Team BC adds 15 more medals to tally

For the third time this week, Team BC para nordic athletes have swept the podium.

It was deja vu for the trio of athletes, as Ethan Hess (Pemberton) collected his third gold medal, Leo Sammarelli (Vancouver) his third silver and Paul Finkbeiner (Vancouver) his third bronze.

Hess crossed the finish line for the men’s sitting five kilometre event at 16:17.70, followed by Sammarelli at 18:34.70 and then Finkbeiner at 21:21.50.nThe group previously swept the podium in the same positions in the men’s sitting sprint event and the men’s sitting 2.5 km competition. Darryl Yuen (Vancouver) crossed the line in 5th place.

Andy Lin (Burnaby) held off two Ontario athletes to win gold in the para nordic standing men’s five kilometre race. Lin (Burnaby) crossed the finish line in 15:45.70, silver medallist Kyle Barber (Ontario) finished with a time of 16:24.80 and bronze medallist Jesse Bachinsky (Ontario) crossed the finish with a time of 17:13.30.

This is Lin’s second medal of these Games. He won silver in the men’s para nordic standing sprint event earlier this week. 

Maya Jonas picked up her third medal of the Games on the cross country course, this time a silver. Jonas, who won two bronze medals earlier this week in the 2.5 km race and the sprint, crossed the finish line of the para nordic standing five kilometre course with a time of 27:02.30. Quebec’s Cindy Morin took the gold medal with a time of 24:59.50 and Céline Kavanaugh (New Brunswick) skied to a bronze medal with a time of 27:56.90.

In cross country, siblings Jasmine Drolet and Rémi Drolet (both from Rossland) found themselves atop the podium at the Canada Winter Games on Thursday.

Jasmine Drolet finished 16 seconds ahead of her closest opponent to win gold in the 10 km classic (mass start) event. She had a finishing time of 29:31.70. Laura Leclair (Quebec) took the silver medal with a Tim elf 29:48.50 and Natalie Hynes (Yukon) won bronze with a time of 29:59.30. Rémi took gold in the men’s 15 km (mass start), crossing the finish line with a time of 40:57.30.

Earlier this week at the 2019 Canada Winter Games, Jasmine finished in sixth in the 7.5 km free (interval start) and 10th overall in the sprint event. Rémi finished ninth in the sprint, free event and won the men’s 10 km free (interval start) race.

Spencer Gamache (Quesnel) won silver in the men’s individual compound in the archery event on Thursday. In the gold medal elimination round Gamache scored a 141, while Austin Taylor (Manitoba) shot a 148 to win the gold. Jacob Bourassa (Saskatchewan) won bronze.

Gamache said he didn’t do anything different in the gold medal elimination round.

“There wasn’t anything different. It was just go have fun,” said Gamache. “I just kept to my thing all week. If I am not having fun, I am not going to shoot well because that is what it is all about.”
Adi Shapira (Vancouver) stated from the outset of the Canada Winter Games that she wanted a top three finish, on Thursday she took the silver medal. She lost in the gold medal elimination round 6-4 to Marie-Eve Gélinas (Quebec). 

“It is an amazing reward for all the training I have been doing and it is just an amazing accomplishment,” said Shapira who won silver in the archery recurve – individual female event.

Adam Deane took bronze in the individual recurve; bouncing back in what he called “one of the worst performances” he has had in about five months. He defeated Reece Wilson-Poyton (Ontario) 6-2.

“Today really brought my confidence back and I feel really good. I cleared my head today and had no expectations. My goal going into the Games was come in fourth place. Things kept going and in match play I was a completely different person. I didn’t have a score in mind that I wanted. I just shot my arrows, aimed for the middle and hoped for the best,” said Deane.

Three Team BC snowboard athletes landed gold, silver and bronze between the men’s and women’s slopestyle event.

Finn Finestone will bring home a gold medal and Jadyn Chomlack a bronze after laying down strong runs at the Canada Winter Games. Juliette Pelchat (Whistler) was sitting at the top of the heap after the qualification runs with a score of 95.20. In the finals, her first run score of 66.20 stuck giving her the silver medal. Kianah Hyatt-Sikora (Alberta) won gold with a score of 67.80 and Kamilla Kozuback (Alberta) won bronze with a score of 53.80.
Team BC figure skating dance novice mix duo of Kiera Kam (Burnaby) and Matthew Carter (Langley) won gold.

Both Kam and Carter said they did not expect to skate away with a gold medal before they arrived at the Canada Winter Games in Red Deer.

“I honestly didn’t think we would come to the Canada Winter Games so when we got here I was stunned and thought what a great opportunity. I knew there was a lot of great teams coming here, so getting gold — and my partner performing as well as she did — I was so proud and happy. I even cried a little bit, this is just so awesome,” said Carter.

Wesley Chiu (Richmond) won a silver medal in the Novice Men’s event.

In curling’s morning session, both teams squared off with Newfoundland and Labrador in Draw 10 of the tournament. The women’s team of Gracelyn Richards (Courtenay), Keelie Duncan (Comox), Chanelle Meeres (Courtenay), and Bryn Woloshyn (Royston) played a very tight game against the team from the east coast. At the halfway point of the game, the score was only 1–1 with two blank ends. In the second half, however, Team BC stole a single point in three consecutive ends to take a 4–1 lead and ultimately, the game. The women lost their second draw of the day 3-7 to New Brunswick.

The team of Hayato Sato (Coquitlam), Joshua Miki (Port Coquitlam), Dawson Ballard (Surrey), and Troy Chong (Burnaby) also won their morning session matchup against Newfoundland and Labrador. It was a battle between two teams with 6–1 records. Team BC got off to a quick start, taking two points in the first end. After tight second and third ends, Team BC took another two points in the fourth end to take a 4–1 lead into the half. The team kept on the pressure, and stole a single point in the seventh end to seal a 6–2 victory.

In a neat moment after the men’s win, the team had the opportunity to meet two-time Brier champion Pat Simmons. Coach Bryan Miki (Port Coquitlam) is also a former Brier champion and won the 2000 World Men’s Curling Championship with the Greg McAulay team.

In the evening session, the men’s team played a very tight game against, with the score at 3–2 after six ends. It was a nail biter, but Team BC stole a single point in each of the next two ends to take the game 5–2. The men’s team goes into their game tomorrow with Alberta with a chance to get a bye to the semi-final with a win.

Going into the final day of round robin competition on Friday, the Team BC women sit with a record of 3–6, while the Team BC men are 8–1. The teams will play Alberta in Draw 12 at 9:00 am. Playoffs begin in the afternoon, with the quarterfinal draws at 2:00 pm and the semi-final draws at 7:00 pm.

In squash, both Team BC women and men played in the semi-final today against Quebec and both teams came away with huge wins therefore advancing to the gold medal match. The BC teams played extremely hard and fought for every point and came away with solid 4-0 shutout wins over Quebec as all four team members won their matches.

On Friday, Sam Scivier (Vancouver) will play for individual bronze at 3pm and Lucia Bicknell (West Vancouver) will play for individual gold at 5pm.

The Team Event will resume for both BC teams on Saturday as the women play for gold at 9:00 and the men play for gold at noon.

Women’s hockey took a 7-1 win over New Brunswick in a quarterfinal game at Centrium. Megan Bouveur (Victoria) scored two goals with singles coming from Anne Cherkowski (Coldstream), Rachel Teslak (Cranbrook), Sarah Paul (West Kelowna), Kate Klassen (Chilliwack) and Nina Jobst-Smith (North Vancouver). Semi-finals will be held Friday at the Downtown arena.