Athletes from northwestern Ontario are off to a strong start at the Ontario Winter Games
Badminton, cross-country skiing, wrestling among sports featured in event's opening weekend
While competition was fierce, athletes from Thunder Bay, and across northwestern Ontario, put on strong showings at the 2024 Ontario Winter Games on Saturday.
Saturday saw young athletes compete in a number of sports at venues across Thunder Bay: badminton, cross-country skiing, diving, futsal, ringette and wrestling are the sports included in the 2024 games' first weekend.
At the Lakehead University fieldhouse, both the men's and women's northwestern Ontario wrestling teams earned victories; the men's team had a bye in round one, and then defeated the Ontario team 30-24 in their second match of the day.
Individual victories went to Anton Rozic, Merric BeauParlant, Koen Hurlbert, Parker Evans, Samuel Prosser, and Tyler Poperechny.
Meanwhile, on the women's side, northwestern Ontario defeated northeastern Ontario 33-20, with individual wins coming from northwestern Ontario wrestlers Madelaine Blain, Madelin Jose, Hayden Reinelt, Mylie Baccari, Lillian Savage, Emily Harris, and Kylie Boucha.
The win earned the women's wrestling team a bye for their second match of the day. Wrestling will continue Sunday at the fieldhouse, with matches getting underway at 9 a.m.
Out at Lappe Nordic Ski Centre, Kiera Hall finished in fourth in the girls' 2024 Ontario Winter Games sprint qualifier, while Hanna Abbink also landed in the top 10 with an eighth-place finish. Both ski out of Lappe Nordic Centre.
On the boys' side, Rudy Balabuck of Big Thunder Nordic was the city's top finisher in the sprint qualifier, placing eighth. Kai Hautala crossed the finish line in 11th place, while Palmer Hunt ended up in 14th.
The five-kilometre classic will be raced on Sunday, also at the Lappe Nordic Ski Centre. The race gets underway at 10 a.m.
Back in the city, in the gym at Superior CVI, the Northern Ontario Badminton Association (NOBA) team had a bit of a rocky start on Saturday, losing to both the Toronto District Badminton Association, and York Region District Badminton Association.
As of Saturday afternoon, NOBA was sitting with an 0-2 record.
Full results from Saturday, and a schedule of Sunday's events, are available on the 2024 Ontario Winter Games website.