December 7, 2021
Hudak picks up double gold at World Cup
Two-time Paralympian Brittany Hudak captured three medals, including two gold and one silver while competing at the Para Nordic World Cup December 4-7 in Canmore, Alta.
On Saturday, the Prince Albert resident, who is a hopeful for the 2022 Paralympic Games, won her first gold medal at a World Cup in the women’s standing 7.5-kilometre event, tying fellow Canadian Natalie Wilkie for the No. 1 spot with a time of 14 minutes and 59.5 seconds.
“It was the best feeling getting the tie with Natalie,” said Hudak in a Nordiq Canada release. “There is really nobody I’d rather tie with. We spend a lot of time training together, and pushing each other to be better, so it was super great to see where our shape is at. Not having as many races last year, it was hard to know where we stand. I knew there was potential for a good result today, and it is nice to put together a good one.”
Hudak added to her gold-medal total on Tuesday, winning the women’s sprint event.
The win brought her overall World Cup medal tally to 12 after she also captured a silver medal in the 10-km standing event on Sunday, with a time of 28:53.1.
Coakwell sled finishes fifth at World Cup event
Moose Jaw’s Ben Coakwell, a two-time Olympian, continued his tour of the four-man bobsleigh World Cup circuit with a stop in Altenburg, Germany on Sunday.
The Justin Kripps’ sled for which Coakwell is a brakeman, finished the event in fifth place with a two-run total time of 1:48.90. The finish put the Canadian team .94 seconds behind the gold-medal winner, Germany’s Freidrich Francesco.
The Canadians will remain in Germany for the next leg of the circuit, but will move about 350 kilometres west to Winterberg.
Read more at bobsleighcanadaskeleton.ca.
Hudey continues speedskating World Cup circuit
After competitions in Poland and Norway, two-time Olympian Marsha Hudey of White City was back on North American soil competing at the third leg of the ISU World Cup circuit in Salt Lake City, Utah.
Starting Friday, Hudey skated to a second-place finish in the women’s 500-metre Division B event, with a time of 37.927 seconds.
She followed that up on Saturday by competing in the women’s 500-m Division A race, finishing with a time of 37.843 for 17th place.
Hudey and the rest of the Canadian team will return home for the final World Cup event of the year, Dec. 9-11 in Calgary.
Full results are available here.
Emily Clark makes Hockey Canada centralization cut
As the Olympics draw closer, the Canadian women’s national hockey team is trimming its roster to reach the squad that will represent the country in Beijing.
That roster continues to include Saskatoon’s Emily Clark as one of 15 forwards, following the release of three other players on Friday.
Canada will continue its pre-Olympic prep with a game against an all-star team for the Professional Women’s Hockey Players Association (PWHPA) on Dec. 9 and 11 in Calgary. Canada will then end the year off continuing their Rivalry Series against Team USA with a trio of games Dec. 15, 17 and 20.
More information is available at hockeycanada.ca.
Catriona marks 60 days out of Beijing 2022
Three-time Olympic medalist and Chef de Mission for the upcoming Beijing Winter Olympics has marked the 60-day countdown to the Games, permanently.
The Saskatoon-born speedskater shared a photo on Twitter Tuesday showing off her Olympic rings tattoo with the following statement:
“I got my Olympic Rings tatoo today. I said I would get them if I was ever Chef de Mission. Today, 60 days out of Beijing 2022 was the day [heart emoji] @TeamCanada”