Sainte-Anne, Quebec. No other Canadian player is in the top 16 of the World Cup standings.
Watch this weekend's ski and snowboard cross-season finale all live on CBC Sports' digital platforms.
Also this weekend:
* The Alpine Ski World Cup season concludes with the women's final downhill and men's final downhill on Saturday and Sunday, respectively. Today in Austria, Switzerland's Lara Gut-Behrami and Marco Odermatt added the season's super-G title to the overall and giant slalom championships they already held. This weekend they can add to the downhill crystal globe by defending their lead in the standings. There are no Canadians competing for either title, but Cameron Alexander and Jack Crawford could medal in the final race.
* The Para-Alpine World Cup finals are being held in Italy, and today Canada's Kalle Eriksson and his guide Sierra Smith won slalom gold in the men's visually impaired category. This was his second win and sixth medal of the season.
* The Bobsled World Cup season concludes Saturday with two women's and four men's competition in Lake Placid, New York. Today, Cynthia Appiah won bronze in the women's monobob, earning Canada's first medal in bobsled competition this season. Mirela Raheneva missed yesterday's final match after winning gold and bronze medals in the concurrent Skeleton World Cup tour. She finished 12th in the standings, one place behind 19-year-old Canadian Harry Clarke, who became the youngest-ever gold medalist at the Skeleton World Championships last month.
The bobsled and alpine season finales can be watched live on CBC Sports' digital platforms. See the full schedule for start times and other streams available this weekend.
