Team Canada athletes will be lighting it up this weekend in the pool, on ice, and on snow.
The World Aquatics Swimming Championships (25m) are ongoing in Budapest, Hungary where Team Canada has already collected numerous medals this week.
Canadian short track speed skaters will take on an ISU World Tour stop in Seoul, South Korea while ski jumpers will compete at a FIS World Cup in Zhangjiakou, China. Snowboard cross and ski cross athletes will both kick off their FIS World Cup seasons, with the snowboarders in action in Cervinia, Italy, and the skiers in action in both Val Thorens, France, and Arosa, Switzerland.
Here’s what you don’t want to miss:
The World Aquatics Swimming Championships (25m) are ongoing in Budapest, Hungary. Team Canada has already secured a significant medal haul at the short course event, which began on Tuesday.
Summer McIntosh opened up the meet for Team Canada with a bang, swimming to a world record time of 3:50.25 to win gold in the women’s 400m freestyle.
READ: Triple Olympic gold medallist Summer McIntosh is Canada’s Athlete of the Year for 2024
There are lots more races on deck over the weekend. McIntosh will race the 400m IM on Saturday, an event in which she claimed Olympic gold at Paris 2024 in the 50m pool. McIntosh will also race the 200m backstroke on Sunday, an event she did not contest at the Olympic Games. Fellow Olympic medallist Ilya Kharun will race the 100m butterfly on Friday, an event for which he claimed bronze in Paris. Penny Oleksiak will take to the pool for the 50m freestyle on Saturday.
Canada is expected to field relay teams in the mixed 4x50m freestyle and the men’s 4x200m freestyle on Friday, the mixed 4x100m medley relay on Saturday, as well as the women’s 4x100m medley relay on Sunday.
The ISU Short Track World Tour continues this weekend with its fourth stop of the season in Seoul, South Korea.
Last weekend’s stop in Beijing saw the Canadian Ice Maples notch seven medals. Notably, Danaé Blais earned the first individual gold medal of her international career, winning the women’s 1000m, and Florence Brunelle earned her first career individual distance medal, claiming silver in the women’s 500m final.
Team Canada is currently leading the ISU World Tour standings in overall team points, and William Dandjinou leads the men’s standings.
READ: Canadian short track speed skaters explain what Olympic fans should know about their sport
Team Canada’s snowboard cross squad will kick off their World Cup season this weekend with a FIS Snowboard Cross World Cup in Cervinia, Italy. Cervinia is the first of seven World Cup stops this season.
Eliot Grondin begins his campaign to repeat as a Crystal Globe winner. Last season saw Grondin put forth a dominant performance, winning seven World Cup races. On the women’s side, Audrey McManiman will make her return to competition after an ACL injury forced her to take last season off.
Team Canada is set to fly at the FIS Ski Jumping World Cup in Zhangjiakou, China this weekend. That is the same venue at which Canada’s first ever Olympic medal in ski jumping was won during Beijing 2022. Keep an eye on two members of that team—Alexandria Loutitt and Abigail Strate—who opened up their seasons in Lillehammer, Norway at the end of November.
The weekend will include two normal hill events, for which qualification begins on Friday.
READ: Ski jumpers Abigail Strate and Alexandria Loutitt are making their dreams take flight
Team Canada’s ski cross team is kicking off their season with back-to-back stops around the weekend.
The FIS Ski Cross World Cup made its first stop in Val Thorens, France. In Thursday’s races, last year’s Crystal Globe winner Marielle Thompson won the women’s event in which India Sherret and Hannah Schmidt advanced to the Small Final, finishing fifth and eighth, respectively. Canada had two men in the Big Final, as Kevin Drury placed third, one spot ahead of Reece Howden.
They’ll race again in Val Thorens on Friday before heading to Arosa, Switzerland for another World Cup that gets underway on Monday.
