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Here’s a look at how Canadian athletes performed on the international stage over the past couple days:
Swimming: Summer puts a ! on 2024
Summer McIntosh wrapped up her incredibly successful year by winning another gold and a silver as Canadian swimmers picked up four more medals on the final weekend of the short-course world championships in Budapest.
The 18-year-old sensation won the women’s 400m individual medley on Saturday for her third gold and third short-course world record of the week, then finished with a silver on Sunday in her international 200m backstroke debut.
Earlier in the week, McIntosh won the 400m freestyle and 200m butterfly in record time and helped the Canadian women’s 4x100m freestyle relay team to bronze. Including the $25,000 US bonus she earned for each of her world records and $10,000 for each gold, McIntosh took home more than $114,000 last week along with a couple of big year-end awards. She was voted the Canadian athlete of the year on Tuesday and named the World Aquatics female swimmer of the year on Sunday. McIntosh’s 2024 accomplishments included a Canadian-record three gold medals at the Paris Olympics and a standard-course world record in the 400 IM at the Canadian Olympic trials.
“I had an amazing 2024 overall, in and out of the pool, so I can’t be more happy,” McIntosh said.
WATCH l McIntosh reacts to being named World Aquatics female swimmer of the year:
McIntosh caps off an incredible year by getting this prestigious award at the short course worlds.
Mary-Sophie Harvey picked up a silver in the women’s 200m freestyle on Sunday for her fifth medal of the meet — tying McIntosh, Ingrid Wilm and double Olympic bronze medallist Ilya Kharun for the Canadian lead. Wilm and Kharun helped Canada to bronze in the new mixed 4x100m medley relay on Saturday.
Kharun was the only Canadian besides McIntosh to capture a gold in Budapest. He won the men’s 200m butterfly on Thursday and added a silver in the 50m butterfly along with three relay medals. Harvey also reached two solo podiums while Wilm, Kylie Masse and Finlay Knox had one apiece. Masse’s bronze in the women’s 50m backstroke gave her a Canadian-record 20 career medals at the short- and standard-course world championships combined.
Canada’s 15 total medals and four gold were the most by any country other than the United States (39 total, 18 gold). Watch Devin Heroux and Brittany MacLean’s wrap-up of the short-course worlds here.
Short track: Dandjinou dominates again
Canada’s short track speed skaters came into the World Tour stop in Seoul with 21 medals (including 12 gold) over the first three meets of the season. They added eight more over the weekend, including four gold — two by rising star William Dandjinou.
The reigning 1,000m world champion won that event along with the 1,500m to widen his commanding lead atop men’s overall standings. Dandjinou, 23, now has seven individual golds on the season and is the only skater with a victory in every distance.
Triple Olympic medallist Steven Dubois won gold in the men’s 500m, while the Canadian women’s relay team earned its third consecutive victory. Jordan Pierre-Gilles and Florence Brunelle took silver in the men’s and women’s 500m, respectively, while Danaé Blais took silver in the women’s 1,000m and Canada picked up a bronze in the mixed relay to help the country maintain its sizable lead over perennial power South Korea in the team crystal globe standings.
The World Tour now pauses until February, when Europe will host the final two stops before the world championships in March in Beijing.
Para hockey: Canada falls to the U.S.
After three straight losses to the United States in the world-championship final and two more in the Paralympic gold-medal game, Canada finally got even with a 2-1 victory in last May’s world-title game in Calgary. But the sport’s main rivalry swung back the Americans’ way on Saturday night in Charlottetown with a 4-1 victory over Canada in the final of the annual Para Cup.
The game was tied 1-1 going into the third period before the U.S. scored three unanswered goals to capture its ninth consecutive Para Cup title. The last eight gold-medal victories have come against Canada.
Snowboard cross: Grondin goes down
Defending men’s snowboard cross World Cup champion Éliot Grondin suffered a rare podium miss, finishing fourth in the season opener in Italy after crashing during the four-man final. Grondin, whose 10 medals in 11 starts last season included seven golds, went down after making light contact with Austrian world champion Jakob Dusek, who stayed up and won gold.
The top Canadian in the women’s event was Tess Critchlow, who finished 16th.
Canada’s ski cross racers fared better at their season opener. Defending World Cup champion Marielle Thompson led off with a victory on Thursday and added a bronze Friday as India Sherret made it a Canadian sweep of the women’s gold medals. Kevin Drury took the men’s bronze on both days.
Other Canadian results:
* Canada’s women’s 3×3 basketball team defeated the U.S. 19-18 to win gold at the AmeriCup in Puerto Rico. The Canadian men’s team beat the Dominican Republic for bronze.
* Cross-country skiers Sonjaa Schmidt and Liliane Gagnon earned their best-ever World Cup result, finishing fifth in a women’s team sprint free race in Switzerland. The 21-year-olds missed the podium by 0.68 of a second.
* Reigning ski jumping world champion Alexandria Loutitt placed eighth and 12th in a pair of World Cup women’s normal-hill events in China.
* Bobsleigh pilot Melissa Lotholz placed 10th in a World Cup women’s monobob race for the second straight week and finished 12th in the two-woman event in Latvia. Cynthia Appiah was 12th and 13th.
