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.

After securing two team medals earlier in the competition, Ivanie Blondin capped off a stellar weekend by claiming her first individual medal—a silver in the women’s mass start.

The three-time Olympian stayed out of trouble, bouncing positions in the top half of the pack for the 16-lap test. She edged her way towards the front of the group for the back half of the race. Blondin took the bell lap in fourth spot where she quickly bolted into second position in the sprint finish.

Her time of 8:23.37 was enough to edge out Italy’s Francesca Lollobrigida (8.23.37) and secure second place. Marijke Groenewoud of the Netherlands took the gold with a time of 8:23.17.

“It was a solid race. I didn’t really have the legs for the final sprint. I wasn’t being defensive at all, so it was difficult making my way through. At one point I was a bit further back with two laps left because there was some bumping happening which is usual. I am still happy with the outcome and how I was feeling all week. I just didn’t feel like I was tip top today,” said Blondin.

On the men’s side, Connor Howe secured the bronze medal in the men’s 1500m final. Clocking in at 1:44.78, Howe earned his first career World Championship medal in an individual distance.

The 24-year-old exercised his race plan to near perfection – strong starts, pacing, technique and mental drive. He was on a fifth-place pace until the final lap where he kicked into high gear. Howe was then left to wait and see if the rest of the world could catch him.

“I am really happy. It’s been a few years that I felt like I had the potential, but it never would come together at the right moment so I’m happy it finally came together,” said Howe. “All week I have been focusing on my start because it has been a bit off. I got off the line well today. I was able to save the energy and keep the speed in that last lap. It’s always a bit stressful sitting there watching. I thought it (the time) would hold up decently. It was close between the top three so it could have gone either way.”

Howe was dropped into second place by Norweigian Peder Kongshaug, who took home the gold medal after stopping the clock with a time of 1:44.64. American Jordan Stolz bumped the Cnadian into the bronze-medal position in the final heat, stopping the clock with a time of 1:44.71.

It was a dream race for Canada’s Howe who had five, top-10 World Cup finishes in 1500m action this year. His best result in the middle-distance race came last weekend when he was sixth in Heerenveen.

READ: Long track speed skater Ivanie Blondin isn’t afraid to try new things

The bronze-medal triumph capped off a solid World Championship performance for the Canadian squad who celebrated four medals. Earlier in the weekend, the Canadian squad of Ivanie Blondin, Valérie Maltais, and Isabelle Weidemann raced to bronze in the women’s team pursuit event.

On Thursday in the women’s team sprint final, Blondin, Brooklyn McDougall and Béatrice Lamarche skated a time of 1:27.23 for a silver medal, 1.66 seconds off of the gold medallists of Team Netherlands.

Team Canada also had a couple of near podium misses. Laurent Dubreuil was fourth in the men’s 500m test, while Weidemann was edged off the podium in the women’s 5000m event.

READ: Team Canada takes bronze in women’s team pursuit at world championships

Sunday marks the end of the ISU World Speed Skating Championships in Norway.

Canada’s squad of Ivanie Blondin, Valérie Maltais, and Isabelle Weidemann raced in the first pairing of the event, facing off against Team China. Blondin, Maltais and Weidemann are no strangers to racing as a team, having won gold in this event at Beijing 2022, as well as a world title in 2023 and world silver medal in 2024

READ: Long track speed skater Ivanie Blondin isn’t afraid to try new things

The Canadians skated to a time of 3:00.74, putting themselves in a strong position for the rest of the field to chase down. In the end, Team Netherlands stood on the top of the podium, with a time of 2:56.09, followed by Team Japan in silver with a time of 3:58.55.

This was Team Canada’s second medal of the world championships, following a silver in the women’s team sprint by Blondin, Brooklyn McDougall and Béatrice Lamarche on Thursday. The Canadians skated to a time of 1:27.23, 1.66 seconds off of the gold medallists of Team Netherlands. Team Poland rounded out the podium with bronze.

