The speed skaters led the charge, collecting 10 medals—including six gold—at the ISU World Short Track Speed Skating Championships while their long track compatriots stood on four podiums at the ISU World Single Distances Championships. Plus, Team Homan had a successful kick off to their campaign at the World Women’s Curling Championship.

Back at home, the Canadian ski cross squad delighted the fans in Craigleith, Ontario with three double podiums.

Read on for the big headlines from a busy weekend.

Short Track Speed Skating: Canada claims six gold, four silver at world championships

Canada had one of its best showings ever at the 2025 ISU World Short Track Speed Skating Championships in Beijing, concluding the weekend with six world titles and a total of 10 medals across all nine events. It is the country’s largest medal haul since they reached the podium 10 times in 1996, while their six gold medals were the most since 1994, when Canadians won seven.

READ: Canada claims four medals at Short Track World Championships
READ: Canada adds three golds, three silvers on Sunday at ISU World Short Track Championships

Canada won gold in all four men’s events. This season’s overall Crystal Globe champion, William Dandjinou, secured his second career world title, taking the victory in the 1500m. In the same arena where he won three Olympic gold medals during Beijing 2022, Steven Dubois earned his first world title in the 500m. Both men shared the podium in the 1000m, with Dubois taking the gold by the smallest of margins over Dandjinou. They joined forces with Félix Roussel and Maxime Laoun to dominate the final of the men’s 5000m relay, leading the 45-lap race from start to finish.

“This is all pretty crazy, there are really no other words,” said Dubois. “We were hoping for some good results, and we knew we had a shot in every distance, but for us to win literally everything we touched on the ice this weekend is surreal. We are the strongest team, and we showed it. It feels good to end the year on such a good note.”

The lone gold in the women’s events came in the 3000m relay by Kim Boutin, Florence Brunelle, Rikki Doak, and Courtney Sarault. They overtook Poland with three laps remaining. Sarault earned a pair of silver medals in the 1000m and 1500m to bring her career total to five individual world championship podiums. Doak won her first career world championship medal, taking silver in the 500m.

Canada swept the relay events by also taking gold in the 2000m mixed relay. Brunelle, Boutin, Dubois, and Dandjinou raced in the final and earned Canada’s first world championship medal in the event since it was added to the program in 2023.

Long Track Speed Skating: Blondin shines with a three-medal weekend

Canada left its mark at the ISU World Speed Skating Single Distances Championships in Hamar, Norway, securing four medals.

Ivanie Blondin jumped onto the podium for the third time over the weekend after claiming silver in the women’s mass start final. It is her eighth career world championship medal in the event. The only other individual medal came from Connor Howe, who delivered a perfect 1500m race when it counted most. He secured bronze for his first career individual world championship medal.

On Friday, Blondin was part of Canada’s bronze medal in the women’s team pursuit alongside Valérie Maltais and Isabelle Weidemann. That trio won Olympic gold in 2022 followed by a world title in 2023 and a world silver medal last year. The day before, Blondin had joined forces with Brooklyn McDougall and Béatrice Lamarche to capture silver in the women’s team sprint.

There were a few near-podium performances, including a fourth-place finish by Laurent Dubreuil in the men’s 500m. He was just 0.01 back of the bronze medal time. Dubreuil then finished fifth in the 1000m. Despite a fierce effort and a strong final push, Weidemann came just 1.78 seconds shy of the podium in the women’s 5000m, finishing fourth. Maltais placed sixth in the women’s 3000m while Ted-Jan Bloemen was sixth in the men’s 10,000m.

Ski Cross: Three double podiums on home snow

The Canadian ski cross team maintained its season of momentum as the FIS World Cup circuit came to Craigleith, Ontario. On Friday, Reece Howden and Kevin Drury finished first and third in the men’s event. It was Howden’s fifth victory of the season. On Saturday, they finished second and third in the second race of the weekend. Howden now sits second in the chase for the Crystal Globe while Drury is sixth in the season standings thanks to his five podium performances.

READ: Howden & Drury double up on ski cross podium at home World Cup in Craigleith

After no Canadian women made it to the big final on Friday, Courtney Hoffos and Abby McEwen placed second and third on Saturday. It’s Hoffos’ third podium of the season and her best World Cup result since March 2023, when she also finished second in Craigleith. For McEwen, it was a big breakthrough for her first career World Cup podium. The team is now in Engadin, Switzerland for the FIS World Championships where ski cross competition will take place March 21-23.

Ski Jumping: Loutitt flies to fifth in Norway

The FIS Ski Jumping World Cup circuit was at a flying hill this weekend, which is a bigger jump than the normal and large hills used in Olympic competition. Alexandria Loutitt was once again in the mix, finishing fifth in Vikersund, Norway with her score of 143 points for her final official jump of 181.5m.

Bobsleigh: Two Canadian sleds finish eighth at world championships

A pair of eighth-place finishes highlighted the final day of the IBSF World Championships for Canada in Lake Placid, New York.

Taylor Austin had a career-best world championship result with his four-man crew of Mike Evelyn O’Higgins, Keaton Bruggeling and Shaq Murray-Lawrence. After the second run was cancelled, their total time over three heats was 2:46.64. They were fifth-fastest in the final run.

“I have mixed emotions from today. We had big goals coming into Lake Placid and missed the mark, but we pulled it together in the final heat, and we were able to move up and have my best world championship result,” said Austin. “It is great to finish things on a high note going into the Olympic season. The guys pushed great and fought right until the end.”

Melissa Lotholz and Leah Walkeden matched that result in the two-woman race, capping off their pre-Olympic season with a time of 3:49.16 over four runs on the 20-corner track.

“I think honestly, we executed a super consistent race and just kept trying to show up. That is what you have to do in a four-run race. You have to take it every run and corner at a time,” said Lotholz.

Alpine Skiing: Grenier eighth in super-G

Valérie Grenier finished eighth in the women’s super-G at the FIS Alpine World Cup in La Thuile, Italy on Friday. It is her fifth top-10 performance of the season and her season best result in super-G. It is her best result in a World Cup super-G since January 2019. Next up for the Canadian Alpine Ski Team will be the FIS World Cup Finals taking place March 20-27 in Sun Valley, Idaho.

Curling: Team Homan starts off strong at world championship

Team Canada—represented by skip Rachel Homan, vice-skip Tracy Fleury, second Emma Miskew, lead Sarah Wilkes and alternate Rachelle Brown—improved their round robin record to 3-1 after the first three days of the 2025 World Women’s Curling Championship at Uijeongbu Arena, South Korea.

READ: Team Canada takes aim at second straight gold medal at World Women’s Curling Championship

Team Homan split their opening day matches. Coming off a world title last year, Team Homan earned a convincing win against a team making its debut at the women’s worlds. Canada bested Lithuania’s Team Virginija Paulauskaite with a 12-2 victory in six ends.

In a somewhat surprising turn of events, Scotland’s Team Sophie Jackson got an 8-7 win over Canada. Momentum swayed back and forth throughout the game, but Scotland had the final opportunity to capitalize on a mistake from Canada. Leading by two in the 10th end, Canada tried to remove a Scottish rock but jammed it on a Canadian counter in the back of the house. The error led to Scottish fourth Rebecca Morrison making a nose hit for three and the win.

Despite the setback, Team Homan bounced back on Sunday with a 9-7 win over Sweden’s Team Anna Hasselborg. They followed up with a 9-3 win over Denmark in eight ends on Monday.

Cross-Country Skiing: Léveillé finishes top 10 in Oslo

Olivier Léveillé celebrated his 24th birthday with the second-best individual FIS World Cup result of his career, finishing 10th in the 20km classic race in Oslo, Norway on Saturday. The only other time he broke into the top 10 was a ninth-place finish in a 15km freestyle race in March 2022. There are just two weeks remaining in the cross-country World Cup season.

