5 Team Canada things to watch this weekend: March 17-19
The winter sports season is slowly coming to its conclusion. But before spring is sprung, here are five fun things you’ll want to keep an eye on this weekend while cheering on Team Canada.
Freestyle Skiing
Mikaël Kingsbury already has two Crystal Globes locked up, but he can secure one more at the season’s final World Cup stop for moguls, dual moguls, and aerials in Almaty, Kazakhstan. He currently leads the men’s dual moguls standings. That competition will take place on Saturday, following the moguls on Friday.
Meanwhile, Marion Thénault would love nothing more than to pad her resumé with another aerials podium on Sunday.
Curling
The 2023 World Women’s Curling Championship will kick off on Saturday in Sandviken, Sweden. For the third straight year, Team Einarson will be Team Canada at the worlds. The quartet of skip Kerri Einarson, third Val Sweeting, second Shannon Birchard, and lead Briane Harris won bronze last year.
Their first match will be against Sweden. The 2018 Olympic champions are formidable foes and will be playing on home ice. All of Team Canada’s games will be broadcast on TSN. The tournament continues until March 26.
Ski Cross
Olympic gold medallist Brady Leman is retiring from ski cross after this weekend’s World Cup Finals which will take place on Canadian snow in Collingwood, Ontario. Marielle Thompson will strive for another podium to end her season on a high note. Plus, 2018 Olympic silver medallist Brittany Phelan will make her comeback from injury. She hasn’t competed in a year.
Qualifications went down Thursday and saw eight Canadian women and eight Canadian men advancing to race on Friday and Saturday.
Ski Jumping
Following the World Cup events elsewhere in Norway this past week, Alexandria Loutitt and Abigail Strate are excited to compete in the first ever women’s ski flying event in Vikersund on Sunday. Flying hills are much bigger than the normal hills and large hills used in Olympic competition. It’s common for men to fly further than 200 metres so what might we see from these two incredible Canadians?
Alpine Skiing
After a breakthrough season for Canadian men and women in all alpine disciplines, athletes such as Jack Crawford and Valérie Grenier are looking to lock in some last points at the World Cup Finals in Soldeu, Andorra.
Look out for Jeffrey Read who just achieved a top-five for his career best result in the super-G on Thursday. The technical skiers take centre stage with the giant slalom and slalom events happening over Saturday and Sunday.