READ: A peek inside the impactful relationship between Canada’s dynamic long distance duo, Bloemen and Fish

In the men’s 500m, Laurent Dubreuil narrowly missed the podium, finishing fourth with a time of 34.53.

Competition continues through Sunday.

Long track speed skating is one of those sports that, at the highest level, looks effortless, even beautiful. It’s a poetry-in-motion kind of sport. 

But according to two of Team Canada’s top long distance speed skaters, Ted-Jan Bloemen and Graeme Fish, behind the hypnotic rhythm of swinging arms and striding legs is a high level of technical skill…and some good old-fashioned pain.

“What I try to tell my younger teammates is that it’s so important, especially in long distance, to stay calm, and keep making it effortless. Once you start panicking because you’re getting tired and you start working harder, then the efficiency just goes out the window. You’ve got to stay calm all the way through,” said Bloemen.

Fish had a more blunt answer to what drove him towards the long distance events of 5000m and 10,000m.

“I love pain,” he said with a laugh.

“A 500m [race] to me, doesn’t seem that appealing because I’m not hurting. I think you just learn to love it,” Fish added, “If there was a 20km race, I’d for sure do it, no question.”

Born and raised in the Netherlands—where speed skating can claim the revered status that hockey enjoys in Canda—Bloemen moved to his father’s birth country of Canada in 2014 after years of struggling to break out in the super competitive Dutch system. Upon joining the Canadian national team, he made an immediate impact, proving to himself that he was right when he believed his best skating was still ahead of him. He’s since become a two-time Olympian, competing at PyeongChang 2018 and Beijing 2022. 

At PyeongChang 2018, Bloemen ended an 86-year Olympic medal drought for Canada in the men’s 5000m and 10,000m events. After winning silver in the former in a photo finish, he broke the Olympic record in the latter to capture the gold medal. At age 38, Bloemen has eight podiums to his name at the ISU World Single Distances Championships. 

Hailing from Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, 27-year-old Fish made his Olympic debut at Beijing 2022. But his international breakout came even earlier, when he set a world record of 12:33.86 in the 10,000m at the 2020 World Singles Distances Championships. The result he bested by almost 2.5 seconds was set by none other than Bloemen himself in 2015. At those same world championships, Fish also won bronze to Bloemen’s gold in the 5000m.

Elevating each other

Even in individual sports, teams are still made of the sum of their parts. Fish had a front row seat to the impact that Bloemen’s arrival had on the Canadian national team.

“Before Ted came to Canada, I don’t think anyone had ever gone under 13 minutes in the 10,000m,” said Fish. “Ted started skating with Jordan Belchos, and you could see that Ted was getting better, but you could also see that Jordan was getting better. And then when Ted won gold at the Olympics, Jordan got fifth—that year, we probably had the strongest distance program at the Olympics for men.

“I joined the group the year after, and we just clicked, on and off the ice. I think we both wouldn’t be as good as we are if we weren’t training together,” Fish said.

Bloemen is in agreement that the two athletes have elevated each other’s athletic performance, and adds that skating with Fish has also changed his outlook towards being a teammate.

“When Graeme skated the world record in 2020, and he took it from me, I think that was the first time in my life that I could be truly happy for someone else performing well,” said Bloemen. “I was not jealous, or angry at myself for not being better. I was just proud that we did it together, and that he’s now beat me.”

Bloemen says that their ability to genuinely celebrate each other’s successes has been an eye-opening experience.

“It’s just a much happier way to approach sport, than being bitter if you’re not winning.”

Looking back to look forward

Despite their success throughout their careers, both Bloemen and Fish would love to go back and give their younger selves some advice. 

With the hindsight that the realities of fatherhood have given him, Bloemen wishes he could tell his younger self to be a bit more disciplined.

“If I could go back to the early days of my career, I would just be like: For god’s sake, just focus on what you need to do! You’ve got so much time in the day!” Bloemen said with a laugh.