Ski Mountaineering: Cook-Clarke 8th in World Cup sprint

Emma Cook-Clarke finished eighth in the ISMF World Cup sprint race in Schladming, Austria on Saturday. It matches the eighth-place finish she earned in the sprint at the ISMF World Championships earlier in March.

Ski mountaineering will be a new Olympic sport at Milano Cortina 2026. The three events will be women’s and men’s sprints and a mixed relay.

Alpine skier Jack Crawford sped his way to another World Cup podium in Norway. Eliot Grondin continues to lead the chase for the Crystal Globe in snowboard cross. Bobsledder Cynthia Appiah had her best ever world championship performance. And there’s a new Team Canada in men’s curling.

Read on for the big headlines from a busy weekend.

Alpine Skiing: Second podium of season for Crawford, Grenier in top 5

James (Jack) Crawford finished second in Sunday’s men’s super-G at the FIS Alpine Ski World Cup in Kvitfjell, Norway. On the fog-shortened course, Crawford crossed the finish line in 1:09.36 to end up 0.38 back of the winner, Italian veteran Dominik Paris. Slovenia’s Miha Hrobat (1:09.45) completed the podium.

This was Crawford’s second World Cup podium of the season. In January, he became the first Canadian in 42 years to win the prestigious downhill in Kitzbühel, Austria. It’s his sixth career World Cup podium, but only his second in a super-G. The first also came at Kvitfjell in 2022.

READ: Crawford claims second in super-G in Kvitfjell

On Saturday, Crawford was the top Canadian in the men’s downhill securing an eighth-place finish. He’s placed in the top-10 in five of eight World Cup downhill races this season and sits fifth in the downhill standings heading into the World Cup Finals in Sun Valley, Idaho in a couple of weeks.

Meanwhile, the Canadian woman were in Are, Sweden where Valérie Grenier led the team with a fifth-place finish in Saturday’s giant slalom. It is her second top-five finish of the season, as she climbed three spots after finishing eighth in the first run.

Snowboard Cross: Grondin places third in Gudauri

Eliot Grondin raced to the third step of the podium at the FIS Snowboard Cross World Cup in Gudauri. Georgia on Saturday, despite a fall near the end of the course. The 23-year-old Canadian was knocked down by Austria’s Elias Leitner, who lost balance going over the last jump. Grondin finished behind Austria’s Jacob Dusek and Australia’s Adam Lambert.

READ: Grondin secures snowboard cross bronze at Gudauri World Cup

With four podiums in seven World Cup events this season, Grondin continues to lead the race for the Crystal Globe. Meryeta O’Dine was the top Canadian in both women’s races over the weekend, finishing sixth overall on Saturday and Sunday.

Bobsleigh: Appiah drives to fourth place at world championships

On the first weekend of the IBSF World Championships in Lake Placid, New York, Cynthia Appiah placed one spot shy of the podium in the women’s monobob. The 34-year-old posted a combined time of 3:58.53 from her four runs, finishing 0.22 back of bronze medallist Elana Meyers Taylor of the United States. Another American, Kaysha Love, took the gold in 3:57.82 while German Laura Nolte was second in 3:58.26. The fourth-place finish is Appiah’s best ever world championship result.

“This result is bittersweet. I was hoping to get on the podium because Lake Placid is a track I’ve done so well in the monobob. This is the track where I first got introduced to the sport as a brakeman and where I also learned to drive,” said Appiah, who was competing in her fourth World Championships as a pilot. “I was hoping to have a nice Cinderella story at these Worlds. All things considered though this is my best finish at World Championships, so I have to be happy.”

Kristen Bujnowski, competing in her first world championships as a pilot, placed an impressive seventh (3:58.77). After having been a brakewoman at Beijing 2022, she started training as a pilot and spent most of this season on the developmental North American Cup circuit.

The world championships will conclude this coming weekend when the two-woman and four-man races take place. Taylor Austin and Mike Evelyn O’Higgins were the top Canadians in the two-man event, placing 15th, one spot ahead of Pat Norton and Shaq Murray-Lawrence.

Skeleton: Clarke slides to seventh at world championships

Also at the IBSF World Championships in Lake Placid, 20-year-old Hallie Clarke ended up in seventh place in women’s skeleton. She had gone into the event as the defending world champion and was in good position for another podium performance after the first day of racing. Clarke was in third place following the first two runs, but dropped down the standings in the last two runs.

Kimberley Bos of the Netherlands, who finished second in the World Cup standings this season, earned her first career world title. Two-time Olympian Jane Channell finished 12th.

Curling: Team Jacobs to be Team Canada at the world championships

With a clutch shot on the final stone, Team Jacobs became the 2025 Brier champions. They earned a 5-3 win over Team Dunstone in the final on Sunday night in Kelowna, British Columbia. They had to win four straight elimination games to take the trophy.

READ: Team Jacobs is now Team Canada after victory at 2025 Brier

This is a second career Brier win for skip Brad Jacobs. He and his team of vice-skip Marc Kennedy, second Brett Gallant, and lead Ben Hebert will now be Team Canada at the World Men’s Curling Championship, taking place on home ice in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan from March 29 to April 6. At those worlds, they will also look to secure Canada’s spot in the men’s Olympic tournament. Seven spots will be awarded based on the combined standings from the 2024 and 2025 World Championships. 

The team has a wealth of experience. Jacobs skipped Canada to Olympic gold at Sochi 2014. Hebert is now a five-time Brier winner while Kennedy and Gallant both have four career Brier titles. Hebert and Kennedy won Olympic gold together at Vancouver 2010 while Gallant was a member of Canada’s bronze medal-winning team at Beijing 2022.

Ski Jumping: Loutitt jumps to 10th at world championships

Alexandria Loutitt cracked the top 10 in the women’s large hill event at the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships in Trondheim, Norway. She had entered as the reigning world champion in the large hill and was coming off a tie for fifth-place in the normal hill one week earlier with fellow Canadian Abigail Strate.

Because of high winds, the final results were based only on one round of jumping rather than two. Loutitt scored 109.8 to finish one spot ahead of Strate, who scored 107.4.

Golf: Corey Conners qualifies for The Open

Corey Conners carded a 71 (-1) in the final round to finish third at the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill Golf Club on Sunday.

Conners finished two strokes back of winner Russell Henley after shooting nine-under par in the tournament. With this result, the two-time Olympian from Listowel, Ontario secured a spot at The Open Championship that will take place in July at Royal Portrush in Northern Ireland.

Paris 2024 marked a significant moment for gender equity in the Olympic movement. For the first time in the history of the Olympic Games, an equal number of quota spots were available for men and women, making them the first Games to achieve gender parity.

As we celebrate progress in gender equity, it is important to acknowledge the tireless work that it has taken to get to this point, and some significant pushback that women’s sport has encountered along the way. 

And the work is far from over. Women remain underrepresented in many other areas of the Games, including but not limited to, coaches, officials, and media. The Olympic Winter Games have yet to achieve gender parity for athletes, though Milano Cortina 2026 is set to be the most gender-balanced Games yet with 47 per cent of quota spots allocated to women.

In the spirit of remembering the efforts of the past as we continue to push towards the future, below is a list acknowledging the Olympic sports for which there was a gender gap in the inclusion of women’s competition versus men’s. 

Paris 1900: Only men competed at the first modern Olympic Games in 1896. Four years later, at Paris 1900, 22 women competed, compared to 975 men. There were women’s events in tennis and golf, and women competed alongside men in croquet and sailing.

