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Winter Universiade: Team Canada Recap Saturday
ERZURUM, Turkey (CIS) – Short track speed skaters Valérie Lambert of Montreal and Liam McFarlane of Medicine Hat, Alta., captured Canada’s first medals Saturday at the 25th Winter Universiade in Erzurum, Turkey, when they finished second in the women’s and men’s individual 500m, respectively.
Team Canada website: http://english.cis-sic.ca/universiade/winter
2011 Winter Universiade website: http://www.erzurum2011.gov.tr/english
Lambert, a University of Quebec at Montreal (UQAM) student, had helped the Canadian women claim bronze in the 3000m relay at the last Universiade in 2009 in Harbin, China.
“I didn’t know I was the first one (to win a medal), so it’s really exciting,” commented a thrilled Lambert. “There was a lot of action in the race right from the get go. I was trying to position myself, maybe get to the outside but there was the Chinese skater who snuck inside, so that’s why I was stuck further back from the start. Thankfully, I was able to make up ground and climb back up to second.”
McFarlane, a University of Calgary student, had the best Canadian result Friday on Day 1 of the short track competition when he finished fifth in the 1500m final.
“It was a good comeback today,” commented McFarlane referring to his previous day performance. “It would have been nice to get gold, but it’s short track and positions change and things happen. All in all, I’m happy with the silver but this was my race I was hoping for gold.”
Gold in the men’s match was claimed by France’s Thibaut Fauconnet who was just over three one-hundredths of a second ahead of McFarlane. On the women’s side it was Xue Kong of China hauling in the top spot by just under four one-hundredths of a second.
The men’s and women’s short track relay teams easily qualified for the final to be held on Sunday with first and second place finishes in their respective semifinals.
The women’s relay of Andréa Do-Duc, Sabrina Bourgela, Gabrielle Waddell and Lambert advanced with a time of 4:25.458, while the men’s team of Gabriel Chaisson-Poirier, Vincent Cournoyer, Pier-Olivier Gagnon and McFarlane qualified with a time of 7:03.402.
The snowboard cross event saw all four Canadian entries advance to the quarter-finals. The lone female participant in the event Justine Coté of Petit Riviere, Que. is ranked fourth going into the quarter-finals. Pierce Smith of Caledon, Ont. led the men’s side with a ninth place finishing in the first round and tenth in the second. Rob Ritchie and Taylor Ronsky both of Calgary, Alta. are just behind with 12th and 14th place finishes respectively.
The curling competition continued Saturday and the Canadian women claimed their first victory of the tournament to up their record to 1-2. Brooklyn Lemon of Mayfield, Sask. grabbed their winning point in the 10th end for a 7-6 win over the Czech Republic.
The men’s rink led by skip Jonathan Beuk of Kingston, Ont. dropped two contests including a 7-6 loss to Switzerland and a 7-4 loss to Czech Republic to move their record to 1-2 as well.
Biathlon saw a tough day as no athletes qualified in the individual men’s 20km or the women’s 15km. Jaime Robb of Hay River, N.W.T., led all Canadians with a 31st place finishing with a time of 1:03:49.8. Kathryn Stone of Camrose, Alta. led the women’s side with a 32nd place finish.
In cross country skiing, it was Benjamin Hébert of Montreal, Que who was the only Canadian male to move into the quarter-finals in the free sprint. Hébert finished fifth in the quarter-final and did not advance. Zoe Roy of Bend, Oregon finished her free sprint performance in the semifinals for an overall ranking of 10th.
In men’s hockey, Canada dropped an overtime shootout contest to Belarus, 3-2. A goal in the sixth round of shots by Belarus’ Artsiom Demkov in the sixth round claimed the victory. The team’s record drops to 1-1 and their next contest is against Korea on January 31st. See separate game recap for men’s hockey.
TEAM CANADA RESULTS: Saturday, January 29, 2011
BIATHLON
Individual 20km men’s
Qualifications: 1. Alexey Trusov, Russia, 56:34.2; 31. Jaime Robb, Hay River, N.W.T., 1:03:49.8; 36. Jon Skinstad, Camrose, Alta., 1:05:11; 43. Johnny Forward, Corner Brook, Nfld., 1:09:35.2; 44. Kai Skinstad, Camrose, Alta., 1:07:40.9.
Individual 15km women’s
Qualifications: 1. Daria Virolaynen, Russia, 48:13.6; 32. Kathryn Stone, Camrose, Alta., 1:02:07.4; 33. Lauren Brookes, Halifax, NS, 1:04:58.2; 35. Jennifer Paterson, Camrose, Alta., 1:06:16.2; 37. Elizabeth Mawdsley, Fort Smith, N.W.T., 1:09:16.6.
CROSS COUNTRY SKIING
Individual men’s free sprint
Qualifications: 1. Ivan Bilosyuk, Ukraine, 3:01.05; 26. Benjamin Hébert, Montreal, Que., 3:13.86, qualified; 34. Vince Ruel, Charny, Que., 3:17.15, did not qualify; 43. Anthony Killick, Fort McMurray, Alta., 3:21.96, did not qualify.
