Olympic sports roundup: Canadians slide to gold
Catch up on what you may have missed over the weekend
It was a jam-packed weekend of high-performance sport around the world, with many Canadian athletes in action, including gold-medal performances in bobsleigh, skeleton, luge and speed skating.
Here's a look at what you may have missed.
Humphries, Vathje golden on home ice
Two-time Olympic champion Kaillie Humphries began the World Cup bobsleigh season with a victory in Whistler, B.C. Humphries and brakeman Cynthia Appiah roared to the win at a place the pilot calls "a special place."
Humphries and Appiah weren't the only Canadians to capture gold on home ice. Elisabeth Vathje slid to the top of the skeleton podium for her second career World Cup victory.
Vathje completely dominated the field on the way to her win, posting a winning time that was nearly a second ahead of her nearest competitor. Vathje was understandably emotional after the win:
Historic day for Canadian luge
Canadian lugers had a huge showing in Lake Placid, notching a medal of every colour on Saturday — the first time in the team's history they won gold, silver and bronze at an event.
Women's sliders Kim McRae and Alex Gough took home silver and bronze, respectively, in the women's singles event.
McRae then joined men's slider Sam Edney and the doubles duo of Tristan Walker and Justin Snith for gold in the first team relay event of the World Cup season.
Speed skaters strike gold
It was a rookie and a veteran landing on the long track podium in Astana, Kazakhstan.
Vincent De Haitre won his first individual World Cup gold medal in the men's 1,000-metre race.
Denny Morrison's comeback trail led to a podium result for the first time since his return to action following a motorcycle crash and stroke. He joined teammates Jordan Belchos and Ted-Jan Blomen in winning silver in the men's team pursuit.
On the women's side, Ivanie Blondin scored a mass start gold, her second of the season. Following Sunday's performance, she leads the overall World Cup standings
Stuhec doubles up at Lake Louise
Lake Louise hosted two downhill races this weekend, and per usual, both were won by the same skier. But it wasn't the injured Lindsay Vonn, who has 18 career wins on those slopes.
Slovenia's Ilka Stuhec roared to the top of the podium in both races with the American still recovering from right arm surgery.
But don't ask her what she thinks of Stuhec's performance, as Vonn said she wasn't even watching:
I'm not watching. It's too hard <a href="https://t.co/WDq1rrhBb8">https://t.co/WDq1rrhBb8</a>
—@lindseyvonnSwitzerland's Lara Gut concluded the weekend's races at the top of the podium in the women's super-G. Gut is very familiar with victory at Lake Louise, having also won super-G gold in 2013 and 2014.
Jansrud posts back-to-back wins
Norway was the big winner this weekend in Val d'Isere. Not only did Kjetil Jansrud win both the super-G and downhill races on Friday and Saturday, it also marked the return of superstar Aksel Lund Svindal to competition following last season's huge crash in Kitzbuehel.
Svindal, not satisfied with merely participating, scored silver and bronze in the super-G and downhill, respectively.
Meanwhile, Canada's Erik Read carved out a career-best World Cup finish in the men's super-G on Sunday, placing ninth.
Jones breezes to 3rd Canada Cup title
Winnipeg's Jennifer Jones unseated reigning champion Rachel Homan in the women's final at the Canada Cup. Jones held off Ottawa's Homan for a 9-5 win, capturing her third career title in the event.
Both teams had already booked their spots at the Olympic qualifying event to be held in 2017.
On the men's side, Reid Carruthers beat Brad Gushue 8-6 to secure his team's Olympic qualifier spot.