St. Louis 1904: Women’s archery debuts at the Games. Men’s archery had debuted four years earlier, at Paris 1900.

Stockholm 1912: Women’s swimming makes its Olympic debut, although women are only allowed to compete in two events, versus the seven available for men, who had been competing in Olympic swimming since 1896, marking a 16 year gender gap. Swimming was the first “major” Olympic sport to include women. Stockholm 1912 also marked the debut of women’s diving, which had been open to men for eight years, since St. Louis 1904.

Paris 1924: Women’s fencing debuts at the Olympic Games, 28 years after men’s fencing. At this time, women only had one event available to them, while men had six. 

Amsterdam 1928: Women’s athletics and artistic gymnastics make their Olympic debuts. Men’s competition for both sports had existed since the first modern Olympic Games in 1896, marking a gender gap of 32 years. 

There were only five women’s athletics events available for women, compared to the 22 available for men. There was only one women’s artistic gymnastics team event, while men had a team event as well as six individual events.

One of the women’s athletics events at Amsterdam 1928 was the 800m. In direct contradiction to what transpired on the track, media reported afterwards that several women collapsed and others could not finish the 800m race. This account gained traction despite photographic and video evidence showing that all nine women completed the race and that a couple of them laid down on the track after a world-record effort (as was common for male athletes to do). The IOC and IAAF proceeded to bar women from competing in races longer than 200m for over 30 years under the patronising guise of “protecting” women from themselves. 

London 1948: Women’s kayaking debuts at the Olympic Games. Only one event is available to women, while men had the opportunity to compete in two kayak events as well as two canoe events (which women would wait seven more decades to compete in, more on that below). Men’s paddling had been part of the Olympic program since 1936, marking a gender gap of 12 years.

Oslo 1952: Women’s cross-country skiing debuts at the Olympic Games. Men had competed in cross-country skiing since the inaugural Olympic Winter Games in 1924, marking a gender gap of 28 years.

Helsinki 1952: Women are allowed to compete in Olympic equestrian events for the first time, 52 years after men began competing in equestrian at Paris 1900. At these Games, women were limited to competing only in dressage. Four years later, they would be allowed to compete in jumping and then finally eventing at Tokyo 1964.

Squaw Valley 1960: Women’s speed skating makes its official Olympic debut, 36 years after men’s speed skating was on the program of the first Olympic Winter Games. 

Mexico City 1968: Women compete in Olympic shooting for the first time, while men had been competing in it since the first modern Olympic Games 72 years earlier.  Starting at Mexico City 1968, women competed directly against men. Separate women’s shooting events were not included until 1984.

Montreal 1976: Women’s rowing debuts at the Olympic Games 76 years after men’s rowing was first included. Women’s basketball debuts 40 years after men’s basketball.

Moscow 1980: Women’s field hockey makes its Olympic debut, marking a gender gap of 72 years after men’s field hockey was part of the program.

Los Angeles 1984: LA 1984 features the first Olympic women’s marathon. The men’s marathon had been contested since the beginning of the modern Olympic Games in 1896, marking a gender gap of 88 years. Women’s road cycling also made its Olympic debut 88 years after the men’s competition.

The 1984 Olympic Games were also when the first two women-only sports were included on the Olympic programme—rhythmic gymnastics and synchronized (now artistic) swimming.

Seoul 1988: Women’s track cycling debuts at the Olympic Games. Only one event was available to women versus the five available for men. Track cycling for men was included in 1896, marking a 92-year gender gap. Seoul 1988 also marks the debut of separate sailing events for women.

Albertville 1992: Women’s biathlon makes its Olympic debut 32 years after the inclusion of men’s biathlon.

Barcelona 1992: Women’s judo debuts at the Olympic Games 28 years after men’s competition.

Atlanta 1996: Women’s soccer makes its Olympic debut 96 years after men’s soccer.

Nagano 1998: Women’s hockey debuts 78 years after men’s hockey became an Olympic sport during the summer Games at Antwerp 1920. Women’s curling debuts as the sport returns to the Olympic programme for the first time since 1924 (where there had only been a men’s event). 

Sydney 2000: Women’s weightlifting makes its debut at the Olympic Games, 104 years after men’s weightlifting, which was one of the original sports of the modern Olympic Games. Women’s water polo made its Olympic debut a century after the men’s competition. Women’s modern pentathlon made its Olympic debut 88 years after the men’s sport.

Salt Lake City 2002: Women’s bobsleigh is contested at the Olympic Games for the first time, 78 years after men competed in the sport at the first Olympic Winter Games.

Athens 2004: Women’s wrestling makes its Olympic debut. Men’s wrestling was one of the sports included in the first edition of the modern Olympic Games, making for a gender gap of 108 years.

London 2012: Women’s boxing makes its Olympic debut. Men first competed in Olympic boxing in 1904, making for a 108-year gender gap. Boxing was the last summer Olympic sport that was for men only, so London 2012 marked the first Games where women competed in every sport on the summer Olympic programme.

Sochi 2014: Women’s ski jumping makes its Olympic debut, 90 years after the men’s edition of the sport.

Tokyo 2020: Women’s canoe events debut at the Olympic Games, 84 years after men were given the opportunity to compete in canoe events. 

READ: Historic Olympic achievements by Team Canada women

In short track speed skating, the Canadian Ice Maples claimed the inaugural ISU Team Crystal Globe while William Dandjinou wrapped up his season with one more win and the men’s Crystal Globe.

Cynthia Appiah secured a career-best result in women’s monobob at the IBSF World Cup in Lillehammer, while Melissa Lotholz and Skylar Sieben slid to the podium in the two-woman event. Over in Calgary, Rachael Karker thrilled the home fans watching the ski halfpipe World Cup.

But that’s not all. Read on for all the highlights you might have missed.

Short Track Speed Skating: Canada and Dandjinou capture Crystal Globes

Canada won the inaugural ISU Team Crystal Globe, finishing as the top nation in the first season of the ISU Short Track World Tour which concluded in Milan, Italy. Counting results from every race this season, the Canadian Ice Maples topped the final standings with 8731 points—1812 more than the second-place Dutch Lions.

READ: Canada wins team Crystal Globe, Dandjinou caps World Tour season with 1000m gold

William Dandjinou wrapped up the World Tour with a victory in the men’s 1000m on Sunday. But the day before, he had mathematically clinched the Crystal Globe as the top overall men’s skater on the circuit, dethroning two-time winner Park Ji-won of South Korea. Dandjinou is Canada’s first ever Crystal Globe winner.

Canadians collected two more medals on Sunday, bringing the team’s season total to 37. In the mixed relay, Danaé Blais, Florence Brunelle, Félix Roussel, and Jordan Pierre-Gilles won the silver after a video review elevated them from third place. Dandjinou, Roussel, Pierre-Gilles and Maxime Laoun closed out the day with silver in the men’s 5000m relay.

There were also a few near-podium finishes. After being involved in a crash in the women’s 1000m final, Blais settled for fourth place. Dandjinou was fourth in the men’s 500m. And the women’s 3000m relay also finished in fourth place.

Bobsleigh: Two podiums in World Cup season finale

Cynthia Appiah equalled her career best result as she took second place in women’s monobob at the IBSF World Cup in Lillehammer. Appiah finished 0.15 back of the winner, Bree Walker of Australia. After posting the second-fastest time in the first run, Appiah was able to hold her position over Germany’s Lisa Buckwitz—who claimed the Crystal Globe for the season—by 0.01 following the second run.

This is Appiah’s first podium of the season. Her only other runner-up result as a pilot came in November 2022 on the home track in Whistler.

