Summer Universiade (Aug. 17): Team Canada daily recap (#6)

Photo credit Freestyle Photography

SHENZHEN, China (CIS) – Canada had its first multiple-medal day of the 26th Summer Universiade on Wednesday thanks to a second-place finish by swimmer Tera van Beilen of Oakville, Ont., and a third position by weightlifter Marie-Ève Beauchemin-Nadeau of Candiac, Que.

Today’s tally doubles Canada’s collection in Shenzhen, adding to a silver and bronze claimed earlier in the week by gymnast Nathan Gafuik of Calgary.

Van Beilen, a University of British Columbia student, went into the 50-metre breaststroke final as the second seed following a personal best 31.64 second swim in the morning preliminaries. She shaved off 19 hundredths of a second to her time in the evening session with another PB (31.45) but couldn’t quite match Ann Chandler of the USA, who touched the wall in 31.13.

“Last night, I was so close, it made me want a medal even more today,” said van Beilen, who was fourth in Tuesday’s 200 breast final. “I was really happy with my performance, especially my finish, because I’ve struggle with the timing of my finish lately.”

Canada took part in two more finals at the pool on Tuesday.

After qualifying fifth for the women’s 100 backstroke final with a morning time of 1:01.71, Dominique Bouchard of North Bay, Ont., settled for 1:01.74 and eighth place in the evening. Japan’s Shiho Sakai captured gold in 1:00.28.

In the women’s 4x200 freestyle relay, Canada held on to its qualifying position and finished fifth in a final won by the USA in 7:55.02. The foursome of Lindsay Delmar of Calgary, Heather MacLean of Etobicoke, Ont., Cassie Morrice of Victoria and Paige Schultz of Toronto stopped the clock at 8:07.22.

Earlier in the day, Beauchemin-Nadeau became the first-ever Canadian to medal in weightlifting at the world university games as the sport is making its Universiade debut in Shenzhen.
 
The reigning Canadian champion in her weight class and a silver medallist at the 2010 Commonwealth Games, she not only reached the podium at 69 kg on Wednesday, she also set personal bests in both the snatch (105) and the clean and jerk (130) for a total of 235 kg.
 
Her score in the clean and jerk tied for the best of the day with gold medallist Yue Kang of China (110-130-240) and runner up Yu Ra Mun of South Korea (108-130-238).
 
“I missed the second attempt in the clean and jerk and felt dizzy and stressed afterwards,” said Beauchemin-Nadeau. “I discussed with our coaches and decided to go up to 130 kg for the third attempt which would give me more time to rest and get ready for the third lift.”

In women’s soccer, Canada’s run for a medal at the Universiade came to an unfortunate end, as the Canadians (2-2) were downed 6-0 by Japan (3-1) in a lopsided quarter-final affair. The Canucks can still match their best result in history, a fifth-place finish, starting on Friday against South Korea.

In men’s volleyball, Canada (4-0) won Pool A thanks to a straight-set victory over 1-3 Australia (25-20, 25-17, 25-20). The Canadians have lost only one set over four matches, and will play in the quarter-finals on Friday against South Korea. Calgary’s Rudy Verhoeff paced the winners against the Aussies with eight kills and four blocks.

In men’s basketball, Canada (2-1) inched closer to a berth in the quarter-finals Wednesday. Despite a 63-61 loss to Australia (2-1), the Canadians can secure second place in Pool B with a win on Thursday against Hong Kong (0-3) in their first-round finale, and can even move into first place if Turkey (1-2) downs the Australians on the same day. Reigning Canadian Interuniversity Sport player of the year Tyson Hinz of Ottawa paced Canada with a game-high 22 points in the loss. 

In athletics, Dontae Richards-Kwok of Mississauga, Ont., reached the final in track and field’s premier event, finishing eighth in the 100m after pulling up with an apparent hamstring injury. Richards-Kwok crossed the line in a time of 10.60, well off the mark of 10.35 he ran in the semifinals.
 