“It took me way too long to really commit, and to really understand what you need to do to become a champion—you need to live it, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. And man, could I have been doing that earlier!”

Fish would warn himself against the dangers of comparison to others, and give himself advice in the form of the attitude he tries to embody now—to be in the moment and work hard.

Heading to world championships

As Team Canada heads towards the ISU World Speed Skating Single Distances Championships taking place March 13-16 in Hamar, Norway, Bloemen and Fish are focused on being process-oriented, rather than outcome-oriented, and keeping their eyes trained towards Milano Cortina 2026.

“People always want to hear like, where do you want to finish? What time do you want to skate?” said Bloemen, “But to us, it’s not important—if you want to get the most out of yourself, the journey has to be the goal.”

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

Team Canada’s ski cross athletes notched three podiums in Georgia, while Canadian long track speed skaters claimed two medals in the Netherlands. Eliot Grondin further established his lead in the men’s snowboard cross World Cup standings with a second place finish in Türkiye.

There were also impressive finishes by Canadians in ski jumping, aerials, and snowboard alpine, so make sure you’re all caught up!

Moguls: Kingsbury earns his 28th career Crystal Globe

Mikaël Kingsbury continues to rewrite the history of his sport. His two victories over the weekend at the FIS Moguls World Cup in Almaty, Kazakhstan, in both individual moguls and dual moguls, brought him closer to the 100-win milestone. Kingsbury has 98 World Cup victories to his name, making the 100-win mark possible within this season.

He also secured his 13th Crystal Globe for the overall standings and his 28th across all disciplines.

Ski cross: Three medals in Gudauri

Reece Howden struck gold at the Ski Cross World Cup in Gudauri, Georgia, on Saturday, earning his fourth win of the season and 15th career victory. He dominated his heats before defeating Florian Wilmsmann (silver) and Simone Deromedis (bronze) in the final.

READ: Howden wins gold at FIS Ski Cross World Cup In Gaudauri, Georgia

Courtney Hoffos added to Canada’s success with a bronze medal in the women’s event on Saturday, her second podium finish this season. Howden’s win moved him to third in the overall standings, while Hoffos continues to impress with her consistent performances.

India Sherret also found the podium in Friday’s race, taking third. The result moved Sherret into the top spot in the race for the Crystal Globe over teammate Marielle Thompson. This was sixth podium of the season, and 11th of her career. Thompson unfortunately suffered a crash in the first day of racing in Gudauri.

Long track speed skating: Dubreuil, Blondin claim silver in final leg of World Cup

Team Canada skaters collected a pair of silver medals as the ISU World Cup of Speed Skating season came to a close in Heerenveen, Netherlands.

Laurent Dubreuil capped off an impressive 500m campaign with a time of 34.51 seconds, just 0.05 off of the gold medal time. With the result, Dubreuil leapfrogged Japan’s Tatsuya Shinhama in the distance standings to finish second overall. American Jordan Stolz, who did not race on Sunday, already had first place secured after winning seven gold medals in the distance this season.

Dubreuil added a fifth place finish in the 1000m on Saturday.

In the women’s mass start, Ivanie Blondin was on the wrong side of a photo finish as Dutch skater Marijke Groenewoud took first place by two-tenths of a second over the Canadian. Blondin’s silver was her second of the season, and she finished fourth overall in the distance rankings for the season.

READ: Dubreuil and Blondin claim silvers in World Cup finale

Isabelle Weidemann fell just outside the podium, with a fourth-place finish in the women’s 3000m event on Saturday. David La Rue took sixth in the men’s mass start on Sunday.

With World Cup competition now finished, the ISU speed skating season will conclude March 13-16 with the World Speed Skating Single Distances Championships in Hamar, Norway.

Snowboard Cross: Grondin maintains his lead with silver medal

Eliot Grondin reached the podium at the FIS Snowboard Cross World Cup in Erzurum, Türkiye, with a second-place finish in the final.

Grondin has an impressive 130-point lead over his closest competitor in the overall standings.