After finishing seventh in monobob, Melissa Lotholz drove her two-woman sled with brakeman Skylar Sieben to a third-place finish. While it is Lotholz’s 20th career podium in World Cup and/or World Championship competition, it is her first as a pilot. The Canadians broke up a German podium sweep, finishing 0.02 ahead of fourth place.

It was a last minute crew change that put Sieben in Lotholz’s sled. All season, Lotholz has been racing with Leah Walkeden, but after battling illness during the week, Walkeden decided on Sunday to sit out in the hopes of giving Canada a good chance at a podium.

This was the eighth and final IBSF World Cup stop of the season. The athletes will now head to upstate New York where the IBSF World Championships will get underway in Lake Placid on March 6.

Ski Halfpipe: Karker grabs podium position in Calgary

It was a big night under the lights in the Calgary halfpipe as Rachael Karker capped off the 2024-25 FIS Freeski World Cup season with a third-place finish. Scoring 87.00 points on her third run, Karker pushed teammate Cassie Sharpe off the podium and into fourth place. Sharpe’s best score had been 86.50 on her second run in the final.

Karker now has 16 career World Cup podiums, which includes seven in Calgary dating back to 2019. Two other Canadians made it to the women’s final, with Dillan Glennie finishing sixth and Amy Fraser placing seventh. In the men’s final, Brendan Mackay secured a fifth-place finish, while Andrew Longino finished ninth overall.

Hockey: Canada to face USA in 4 Nations Face-Off final

Team Canada played two intense games at the 4 Nations Face-Off this weekend, culminating with the Canadians locking up their spot in Thursday’s championship game against Team USA.

Canada took on the archrival Americans for the first time in the tournament on Saturday night at the Bell Centre in Montreal. To say that emotions were running high amongst both players and fans would be an understatement—the game featured three fights in the first nine seconds.

Team Canada struck first as Connor McDavid scored his first goal of the tournament, but the next two goals belonged to Americans Jake Guentzel and Dylan Larkin. With a score of 2-1 heading into the last minutes of play, Team Canada pulled goaltender Jordan Binnington for the extra skater to no avail, as Guentzel notched an empty netter to secure the U.S. victory and a spot in the championship game.

On Monday, Team Canada faced Team Finland in a must-win game at Boston’s TD Garden. Team Canada came out swinging with two goals in the first five minutes of play. Once again, McDavid started the scoring for Team Canada, followed by a goal from Nathan MacKinnon. Brayden Point added another goal to put Canada up 3-0 through the first period.

The second period saw MacKinnon score his second of the game off of an assist from Team Canada captain and fellow Nova Scotian, Sidney Crosby. The fourth goal by the Canadians spurred Finland to make a goaltending change, swapping Kevin Lankinen for Juuse Saros.

It was over halfway through the third period that Finland finally got themselves on the board with a goal by Esa Lindell. Sending Saros to the bench for the extra attacker in the final minutes of play, the Finns mounted an epic final offensive, with Mikael Granlund scoring twice within the last two minutes to make it a one-goal game. But Crosby got the empty netter to secure the 5-3 win.

Team Canada will take on Team USA in Boston on Thursday at 8:00 p.m. ET.

Alpine Snowboard: Career best 4th for Moisan in Val Saint-Comê

The Canadian Alpine Snowboard Team thrilled the home fans in Val Saint-Comê, Québec during two days of PGS racing amidst heavy snowfall.

On Sunday, 20-year-old Aurelie Moisan advanced to the Small Final, finishing fourth overall. It is her best ever World Cup result, surpassing the 10th-place finish she recorded the day before. Moisan won gold at the 2024 FIS Junior World Championships. She wasn’t the only Canadian woman to get out of the qualification round on Saturday, as Kaylie Buck finished 11th overall, which is a career best result for her.

Two Canadian men made it to the quarterfinals on Saturday, as Ben Heldman and Arnaud Gaudet finished seventh and eighth, respectively. That is a career best result for Heldman, while for Gaudet, it is his best ever PGS World Cup result. Heldman followed up with a 10th-place finish on Sunday.

Snowboard Cross: Top 5 for Grondin in Cortina d’Ampezzo

After being unable to finish his semifinal heat, Eliot Grondin won the small final to finish fifth overall at the FIS Snowboard Cross World Cup in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy. Fellow Canadian Liam Moffatt was penalized in his semifinal and finished eighth overall.

In the women’s race, three Canadians made it to the quarterfinals, with Meryeta O’Dine finishing 10th, one spot ahead of Tess Critchlow. Audrey McManiman finished 13th.

But Yohan Eskrick-Parkinson’s path to the Canadian national bobsleigh team has been a less travelled route—one that started on a diving springboard, and led him to some of the highest levels of competition that the sport has to offer. But one quick comment from two-time Olympic medallist in bobsleigh, Lascelles Brown, changed the course of Eskrick-Parkinson’s athletic career.

Just a few months after his first time in a sled, Eskrick-Parkinson was named a member of the national team, pushing the sled behind pilot and Beijing 2022 Olympian, Taylor Austin. After two events on the developmental North American Cup circuit in November, Eskrick-Parkinson made it to the big leagues, making his World Cup debut in January. 

Olympic.ca chatted with Eskrick-Parkinson midway through his first season on the IBSF World Cup circuit to hear more about how he’s adapting from the finesse of diving to the raw power of bobsleigh, and what edge his unusual sport background gives him.

Let’s start with your journey into diving. How did you get into that sport?

I got into diving when I was about seven years old. I actually just got asked to try the sport because I wasn’t afraid of heights! I was at the Lindsay Park Centre in Calgary, where they have a dive tank. I was jumping off the platform and a coach saw me and was like, “Hey, you should try this out!” I did some summer camps and just stuck with it.

What were some of your highlights of your career in diving?

I’d say the first big step for me out of high school was getting the chance to dive at Northwestern University in Chicago. It’s a [NCAA] Division I team, and it was great to spend four years there. 

I had anticipated going straight into academics after, and retiring from diving. Then I think when I was halfway through university, I had a coach say, “You know, if you can, you should keep going—the ceiling is still high.” And it turned out that I had the chance to dive for Team Jamaica. 

Right after university, I started training with [Jamaican diver] Yona Knight-Wisdom. We went to the Pan American Games, Central American and Caribbean Games, and did two World [Aquatics] Championships and a bunch of World Cups together. I think our best placement in the synchronized three metre event was 13th at [2024] world champs, which is just amazing. I never thought I’d be able to say that I was that level at anything in the world. 

In Qatar, the last world championships, we were five spots off of qualifying for the Olympics. So it was tight. It was really cool to have the chance to fight for that.

How did the transition to bobsleigh come about?

I trained for the last years of my diving career in Scotland, but when I was back in Calgary for the summer, I had a weights coach who was a former bobsledder—Lascelles Brown. I was training with him one day, and I remember I was on the stairs and I was practicing some jumps. I jumped like eight steps from standing, and Lascelles looked at me and was like, “You know, maybe you should try bobsleigh.”

That was about two years ago. And then once I retired from diving, I reached out to him and got started in bobsleigh in July.

What was the experience like trying bobsleigh for the first time?

When we started in the summer, the only chance for me to practice was in the Ice House in Calgary. There’s a ramp that goes down, and back up, and as a brakeman, that’s my job; it’s all I needed to do to train really. So I did that for about five months. I found that pretty exciting. 

They kind of just throw you into that. I showed up, and Melissa Lotholz, who is currently [a pilot] on the [national] team right now, she was the coach at the time—I didn’t know I’d be her teammate two months later! But she was coaching me, and she’s like, “All right, all you’ve got to do is push this and then get in like this.” And I thought, “Okay, I can do this.” You’ve just got to kind of have that raw athleticism to jump onto something that’s moving fast. 