Jenna Martin of Bridgewater, N.S., and Amonn Nelson of Calgary both qualified for the women’s 400m final, scheduled for Thursday night. Martin finished second in her semifinal with a time of 52.97, while Nelson was third in her semi in 53.06.
 
In women’s pole vault, both Canadians advanced to the finals, with the Quebec City duo of Mélanie Blouin and Gabriella Duclos-Lasnier each clearing 4.15m in their respective qualification rounds. 
 
West Vancouver’s Helen Crofts will run tomorrow night in the 800m final after finishing fourth in her blistering semifinal with a time 2:02.98.
 
In women’s 3000m steeplechase, Geneviève Lalonde of Moncton grabbed the last qualifying spot for Friday’s final, finishing seventh in her heat in a time of 10:00.29.
 
In the 400m hurdles, Gabriel El-Hanbli from Repentigny, Que., finished fourth in his heat to qualify for the semifinals with a time of 50.92.

In golf, David Sheman of Newmarket, Ont., leads the charge on the men’s side, shooting an opening round 71 to sit in seventh spot at one under, five strokes back of Japan’s Hideki Matsuyama. On the women’s side, Anne Balser of Digby, N.S., and Devon Rizzo from Brantford, Ont., are each tied for 27th after shooting opening rounds of 77.

In women’s beach volleyball, Canada’s run came to an end on Wednesday in the sport’s Universiade debut. Although Caleigh Whitaker of Sharon, Ont., and Kristina Valjas of Toronto downed Mexico 2-0 (21-19, 21-19) early in the day, the Canada 1 pair was eliminated following a 2-0 loss to Thailand (21-17, 21-17) in the afternoon. Meanwhile, the Canada 2 team of Kristina Vlcek of Toronto and Becky Billings of Ottawa was also ousted from the competition, falling  2-1 (23-21, 16-21, 10-21) to the Czech Republic. 

In table tennis, Pierre-Luc Hinse of Gatineau, Que., dropped Chengwa Chong of Macedonia 3-1 (11-7, 11-8, 8-11, 11-2) to advance to the round of 64 of the men’s singles. In mixed doubles, Hinse and Montreal’s Sara Yuen were knocked out in the round of 16 by Russia 3-1 (2-11, 11-8, 11-7, 11-9). Yuen’s twin sister Stephanie and her partner Ling Kun Yang of Laval, Que., were also eliminated in the round of 16, falling 3-0 (3-11, 7-11, 6-11) to Japan. Yang then worked with Charlottetown’s Todd Gregory to advance beyond the round of 64 in men’s doubles, defeating the Philippines 3-2 (9-11, 6-11, 11-4, 11-7, 11-6), while Hinse and Montreal’s Peng Guo dropped Kazakhstan 3-0 (11-5, 11-2, 11-8).  

In archery, Calgary’s Brendan Sheridan won his round of 96 match 6-5 (23-27, 28-24, 28-23, 28-28, 25-26) over Robert Landskaug of Norway, however lost 6-0 (28-26, 26-22, 29-23) to Luis Eduard Velez Sanchez of Mexico in the round of 48. Edmonton’s Michael Wong lost his round of 96 battle 6-2 (28-22, 29-18, 16-22, 28-17) to Mathias Van Bulck of Belarus.
 
On the women’s side, Calgary’s Caitlyn Schleppe defeated Mongolia’s Nyamtsetseg Boldbaatar 6-0 (27-13, 23-17, 23-22) in her round of 96 match, but was eliminated in the round of 48 by Taiwan’s Peichin Cho 6-0 (28-19, 29-24, 26-22). After receiving a bye, Vanessa Lee of Toronto lost 6-2 (25-24, 27-27, 23-23, 28-25) to Indonesia’s Punya Prabha in the round of 48.

In men’s tennis, in the consolation draw, Carl Ho of Richmond, B.C., blanked Godwin Husselmann of Namibia 6-0, 6-0 in the second round in singles.