5 Team Canada sports to watch this weekend: May 10-12
One last shot at Paris 2024 is on the line in the coming days for Canadian wrestlers and kiteboarders as they take on the World Olympic Qualifier and Formula Kite World Championships, respectively. Team Canada triathletes will compete at a leg of the World Triathlon Championship Series, while Canadian sprint paddlers race at the first World Cup of the season.
Along with all the action in summer sports, the IIHF World Championship for men will provide excitement for Team Canada’s winter sport enthusiasts as the tournament kicks off this weekend in Czechia.
Canoe/Kayak Sprint
Szeged, Hungary will welcome many of the world’s top sprint paddlers this weekend at the ICF Canoe Sprint World Cup season opener. Team Canada will be represented by a strong contingent of 19 paddlers, seven of whom secured gold medals at the Santiago 2023 Pan Am Games.
Katie Vincent and Sloan MacKenzie are a duo to look out for in the women’s C-2 500m. The pair won bronze in the event at the 2023 World Championships, securing a spot for Canada in the event at Paris 2024. They were also victorious at the Santiago 2023 Pan Am Games, where Vincent also served as one of the Closing Ceremony flagbearers.
Other Pan Am Games gold medallists set to compete in Hungary include Craig Spence and Alix Plomteux (C-2 500m), Michelle Russell (K-1 500m), and Ian Gaudet and Simon McTavish (K-2 500m).
Wrestling
A team of nine Canadian wrestlers are in Istanbul, Turkiye for the final World Olympic Qualifier. The meet, taking place May 9-12, is the final opportunity for athletes to qualify for Paris 2024. The top three athletes from each weight class will qualify. Team Canada has already qualified five wrestlers for Paris.
Paris 2024 Team Canada Qualification Tracker
Karla Godinez Gonzalez, competing in the women’s 53kg category, will hope to join her sister Ana, who is already qualified for Paris in the 62kg event. Genevieve Morrison (50kg) and Linda Morais (68kg) will also aim to qualify in women’s wrestling.
Nishan Randhawa is one to look out for in the men’s freestyle 97kg class, having secured a bronze medal in the event at the Santiago 2023 Pan Am Games in the fall. Also competing in men’s freestyle are Darthe Capellan (57kg), Lachlan McNeil (65kg), and Stone Lewis (74kg).
Triathlon
A leg of the World Triathlon Championship Series (WTCS), triathlon’s most prestigious circuit, will take place in Yokohama, Japan, on Saturday.
Athletes will take to the course for Olympic distance men’s and women’s races that feature a 1.5km swim, 40km bike and 10km run.
Dominika Jamnicky and Emy Legault will be in action in the women’s race. They finished fifth and sixth, respectively, in the triathlon at the Santiago 2023 Pan American Games. More recently, in February, Legault won a silver medal at the Americas Cup.
Charles Paquet, Martin Sobey and Tyler Mislawchuk will take part in the men’s race. Mislawchuk, who competed at the Tokyo 2020 Games, finished ninth at the 2023 World Sprint Distance Triathlon Championships in Hamburg last September.
Another stage of the World Triathlon Championship Series will take place in Cagliari, Italy on May 25, just before the World Triathlon Olympic Qualification Individual Ranking closes on May 27. This ranking will be used to determine the 55 athletes of each gender who will take part in the individual Olympic triathlon events at Paris 2024.
Hockey
The 2024 IIHF World Championship gets underway this weekend in Czechia. Team Canada will be vying for the world title for the second year in a row after last year’s gold medal.
Canada’s last won back-to-back titles in 2015 and 2016. Team Canada has won four of the last eight men’s world hockey championships and has contested seven of the last eight gold medal finals.
The players representing Canada all played in the National Hockey League this season on teams that did not qualify for the Stanley Cup playoffs or have already been eliminated. This year’s championship could be an opportunity for some players to make their mark with a view to being selected for the Olympic team at Milano Cortina 2026, which NHL players are expected to attend.
In action in Prague-based Group A, Canada will play two round robin matches over the weekend. Team Canada will first take on Great Britain on Saturday at 6:20 a.m. ET, before playing Denmark at 10:20 a.m. ET on Sunday morning. The round robin will continue until May 21.
READ: Team Canada looking for golden repeat at IIHF World Championship
Sailing
The 2024 Formula Kite World Championships, taking place in Hyères, France, will be the deciding competition in determining which athlete will represent Team Canada in women’s kite at Paris 2024. Competition will take place May 14-19, with athletes on water this weekend for training.
Canada earned a quota spot in women’s kite at the Santiago 2023 Pan Am Games. Currently, Emily Bugeja leads in the Canadian qualification process, closely followed by Marie-Ève Mayrand, Nataliya Leshko and Martyna Dakowicz. The selection will be based on the athletes’ combined scores from the Trofeo Princesa Sofia regatta held in April and these world championships, with the nomination going to the athlete with the lowest overall score, meaning highest overall combined finish.