The first time I went down [a full track] was in October, in Whistler, and that was the first time I really felt the pressures and turns. And that was when I was like, “All right, this is crazy!”

What do you feel like you’re bringing with you from diving that’s helpful for bobsleigh? And what’s feeling brand new?

I think, for me, the transition has been a bit interesting because in comparison to a lot of other athletes who are starting out in bobsleigh this year, I have a different background. A lot of athletes are football players or baseball or sports that tend to involve running. 

[In diving], it’s all jumping, so I have that explosive power, but to really figure out the technique for sprinting down the ice and pushing the sled is different. So I’ve been really leaning into that, working on it hard. 

And then I think something that’s been easy, is the fast twitch muscle type of ability. That’s what made me a strong diver. I wanted to just jump as high as I could off that board because it impresses the judges. And then now in bobsleigh, it’s hopefully going to show off in the push.

How would you describe your season thus far, now that you’ve gotten to experience some World Cup racing?

Training for this, I was well aware that the competition was going to be very difficult. We’re talking about people who have been in the sport for years, and I’m in my first year. So, it’s been challenging, of course, in that regard, trying to keep up with these guys. But I’m learning very fast, and it’s kind of like trial by fire.

It’s kind of interesting being an underdog in this, considering that I know how to compete mentally—I know what it takes and how to handle the pressure. But doing it in this sport is also different, right? Diving is a very controlled and thought-out process, whereas in bobsleigh, you kind of get out there and just think “I gotta move this as fast as I can.” It’s just 100% strength. If I went 100% strength and power in diving, I’d fail a dive, because that’s just not how to do it. So dialing that in is really cool. 

What are your goals for the rest of the season, and then in the training towards next season as well?

A big goal for me in this last bit of the season is to take every chance that I push and give it everything I’ve got. 

I’m really hoping to compete at world champs. I’d love to be on a sled there. I think it’d be really amazing to go back-to-back, with a summer sport world champs and then a winter sport world champs, and represent at that level, and at least get a taste of what the Olympics might feel like next year, if I’m able to qualify for that. 

Once that’s done with, no matter how the season goes, I’m going to be back home training in the spring and going back to square one. I want to work on every basic. 

What is the team dynamic like? You competed in synchro diving, so having a team sport dynamic is not new for you, but how is this environment different?

I think it’s the nature of the sport, but [bobsleigh] is a lot higher energy. We’re hyping each other up, and it’s very intense while getting ready to go. In diving, you want to keep things a little bit more calm and controlled, but strong. 

The program is going through a bit of a rebuild right now, and I think that’s why we have so many new athletes coming in to take the opportunity and see where we can get to. And I think that’s cool, because it means that maybe two years down the line, or six years down the line, for some of us, we’ll be able to say “Look at how far we came from!” 

Rapid fire with Yohan Eskrick-Parkinson

Who’s an athlete you look up to?

I really look up to Yona Knight-Wisdom, my [diving] teammate. He’s just a very smart athlete in the way that he trains. I lived and trained with him for two years, so I really got to know him well and look up to him a lot. A lot of things that he said to me, I’m finding they resonate more and more each day that I’m still at this level of sport. 

And then I also really want to give a shout out to the [bobsleigh] mentors in the program and outside of the program, who’ve been helping us. We have a crazy history of bobsledders in Canada, and a lot of them are still involved, or are still available to speak to—Lascelles Brown, Jesse Lumsden, Neville [Wright]—everyone has been a huge help with coming back and giving us pointers here and there when they can.

Favorite bobsleigh memory so far?

Oh, probably the first run! My first one in Whistler was crazy, because that is the fastest track in the world. So you’re kind of like “All right, well, at least it can’t get worse than this!” 

I remember I jumped in the sled, and I was like, “Okay, it’s fine. It’s bumpy.” And I was like, “Oh, it’s gonna get way crazier, isn’t it?” Corner one, corner two, we picked up speed, and I laughed out loud—I audibly laughed—and Taylor [Austin], my pilot, I think it threw him off a bit. He said he never heard anyone laugh.

Any pre-race rituals or routines?

A really key one is visualization. That was huge for diving, where you’re doing something that takes one and a half seconds, but it’s like 1000 movements, so you’ve kind of got to slow time down in your head and tune into all your senses and visualize. Every day I’m at the track and I’m sliding, I’ll be doing that before I go. And then music to bring the vibe and the energy to perform!

A young Canadian luge team gave their hometown fans in Whistler a thrill with their podium performance at the FIL World Championships. The Canadian Ice Maples captured four gold medals at the latest stop on the ISU Short Track World Tour. Plus, the Canadian ski cross team reached a major milestone on the FIS World Cup circuit, solidifying the country as the best ever in the discipline.

But that’s not all. Read on for all the highlights you might have missed.

Luge: Team Canada wins world championship relay bronze at home

With family and friends cheering them on, Team Canada claimed the bronze medal in the team relay at the FIL Luge World Championships in Whistler, British Columbia.

Racing on their home track at the Whistler Sliding Centre, the young Canadian team of Embyr-Lee Susko (women’s singles), Devin Wardrope and Cole Zajanski (men’s doubles), Theo Downey (men’s singles), and Beattie Podulsky and Kailey Allan (women’s doubles) stopped the clock in 2:51.641. The fourth team down the track, they watched as the next three teams were unable to beat their time, ensuring they would have a spot on the podium. In the end, the highly favoured Germans took the gold medal in 2:50.361, finishing 0.131 ahead of Austria.

READ: Talented trio of luge teammates and best friends slide towards world championships at home 

READ : Team Canada wins bronze medal in team relay at luge worlds

This is Canada’s fifth world championship medal all time in the team relay, but the first for this new generation of Canadian lugers, who are all under the age of 23. It is Canada’s first world championship medal in the team relay since the event incorporated a women’s doubles sled last year. Women’s doubles luge will make its Olympic debut next year.

Susko had enjoyed a breakout moment in the women’s singles event the day before. The 19-year-old finished fourth, clocking 1:17.287 for her two runs, putting her just 0.038 back of a podium position and just 0.081 back of the winner, Germany’s Julia Taubitz. Susko posted the third-fastest time in the second run.

Podulsky and Allan were also in the top-10 of the women’s doubles event, finishing eighth.

Short Track Speed Skating: Four gold medals for Canada

Four Canadians won gold medals as the ISU Short Track World Tour resumed with its fifth stop in Tilburg, Netherlands.

On Saturday, William Dandjinou continued his dominance of the men’s 1500m, earning his fourth victory of the season in the event. Steven Dubois and Jordan Pierre-Gilles delivered a 1-2 finish for Canada in the men’s 500m, the fourth time this season that two Canadians have shared the podium in the event.

READ : Courtney Sarault and Florence Brunelle win gold in Tilburg

On Sunday, Florence Brunelle earned her first career individual victory on the international circuit, winning the women’s 500m. The 21-year-old is a two-time world junior champion in the distance and had already won two World Tour silver medals earlier this season.

Courtney Sarault got the victory in the women’s 1500m. She had been overtaken for the lead with two laps remaining, but after crossing the finish line, Belgium’s Hanne Desmet was penalized for contact with Italian Arianna Fontana earlier in the race, elevating Sarault to the gold medal.

Heading into the final World Tour stop of the season in Milan, which will also serve as the Olympic test event, the Canadian Ice Maples sit comfortably atop the ISU Team Crystal Globe rankings. Dandjinou has a near-insurmountable lead in the men’s Crystal Globe standings of 282 points over Dutch skater Jens van ‘T Wout with Dubois in third.