Ski Jumping: Strate sets hill record in Trondheim

Team Canada’s Alexandria Loutitt and Abigail Strate tied for fifth place in the women’s normal hill event at the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships in Trondheim, Norway. Both Canadians scored a total of 236.7 points in the final.

In her first jump of the finals, Strate soared to a distance of 104.5m, setting a hill record for the normal hill in Trondheim.

Aerials: Thenault narrowly misses podium in Kazakhstan

Marion Thénault came within a few points of a medal at the FIS Aerials World Cup in Almaty, Kazakhstan.

Thenault finished with 81.56 points, less than six short of the bronze medal position. No other skier besides those in the top four eclipsed the 70-point mark. A medal for Thenault would have been the second of the year for the 24-year-old.

The Aerials World Cup will resume on March 11 in Livigno, Italy.

Alpine Snowboard: Moisan continues streak of strong results

Aurelie Moisan raced to tenth place in the women’s parallel giant slalom at the FIS Snowboard Alpine World Cup in Krynica, Poland.

Moisan notched a fourth place finish on home snow in Val Saint-Comê, Québec in mid-February—her career best World Cup result. Moisan won gold at the 2024 FIS Junior World Championships.

Laurent Dubreuil crossed the line in 34.51 seconds to claim silver in the men’s 500m, while Ivanie Blondin came just 0.02 seconds from first place in the women’s mass start.

Dubreuil ends the season with his fourth silver medal finish in the 500m, and an overall silver in the distance rankings. American Jordan Stolz, who did not race on Sunday, finished atop the distance standings after winning seven gold medals on the season.

Dubreuil’s silver allowed him to leapfrog Japan’s Tatsuya Shinhama in the overall standings after Shinhama finished in eighth place on Sunday.

In the women’s mass start, it came down to a photo finish between Dutch skater Marijke Groenewoud and Canadian Ivanie Blondin. Groenewoud just barely managed to sneak her skate across the finish line before the Canadian to take gold in the final race of the year. Blondin finished with a time of eight minutes, and 27.54 seconds, just 0.02 seconds behind Groenewoud to claim silver.

The silver is tied for the best result for Blondin this season after she also claimed silver in Nagano, Japan in November. She finishes fourth in the mass start distant rankings this season.

With the World Cup competition now finished, the ISU speed skating season will conclude March 13-16 with the World Speed Skating Single Distances Championships in Hamar, Norway.

Four medals were won at the Four Continents Figure Skating Championships, led by Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier defeating the defending world champions. Sprint speed skating star Laurent Dubreuil hit a major career milestone with two World Cup silver medals, while Elizabeth Hosking gave the home fans in Calgary a thrill with her return to the snowboard halfpipe podium.

Here’s a quick look back at those and more great moments from the weekend.

Figure Skating: Two double podiums at Four Continents Championships

Canadians stood on two steps of both the pairs and ice dance podiums at the ISU Four Continents Figure Skating Championships in Seoul, South Korea.

On Friday, reigning pairs world champions Deanna Stellato-Dudek and Maxime Deschamps responded to a disappointing fourth-place performance in the short program with a season best free skate to move up and claim the silver medal. Lia Pereira and Trennt Michaud had their two best performances of the season to win bronze for their first ever medal at an ISU Championship.

READ: Canadian double podium in pairs at Four Continents Championships

On Saturday, Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier won their second consecutive ice dance gold medal at the Four Continents Championships, this time defeating two-time reigning world champions Madison Chock and Evan Bates. A season best rhythm dance put Gilles and Poirier into the lead. They held onto first place by 0.53 after the free dance, in which they also earned a season best score, but still have room to grow with regards to the levels on some of their technical elements as they look towards the world championships in March.

READ: Gilles and Poirier defend Four Continents title, Lajoie and Lagha claim bronze

Marjorie Lajoie and Zachary Lagha won their second career ice dance bronze medal at the Four Continents Championships, adding to the one they earned in 2023.

