It may be winter, but headlines across the country are all about summer—Summer McIntosh, that is. As the newly crowned Northern Star Award winner, Canada’s Athlete of the Year put on another incredible show in the pool at the World Aquatics Swimming Championships.
Meanwhile, on frozen water, William Dandjinou’s season of dominance on the ISU Short Track World Tour continued with two more gold medals. Speaking of dominance, the Canadian ski cross team kicked off its FIS World Cup season with five podium performances. Elsewhere, there was a big breakthrough for a couple of young cross-country skiers and history was made at the FIBA 3×3 AmeriCup.
Read on for all the notable news from a very busy weekend for Team Canada athletes.
Canadian swimmers won 15 medals (four gold, five silver, six bronze) at the World Aquatics Swimming Championships (25m) in Budapest, Hungary, matching the country’s best ever medal total at the short course worlds. Canada ranked second only to the United States for most medals won over the six-day meet.
READ: Summer McIntosh shatters another world record at World Aquatics Swimming Championships
Leading the way was Summer McIntosh, who won gold in the women’s 400m freestyle, 200m butterfly, and 400m individual medley while setting world record times in all of them. She added a silver medal in the 200m backstroke (her first time ever racing the event internationally) and helped the women’s 4x100m freestyle relay capture bronze. At the end of the meet, McIntosh was named World Aquatics Female Athlete of the Year, which also recognized her three gold and one silver won at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
Mary-Sophie Harvey also got an individual accolade, being named World Aquatics Female Breakout Athlete of the Year. Harvey won silver in the women’s 200m freestyle after taking bronze in the 400m freestyle for her first individual world championship medal. She was also part of three relay medals in Budapest.
“It’s something I’ve dreamed for as long as I can remember, and to have that at 25, I think it just shows that you can have your breakout meet at any age. I’m hoping it inspires athletes, even if you’re not maybe the best in the world at 15 or 16, you can still do it later in life,” she said.
Ilya Kharun joined McIntosh as a gold medallist, winning the men’s 200m butterfly. He also won silver in the 50m butterfly to go with three relay medals. Kylie Masse won bronze in the women’s 50m backstroke, giving her 20 career medals across the short course (11) and long course (9) world championships, the most all-time by a Canadian swimmer. Ingrid Wilm won bronze in the women’s 100m backstroke along with four relay medals. Finlay Knox added bronze in the men’s 200m individual medley as well as three relay medals.
Team Canada collected an impressive eight medals, including four gold, at the fourth stop of the ISU Short Track World Tour in Seoul, South Korea.
William Dandjinou won two of those gold medals, starting on Saturday with his third 1500m victory of the season. On Sunday, he claimed his second 1000m win of the season. The 23-year-old Canadian has enjoyed a dominant first half of the season and now leads the men’s overall classification by 326 points over the defending Crystal Globe winner, Park Jiwon of South Korea. Dandjinou also leads the 1000m and 1500m standings.
Steven Dubois also got a gold medal on Saturday, winning the men’s 500m just ahead of silver medallist teammate Jordan Pierre-Gilles. Dubois bounced back after being disqualified from the 1500m final, in which he had posted the second-fastest time, for making an inside pass. With two wins and two runner-up finishes in the distance this season, Dubois leads the 500m standings.
READ: Canada strikes gold three times at short track World Tour in Seoul
On the women’s side, Canada won its third straight gold medal in the 3000m relay. For Danaé Blais, it was her second medal on Saturday after winning silver in the 1000m, her second consecutive podium in the distance. She was joined in the relay final by Kim Boutin, Florence Brunelle, and Courtney Sarault. On Sunday, Brunelle won her second consecutive silver medal in the 500m to help her rank third overall in the distance.
Canada also won bronze in the mixed relay. Boutin, Brunelle, Dandjinou and Dubois initially finished fourth in that final, but moved onto the podium after the Dutch team was penalized for an infringement against the Canadians.
The Canadian Ice Maples maintain their lead in the Team Crystal Globe standings, with a margin of 668 points over the second place Korean White Tigers. The ISU Short Track World Tour resumes in February with two European stops in Tilburg, Netherlands and Milan, Italy.
Marielle Thompson was on the podium twice at the FIS Ski Cross World Cup opener in Val Thorens, France. She won the first women’s race on Thursday before finishing third in Friday’s big final, which meant she shared the podium with teammate India Sherret who won that second race. In a show of Canada’s depth, Sherret had won the small final on Thursday while Hannah Schmidt raced in both small finals, giving Canada a total of six top-eight finishes.
READ: India Sherret takes World Cup victory, Marielle Thompson and Kevin Drury repeat on podium
Kevin Drury finished third in both men’s races, a great boost for him after a few years beset by injuries. On Thursday, he just beat out teammate Reece Howden for the last spot on the podium. Drury had last earned a World Cup podium in January 2022.
The Canadian ski cross team will be right back at it, with another set of World Cup races on Tuesday in Arosa, Switzerland.
Eliot Grondin finished fourth in the big final at the opening stop of the FIS Snowboard Cross World Cup season in Cervinia, Italy. The 23-year-old is the reigning Crystal Globe winner after seven events among 10 podiums during the 2023-24 season. His next World Cup race will not be until the first days of February after a late January stop had to be cancelled.
Sonjaa Schmidt and Liliane Gagnon enjoyed a big breakout moment at the FIS Cross-Country World Cup in Davos, Switzerland, finishing fifth in the women’s team sprint free. They were just 0.68 back of a podium position.
Schmidt, who turned 22 two days later, and Gagnon, who will turn 22 just before the calendar flips to 2025, are still gaining experience on the top international circuit. It is the first time either have earned a top five World Cup finish. Back in February, Schmidt became U23 world champion in the women’s sprint free.
Alexandria Loutitt finished eighth in the second women’s individual normal hill event of the FIS Ski Jumping World Cup weekend in Zhangjiakou, China. Her score of 191.9 put her 8.7 points back of a podium position. It was a great improvement from her 12th place finish in the first normal hill event the day before. Loutitt has been inside the top 10 in three of four World Cup events this season.
READ : Ski jumpers Abigail Strate and Alexandria Loutitt are making their dreams take flight
For the second straight week, Melissa Lotholz earned a 10th-place finish in women’s monobob, this time at the IBSF World Cup stop in Sigulda, Latvia. She was also the top Canadian pilot in the two-woman event, finishing 12th with brakewoman Leah Walkeden, one spot ahead of Cynthia Appiah and Skylar Sieben.
Paige Crozon earned MVP honours as Canada claimed its second ever women’s title at the FIBA 3×3 AmeriCup. Crozon led all players in scoring with 46 points. With Katherine Plouffe, Kacie Bosch, and Saicha Grant-Allen alongside her, Canada defeated the United States 19-18 in overtime to win the tournament. Former world number one Plouffe got the game winning point. Canada had previously won the title in 2022 and finished third in 2021 and 2023.
The Canadian men’s team of Marek Klassen, Steve Sir, Jerome Desrosiers, and Grant Audu defeated the Dominican Republic 21-16 in their final game to take the bronze medal. It is Canada’s first ever 3×3 AmeriCup podium in the men’s tournament. Sir was named to the tournament all-star team.