Ski Cross: Thompson earns Canada’s 100th World Cup win

Marielle Thompson has taken over the lead in the women’s ski cross Crystal Globe standings after earning her third straight FIS World Cup victory on Saturday in Val Di Fassa, Italy.

She shared the podium with teammate Courtney Hoffos, who finished third for her first World Cup podium of the season, marking a high mark in her comeback after missing all of 2023-24 while recovering from a knee injury. India Sherret finished fourth in the big final. France’s Marielle Berger Sabbatel broke up the Canadian podium sweep by finishing second.

READ : Ski Cross: Thompson, Howden golden in Val di Fassa

On Sunday, Reece Howden earned his third victory of the season in the men’s event. Abby McEwen was the only Canadian woman in the second women’s big final of the weekend, placing fourth.

Canada is the most successful country in the history of ski cross. Thompson’s win marked a major milestone as Canada’s 100th World Cup victory all time in ski cross.

Big Air: Big wins for Oldham and Bouchard in Aspen

Megan Oldham earned her first FIS World Cup win since December 2022 as she was victorious in Aspen on Thursday. Oldham scored 183.75 for her first two runs in the women’s ski big air final, notching 92.00 and 91.75 points for each. She finished 8.5 points clear of runner-up, Flora Tabanelli of Italy.

Eli Bouchard got his career World Cup podium and victory all at once in men’s snowboard big air. The 17-year-old scored 189.00 for his best two runs of the final, finishing 4.5 points ahead of Japan’s Taiga Hasegawa, the reigning world champion. Two other Canadians made it to the final, with Mark McMorris finishing sixth and Liam Brearley right behind in seventh.

Noah Porter MacLennan was the top Canadian in men’s ski big air, finishing sixth.

Ski Jumping: Loutitt third at history-making event in Lake Placid

For the first time ever, a women’s FIS World Cup ski jumping event was held in the United States. Lake Placid, which has twice hosted the Olympic Winter Games, was the site of the history-making competition. Alexandria Loutitt finished third in Friday’s large hill event. It is her second podium of the season and 11th of her career. She followed up with a 10th-place finish on Saturday.

Moguls: Another podium for Schwinghammer, Kingsbury bounces back

Maïa Schwinghammer reached the FIS World Cup podium for a second straight week, finishing third in women’s moguls in Deer Valley, Utah. She followed up with an eighth-place performance in dual moguls.

Meanwhile, after a very uncharacteristic fall in the first round of the men’s moguls final, Mikaël Kingsbury bounced back to take second place in dual moguls on Sunday. Julien Viel had come up just short of the podium in men’s moguls, finishing fourth.

Aerials: Miha Fontaine reaches first final of season

Miha Fontaine was the top Canadian at the FIS World Cup for aerials, also in Deer Valley, finishing sixth in the men’s event. He was the only member of the Canadian team to advance to either the men’s or women’s finals. The 21-year-old advanced to his first final of the season despite challenging weather conditions.

Bobsleigh: Cynthia Appiah slides to season best result

Cynthia Appiah posted her best result of the season on Saturday, placing sixth in women’s monobob at the IBSF World Cup in Lillehammer, Norway. It was her fifth time inside the top 10 this season. Appiah’s two-run time of 1:49.38 was just 0.24 slower than that of the winner, Bree Walker of Australia.

In the two-woman event, Melissa Lotholz and Leah Walkeden were the top Canadian crew, finishing eighth. Appiah and Skylar Sieben finished 11th.

Tennis: Shapovalov wins biggest title of career

Denis Shapovalov defeated three top-10 opponents en route to lifting the trophy at the Dallas Open, an ATP 500 tournament. He took down Taylor Fritz (Round of 16), Tommy Paul (semifinals), and Casper Ruud (final) to earn the biggest title of his career after two years of struggling with injuries and form. Shapovalov defeated World No. 5 Ruud in straight sets, 7-6(5), 6-3 for his third career singles title.

As a result of his run, Shapovalov has risen 22 spots to No. 32 in the ATP singles ranking, his highest position since September 2023.

Athletics: Mitton makes world’s biggest indoor throw in more than a decade

Sarah Mitton matched her Canadian women’s shot put record with a throw on 20.68m at the World Athletics Indoor Tour Gold event on Friday in Karlsruhe, Germany. It is the best indoor women’s shot put throw in the world since 2013. Mitton broke the North American indoor record to win a stacked competition in which three women threw beyond 20 metres for the first time indoors since the 1991 World Indoor Championships.

The Cortina d’Ampezzo 1956 Olympic Winter Games marked the first time that Italy had ever played the role of Olympic host, four years before the summer Games of Rome 1960 and half a century before Canadian speed skater Cindy Klassen was the star of the show with her five medals at Turin 2006.

As we look forward to watching Team Canada athletes fulfill their Olympic dreams at Milano Cortina 2026, let’s take a quick look back to 70 years ago and how much has changed on the Winter Olympic scene.

Bigger and More Balanced

In 1956, the small resort town of Cortina (home to around 6000 people) could host the Olympic Winter Games all on its own. Not so in 2026. The Games have grown so much that events will be spread across several clusters in northern Italy, including Milan, which is about a 400-kilometre drive west of Cortina.

A quick look at these numbers gives a glimpse at how big the Winter Olympics have gotten.

Milano Cortina 2026 will be the most gender-balanced Olympic Winter Games to date, with 54 men’s events and 50 women’s events as well as 12 mixed events. It is expected that 47 per cent of participating athletes will be women. Comparatively, women comprised just 16.3 per cent of competitors at Cortina d’Ampezzo 1956.

The eight sports on the 1956 program were alpine skiing, bobsleigh, cross-country skiing, figure skating, ice hockey, Nordic combined, ski jumping, and long track speed skating. In 2026, the program will also include biathlon, curling, freestyle skiing, luge, short track speed skating, skeleton, snowboard, and ski mountaineering, with the latter making its Olympic debut.  

READ: Ski Mountaineering 101: What you need to know about the new winter Olympic sport

In 1956, only alpine skiing, figure skating, and cross-country skiing included women’s events. In 2026, the only sport in which women will not compete is Nordic combined.

Team Canada’s Increased Impact

With the growth of the Olympic program, Canada has grown into a powerhouse country at the Winter Games—both in the number of athletes who can call themselves Olympians and the number of medals that go on Team Canada’s tally.  

At each of the last four Olympic Winter Games, Team Canada has included more than 200 athletes—more than five times the number who wore the maple leaf at Cortina d’Ampezzo 1956.

Since Turin 2006, Team Canada has won at least 24 medals at each Olympic Winter Games. It was a much different story in 1956 when Canadian athletes won just three winter Olympic medals, but all were notable for their own reasons.

Figure skaters Frances Dafoe and Norris Bowden led the way with their silver in the pairs event. They were pioneers of elements we now expect pairs to perform, such as twist lifts, overhead lasso lifts, and throw jumps. While European critics claimed that overhead lifts were not mentioned in the rulebook and were therefore illegal, Dafoe and Bowden received first place marks from four of the nine judges. Their skills led to the rules for the sport being revised in 1959. Cortina d’Ampezzo 1956 marked the last time that an Olympic figure skating competition was held outdoors.

Lucile Wheeler became Canada’s first ever Olympic medallist in alpine skiing when she won bronze in the women’s downhill. That also made her the first North American to win an Olympic downhill medal.

Both of those events featured Canadians who would go on to win Olympic gold four years later. Just 17 in her Olympic debut, Anne Heggtveit built on her experience to win the women’s slalom at Squaw Valley 1960. Barbara Wagner and Robert Paul followed up their sixth-place finish in Cortina with four straight world pairs titles as well as the next Olympic title.