Quarter final 3: 1. Radik Gaziev, Russia, 3:05.119; 5. Benjamin Hébert, Canada, 3:09.353, did not qualify.
Individual women’s free sprint
Quaterfinal
Results not available.
CURLING
Women’s Preliminary Round
Game 3
Czech Republic 0 1 0 0 0 1 1 0 3 0 - 6
Canada 1 0 1 1 1 0 0 2 0 1 - 7
Men’s Preliminary Round
Game 2
Canada 0 0 1 0 0 2 0 3 0 0 - 6
Switzerland 1 0 0 1 0 0 3 0 1 1 - 7
Game 3
Canada 0 0 0 2 0 0 2 0 0 x - 4
Czech Republic 0 1 0 0 2 0 0 2 2 x - 7
HOCKEY
Men’s Preliminary round
Canada (1-1) falls to Belarus (2-0) 3-2 in a shootout; faces Korea (0-1) on Monday at 1 p.m. ET.
SHORT TRACK SPEED SKATING
Women’s 500m
Heats
Heat results not available.
Quarter-final
Quarter-final 1: Xue Kong, China, 45.310; 2. Valérie Lambert, Montreal, Que.,45.320, qualified.
Quarter-final 2: Ji Soo Jeon, Korea, 44.629; 2. Gabrielle Waddell, Red Deer, Alta., 44.968, qualified.
Quarter-final 3: Ba Ra Jung, Korea, 46.162; 4. Sabrina Bourgela, Pointe-aux-Trembles, Que., 1:15.117, did not advance.
Quarterfinal 4: Jianrou Li, China, 44.825; 4. Andréa Do-Duc, Montreal, Que., 47.078, did not advance.
Semifinal
Semifinal 1: Xue Kong, China, 45.580; 2. Valérie Lambert, Montreal, Que., 46.289, qualified.
Semifinal 2: Jianrou Li, China, 44.373; 3. Gabrielle Waddell, Red Deer, Alta., 45.319, did not advance.
Final
1. Xue Kong, China, 45.054; 2. Valérie Lambert, Montreal, Que., 45.416; 3. Eun Byul Lee, Korea, 59.793; 4. Jianrou Li, China, penalty.
Men’s 500m
Heats
Heat results not available.
Quarter-final
Quarter-final 1: Liu Songbo, China, 43.658; 3. Allyn Gagnon, Montreal, Que., 42.903, did not advance.
Quarter-final 2: Ming Gao, China, 42.074; 3. Pier-Olivier Gagnon, Quebec City, Que., 42.557, did not advance.
Quarterfinal 3: Bartosz Konopko, Poland, 44.513; 2. Vincent Cournoyer, Boucherville, Que., 44.917, qualified.
Quarterfinal 4: Liam McFarlane, Fort McMurray, Alta., 42.293.
Semifinal
Semifinal 1: 1. Thibaut Fauconnet, France, 41.920; 4. Vincent Cournoyer, Boucherville, Que., 42.406, did not advance.
Semifinal 2: 1. Liam McFarlane, Fort McMurray, Alta., 41.562.
Final
1. Thibaut Fauconnet, France, 41.544; 2. Liam McFarlane, Fort McMurray, Alta., 41.874; 3. Ming Gao, China, 41.944; 4. Songbo Liu, China, 43.071.
Women’s 3000m Relay
Semifinal
Semifinal 2: Canada
Heat 2: 1. Korea, 4:21.512, qualified; 2. Canada (Andréa Do-Duc, Montreal, Que.; Valérie Lambert, Montreal, Que.; Sabrina Bourgela, Pointe-aux-Trembles, Que.; Gabrielle Waddell, Red Deer, Alta.), 4:25.458, qualified.
Men’s 5000m Relay
Semifinal
Semifinal 1: 1. Canada (Gabriel Chiasson-Poirier, Sherbrooke, Que.; Vincent Cournoyer, Boucherville, Que.; Liam McFarlane, Medicine Hat, Alta.; Pier-Olivier Gagnon, Quebec City, Que.), 7:03.402, qualified.
SNOWBOARD
Men’s Snowboard Cross
Qualification Run 1: 1. Omar Visintin, Italy, 45.26; 9. Pierce Smith, Caledon, Ont., 46.92, qualified; 12. Rob Ritchie, Calgary, Alta., 47.32, qualified; 14. Tayor Ronsky, Calgary, Alta., 47.86, qualified.
Qualification Run 2: 1. Omar Visintin, Italy, 45.23; 10. Pierce Smith, Caledon, Ont., 46.790, qualified; 12. Rob Ritchie, Calgary, Alta., 47.01, qualified; 14. Taylor Ronsky, Calgary, Alta., 47.28, qualified.
Women’s Snowboard Cross
Qualification Run 1: Claire Chapotot, France, 48.29; 3. Justine Coté, Petite Riviere, Que., 49.42, qualified.
Qualification Run 2 : Martina Krejcova, Czech Republic,
48.19; 4. Justine Coté, Petite Riviere, Que., 49.42,
qualified.
-CIS-
