Olympic sports roundup: Bad weather can't stop Canadians
Catch up on what you may have missed over the weekend
It was a jam-packed weekend of high-performance sport around the world, including several World Cup medals won by Canadian athletes despite Mother Nature wreaking havoc with events.
Here's a look at what you may have missed.
Ski cross success
Bad weather was the reason Watles, Italy, was the site of two races this weekend. Insufficient snowfall in Megeve, France meant ski cross athletes competed in back-to-back events, but Canadians found their way onto the podium on both days.
Georgia Simmerling and Brady Leman snagged silver medals on Saturday.
Olympic champion Marielle Thompson took gold on Sunday, while Leman added his second silver of the weekend.
Slopestyle snowed under
The qualification runs at a slopestyle event in Font Romeu, France, had to stand up as the measuring stick.
Canadian freestyle skiers Alex Bellemare and Anouk Purnelle-Faniel each landed bronze in the World Cup event, which was scheduled for Saturday.
Due to inclement weather, the final results were based on the qualification run, which took place on Thursday for the men's event and earlier on Saturday for the women's event before the decision to cancel the final.
Vathje, Rahneva are 1-run medallists
Canada's Elisabeth Vathje was declared the winner of the women's skeleton event in Winterberg, Germany on Sunday in a race that was shortened to one run due to — you guessed it! — weather conditions.
Vathje's teammate Mirela Rahneva also reached the podium with a third-place finish.
High winds, snowfall wreak havoc in alpine skiing
Lindsey Vonn had to wait an extra day for her return to World Cup action as weather delayed the women's downhill until Sunday. That race was won by Christine Scheyer of Austria while Vonn skied to a 13th-place finish.
The Lauberhorn was supposed to be the site for the men's downhill, but that event was also scrapped due to high winds and large amounts of snow. Henrik Kristoffersen won Sunday's slalom event, outdueling rival Marcel Hirscher.
Luge athletes have weekend to forget
It was a rough weekend for Canada's sliders in Sigulda, Latvia. No one climbed the podium, and Alex Gough suffered whiplash after a helmet strap broke on her first trip down the track.
It wasn't quite as bad as the first run Austria's Miriam Kastlunger had:
Canadian cross-country ski team wins rare gold
Canadians Alex Harvey and Len Valjas raced to victory in the men's cross-country team sprint event in Toblach, Italy on Sunday.
The Canadian pair finished the course in 16 minutes, 2.11 seconds, just 0.53 seconds ahead of Sweden and 0.65 seconds in front of Italy.
Haywood Update: <a href="https://twitter.com/alex_harvey">@alex_harvey</a> & <a href="https://twitter.com/LennyValjas">@LennyValjas</a> World Cup sprint gold in Toblach <a href="https://twitter.com/TeamCanada">@TeamCanada</a> <a href="https://t.co/9vFUXSlesX">pic.twitter.com/9vFUXSlesX</a>
—@cccskiSt-Gelais, Cournoyer shine at nationals
Marianne St-Gelais and Charle Cournoyer were the most consistent speed skaters at the Canadian national championships over the weekend.
They each collected back-to-back gold in the 1,500-metre and 500 races before taking silver in the 1,000 on the final day of competition on Sunday. Cournoyer also added his third gold of the weekend in the 3,000.
Based on their performances at nationals, St-Gelais, Kim Boutin and Marie-Ève Drolet, as well as Cournoyer, Samuel Girard and Charles Hamelin, were the first Canadian skaters to earn spots for the 2017 ISU world short track championships.
With files from The Canadian Press