Canada, represented by the Kitchener-Waterloo Dutchman, won bronze in hockey. A recognizable last name from that roster is Brodeur. Goaltender Denis Brodeur went on to father goaltending great Martin Brodeur, who won gold at Salt Lake City 2002 and Vancouver 2010.

Fun Facts and International Intrigue

Cortina d’Ampezzo 1956 made history as the first Olympic Winter Games to be televised live, with broadcasts reaching multiple European countries.

They were just the second Olympic Winter Games to be preceded by a torch relay. The flame was lit at the Capitoline, one of Rome’s seven hills, and sent on a five-day journey to Cortina via Venice. The torch relay for Milano Cortina 2026 will last 63 days after the flame is lit at Olympia in Greece in November 2025.

The star athlete of Cortina d’Ampezzo 1956 was Austrian Toni Sailer, who won all three men’s alpine skiing events by large margins. Austria won nine of the 18 medals awarded in alpine skiing, accounting for all but two of the country’s podium finishes.

There was a major innovation in ski jumping as Finnish athletes introduced a new aerodynamic style. They placed their arms against their sides during their flight, rather than reaching forward in front of their heads. It helped two of them—Antti Hyvärinen and Aulis Kallakorpi—win gold and silver.

READ: Everything you need to know about Milano Cortina 2026

Venues Re-Visited

There are only three venues in Cortina that will be used during the 2026 Winter Olympics, but two of those will be hosting Olympic events for the second time.

What will be the Cortina Curling Olympic Stadium was known in 1956 as the Cortina Ice Stadium. It was the site of the Opening and Closing Ceremonies, as well as the figure skating and hockey competitions. 

The Tofane Alpine Skiing Centre, which will host women’s alpine events in 2026, was the primary alpine skiing venue for both women and men in 1956.

In 2026, the sliding sports of bobsleigh, skeleton, and luge are also planned to take place in Cortina. The Cortina Sliding Centre is currently under construction at the location that previously housed the Pista olimpica Eugenio Monti. Considered by many to be the greatest bobsleigh pilot ever, Monti won two silver medals during Cortina d’Ampezzo 1956, racing on the track that would be named for him after he won four more Olympic medals, including a pair of gold in 1968.

In Sapporo, ski jumper Alexandria Loutitt soared back to the top after a two-year drought, while in Switzerland, 19-year-old snowboarder Cameron Spalding continued his climb to greatness. On the ice, the Canadian National Skating Championships in Laval saw a lot of familiar faces claim titles.

So, what went down? Let’s dive into all the highlights:

Snowboard & Ski Slopestyle: Spalding and Oldham shine at Laax Open

Cameron Spalding continues to amaze. The 19-year-old grabbed his second win of the FIS World Cup season, taking the top spot in men’s snowboard slopestyle in Laax, Switzerland. Spalding’s second run of the final earned him a score of 86.63, as he took first place from American Red Gerard, the 2018 Olympic champion, by 0.41 points.

Spalding was nearly joined on the podium by fellow Canadian Liam Brearley who finished fourth. His score of 83.44 for his first run left him just 0.28 back of Germany’s Noah Vicktor who placed third. Eli Bouchard, who had ranked third in qualification, ended up 12th in the final.

In women’s snowboard slopestyle, Laurie Blouin was the only Canadian in the final and finished sixth.

On Friday, Megan Oldham had finished second in women’s ski slopestyle at the Laax Open. Her score of 72.80 put her just ahead of Swiss home favourite Mathilde Gremaud by 0.21 points. Olivia Asselin also made it through to the final, finishing seventh. It is Oldham’s first World Cup podium since March 2023.

The top Canadian in men’s ski slopestyle was Evan McEachran, who finished fourth, just 0.22 back of a podium position. Max Moffatt finished eighth while Noah Porter MacLennan was 13th.

Ski Jumping: Loutitt flies to first place in Sapporo

Alexandria Loutitt earned her first FIS World Cup victory in two years with a strong performance during the first large hill event of the weekend in Sapporo, Japan.

READ: Alexandria Loutitt tops ski jumping podium in Japan

On Saturday, she posted the top score in both rounds of jumping in the final. Her second jump earned the highest score of the day, 137.2 points, after she covered a distance of 131 metres. Her total score of 266.4 gave her a margin of victory of 12.7 points. Loutitt’s last World Cup podium had been back in March 2024. Her only previous World Cup win had been in January 2023 in Zao, Japan. Loutitt placed 12th in the second large hill event on Sunday.

Aerials: Thénault soars to podium at World Cup opener

It’s been a long wait for the first FIS World Cup aerials stop of the 2024-25 season, but Marion Thénault picked up just where she left off. The 24-year-old finished third in the women’s event, scoring 90.94 points in the six-woman super final. She had closed out the 2023-24 season with a World Cup victory last March. Thénault was joined in the first round of the final by Alexandra Montminy. The 18-year-old finished 11th overall for her career best World Cup result.

Alexandre Duchaine was the only Canadian to advance to the men’s final. He finished eighth overall. The following day, Montminy and Duchaine reached the podium in the mixed team event, finishing second with Miha Fontaine as the third member of their team. The trio of Lewis Irving, Émile Nadeau, and Charlie Fontaine placed fourth.

Figure Skating: National champions crowned

It was an exciting week of friendly competition at the 2025 Canadian National Skating Championships in Laval, Québec.

READ: Canadian National Skating Championships: Gilles and Poirier, Stellato-Dudek and Deschamps defend national titles

Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier clinched their fourth ice dance title with a total score of 229.55 after finishing first in both the rhythm dance and free dance. Marjorie Lajoie and Zachary Lagha secured silver (218.52), while Alicia Fabbri and Paul Ayer took bronze (195.88).

For a third consecutive year, Deanna Stellato-Dudek and Maxime Deschamps are the pairs national champions. They had missed a lot of training time in December while Deschamps recovered from illness, but showed their world champion mettle to score 207.06. Lia Pereira and Trennt Michaud earned silver (204.96) with the best free skate of the day. Kelly Ann Laurin and Loucas Éthier rounded out the podium with bronze (187.29).

Madeline Schizas took back the women’s title, securing her third gold medal at the nationals. She unveiled a new free program she plans to take forward into the Olympic year and scored 203.87 overall, a Canadian best ever.

Roman Sadovsky returned to the top step of the podium, adding the 2025 men’s title to the one he claimed in 2020.

The final day of competition could not have gotten off to a better start, as spectators witnessed the induction of Olympic bronze medallist Joannie Rochette and her coach Manon Perron into the Skate Canada Hall of Fame. Their success and resilience will never be forgotten, nor will the immense impact they have had on Canadian figure skating.

Alpine Skiing: Top 5s for Crawford and Alexander in Wengen

The men’s FIS Alpine World Cup circuit competed at one of the world’s most famed courses in Wengen, Switzerland. Jack Crawford finished fourth in the super-G on Friday, missing the podium by just four one-hundredths (0.04) of a second. Cameron Alexander finished eighth in that race.

The next day, Alexander was fifth in the downhill, 0.14 back of a podium position. Crawford ended up ninth in that race.

Bobsleigh: Pat Norton drives to career best in top six

Pat Norton piloted his four-man sled to a sixth-place finish at the IBSF World Cup in Innsbruck, Austria. He and his crew of Mike Evelyn O’Higgins, Keaton Bruggeling, and Shaq Murray-Lawrence ended up half a second back of third place. Norton had never before broken into the top 10 of a World Cup race. His previous career best was 11th in a four-man World Cup in Lake Placid in December 2022.

On the women’s side, Cynthia Appiah finished 10th in the monobob. The top performance in two-woman came from Bianca Ribi and Niamh Haughey who finished 15th.

Biathlon: Canadian women finish top 10 in Ruhpolding

Canada secured a top-10 finish in the women’s 4×6 km relay at the IBU World Cup in Ruhpolding, Germany. The team of Pascale Paradis, Emma Lunder, Shilo Rousseau and Nadia Moser finished ninth overall. That followed a 14th-place finish for Lunder in the women’s 14km individual, her best solo result of the season.

A lot of information has been published on Olympic.ca about the upcoming Games—but in this article, we’ve gathered all of those links in one place. 

Here’s everything you need to know about Milano Cortina 2026 to help keep you informed as Team Canada athletes continue their journey towards the Games that will officially open on February 6, 2026 and run for 16 days.

Where will the Games take place?

Italy will host the XXV Olympic Winter Games, primarily in Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo. This is the fourth time that Italy will host the Olympic Games, having previously hosted Cortina d’Ampezzo 1956 (winter), Rome 1960 (summer), and Turin 2006 (winter).

Events will take place across several regions of northern Italy. You can check out our venue guides to see where Team Canada will be competing:

Milano Cortina 2026 Venue Guide: Veneta

Milano Cortina 2026 Venue Guide: Trentino-Alto Adige

Milano Cortina 2026 Venue Guide: Lombardia

What sports will be contested at Milano Cortina 2026?

There are 16 sport disciplines that will be contested at Milano Cortina 2026:

• Alpine Skiing
• Biathlon
• Bobsleigh
• Cross-Country Skiing
• Curling
• Figure Skating
• Freestyle Skiing
• Ice Hockey
• Long Track Speed Skating
• Luge
• Nordic Combined
• Short Track Speed Skating
• Skeleton
• Ski Jumping
• Ski Mountaineering
• Snowboarding 

Within these sport disciplines, there will be 116 events (details for each sport are in the links above). Ski mountaineering will make its Olympic debut as the newest addition to the Olympic programme.

READ: Ski Mountaineering 101: What you need to know about the new winter Olympic sport

How can Team Canada athletes qualify for Milano Cortina 2026?

Qualification pathways for each sport can look a little different, and can be a bit confusing. We’ve done our best to break down these pathways, including when qualification events are taking place and how many quota spots are available: Team Canada Qualification Pathways.

Who is qualified for Team Canada for Milano Cortina 2026?

Approximately 2900 athletes will compete at the upcoming Games—but how many of them will rep the maple leaf? If you’re not as interested in the how, and just want to get to the who, make sure to keep tabs on this page: Team Canada Qualification Tracker for Milano Cortina 2026.

The tracker will be updated as more and more sports qualify quota spots for the Games. Athlete names will be added once they earn the nominations for those quota spots. Spoiler alert, as of right now, the only quotas that are locked in are for men’s and women’s hockey.

What is the plan for the 2026 Olympic torch relay?

The Olympic flame will begin its journey from Olympia, Greece on November 26, 2025 and arrive at San Siro Stadium on February 6, 2026 for the Opening Ceremony of Milano Cortina 2026. In between, the flame will travel throughout Italy, traversing 12,000 kilometres and crossing all 110 provinces, while passing between the hands of more than 10,000 torch bearers. Read up on some of the highlights from the plan for the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic torch relay. 

If you want to learn more about the history and tradition of the Olympic torch relay, check out our FAQ on the Olympic flame and Olympic torch relay.

What is the look and feel of Milano Cortina 2026?

The look and feel of Milano Cortina 2026 is all about vibes. These vibes are touchstone ideas that represent both Italian culture and the spirit of the Olympic Games, and include concepts like energy, passion, creativity, and style. The colours and designs will be featured across all Olympic venues, providing a visual connection. 

Who are the mascots for Milano Cortina 2026? 

Upping the cuteness factor at the Games will be the Milano Cortina 2026 mascots, Tina (Olympic mascot) and Milo (Paralympic mascot). The pair are a brother and sister duo of Italian stoats (we didn’t know what a stoat was until now either—think ferret!). They are joined by their six small flower friends, known as “the Flo.”

To get up to speed on all of the adorableness that is Tina and Milo, check out their backstory here: Meet Tina and Milo, the mascots for Milano Cortina 2026.

How do I buy tickets for Milano Cortina 2026?

Want to see Team Canada in person? While registration has closed for the draw that will determine ticket purchasing times in the first phase of sales, fear not. Open ticket sales will take place in April 2025. We’ve amalgamated everything that you need to know about ticket sales, including information about hospitality packages, here: How to buy tickets for the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games.

Here’s a quick look at what you might have missed:

Curling: Peterman and Gallant near Olympic berth in mixed doubles

Jocelyn Peterman and Brett Gallant took a big step toward representing Canada in mixed doubles curling at the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games by winning the Canadian Mixed Doubles Curling Trials in Liverpool, Nova Scotia. Their 8-7 victory over Rachel Homan and Brendan Bottcher in Saturday’s final secured them a spot at the 2025 World Mixed Doubles Championship in Fredericton, New Brunswick where they’ll aim to clinch Olympic qualification for Canada and themselves.

Peterman and Gallant started strong, scoring three in the first end and extending their lead with a timely steal. Despite Homan and Bottcher’s attempt for a big score with a power play, Peterman and Gallant maintained control and went into the eighth end with a three-point lead. Gallant’s powerful throw just about cleared the house and Peterman’s final hit sealed the win, capping an undefeated tournament run.

READ: Peterman & Gallant win mixed doubles curling trials to take next step on Olympic journey

Gallant and Peterman are vying for their second Olympic appearances after competing at Beijing 2022, where Gallant won bronze with Team Gushue and Peterman was a member of Team Jones. Having already represented Canada twice at the mixed doubles worlds, highlighted by a silver medal in 2019, their dominant performance sets them up as strong contenders on the next step in their Olympic journey.

Skeleton & Bobsleigh: Clarke earns third top-10 of season after month off

Racing on the track on which she became world champion last year, Hallie Clarke posted her third top-10 finish of the IBSF World Cup season. Clarke finished eighth in women’s skeleton in Winterberg, Germany after climbing three spots in the standings by clocking the fifth-fastest second run of the day. Clarke hadn’t competed since finishing seventh at the World Cup in Yanqing, China in late November.

In bobsleigh, Cynthia Appiah was the top Canadian in women’s monobob, placing 11th. That result was matched in the two-woman event by Bianca Ribi and Niamh Haughey, who were competing in their first World Cup of the season.

Ski Jumping: Fourth top-10 of season of Loutitt

Alexandria Loutitt finished ninth in the first women’s normal hill event at the FIS Ski Jumping World Cup in Villach, Austria on Sunday. Her score of 235.6 left her 15.8 points back of a podium position. Loutitt had last placed in the top-10 in mid-December when she finished fifth in a large hill event in Engelberg, Switzerland.

Cross-Country Skiing: Cyr & Stewart-Jones finish Tour de Ski in top 20

Katherine Stewart Jones finished 14th in the final stage of the Tour de Ski, a 10km mass start freestyle at what will be the 2026 Olympic cross-country skiing venue in Val Di Fiemme, Italy. With that effort, the 2022 Olympian finished 16th in the overall women’s Tour de Ski standings after the seven stages. Her performance was highlighted by a fourth-place finish in the third stage, a 20km interval start freestyle in Toblach, Italy on New Year’s Eve. That is her career-best World Cup result. Stewart-Jones then placed seventh in the fourth stage, a 15km classic pursuit on New Year’s Day.

Antoine Cyr finished 18th in the men’s Tour de Ski standings. His performance was headlined by a ninth-place finish in the second stage, a 15km mass start classic in Toblach.