Roman Sadovsky made his case to be Canada’s lone representative in the men’s event at the world championships. The reigning national champion finished 10th for the second straight year. Sarah-Maude Dupuis was the top Canadian in the women’s event with her own 10th place finish. National champion Madeline Schizas finished 12th.

Long Track Speed Skating: Two 500m silvers for Dubreuil

Laurent Dubreuil placed second in both men’s 500m events at the ISU World Cup in Tomaszów Mazowiecki, Poland. That means he has finished on the podium in four straight events at that distance.

On Friday, he clocked in at 34.73 seconds, finishing 0.24 back of 20-year-old American phenom Jordan Stolz, who has won seven of nine 500m World Cup races this season. Dubreuil reached a major milestone with his 40th career individual World Cup podium.

On Sunday, Dubreuil had to deal with a false start, but still got off the line quickly and stopped the clock in 34.70 seconds. He was 0.18 shy of the winner, Kazakhstan’s Yevgeniy Koshkin. Dubreuil sits second in the 500m World Cup standings with two more races to go at next weekend’s World Cup finale in Heerenveen, Netherlands.

Also on Sunday, Ivanie Blondin took bronze in the women’s mass start for her first World Cup medal in that event since the season opener in November. She then teamed with Carolina Hiller and Béatrice Lamarche to win silver in the women’s team sprint.

Snowboard: Hosking lands on halfpipe podium in Calgary

Elizabeth Hosking claimed her first podium of the year, finishing third in snowboard halfpipe on home snow at the FIS World Cup in Calgary.

Hosking was the lone Canadian to reach a halfpipe final at the Snow Rodeo. Her score of 79.25 on her third run of the final put her onto the podium behind Japan’s Sena Tomita (90.75) and American Maddie Mastro (85.25). This is Hosking’s third career World Cup podium, with her last also coming in Calgary in February 2023. This has been a comeback season for her after she missed all of 2023-24 due to injury.

READ: “That fire hasn’t left”: Snowboarder Elizabeth Hosking wants to reach new heights in the halfpipe

In slopestyle, Laurie Blouin was the lone Canadian in the women’s final and finished 11th. Three Canadians qualified for the men’s final. Truth Smith finished 13th, ahead of Liam Brearley in 14th and Cameron Spalding in 16th.

Moguls: Mikaël Kingsbury and Julien Viel ski to podiums

Mikaël Kingsbury finished second in moguls at the FIS World Cup in Beidahu, China on Friday. It’s his ninth podium of the season and 138th of his career. Kingsbury’s score of 85.91 in the super final left him just 0.66 back of one of his top rivals, Japan’s Ikuma Horishima, who earned his third straight World Cup victory.

“I tried to push in the super final and it was close. I don’t have the words right now, but I’m happy with what I did. It’s another podium, even though I would have preferred to win”, Kingsbury said.

Two other Canadians reached the final, with Julien Viel placing sixth and Sam Cordell finishing eighth.

Viel got onto the podium in the dual moguls on Saturday, finishing third after defeating American Nick Page in the small final. It’s his second podium of the season after finishing second in moguls at home in Val St-Come at the end of January.

“It definitely feels good, because yesterday I got 5th place and I was expecting a little more. Today, I got my revenge and I’m really happy,” Viel said.

Ski Jumping: Abigail Strate flies to podium in Austria

Abigail Strate took third place in the second women’s normal hill event at the FIS Ski Jumping World Cup in Hinzenbach, Austria. The day after her 24th birthday, she scored 226.6 points on Sunday for her fifth career individual World Cup podium. It’s her first individual podium since she earned three straight in January 2024. Strate had finished eighth in Saturday’s first normal hill event of the weekend.

“It feels really good. I wasn’t trying to expect anything but being in third after the first round, I haven’t been in that position this year, so it was a bit stressful,” said Strate. “Today, I decided I was going to go for it. It either works or it doesn’t. In a top sport like this the margin is so small you can’t be half in.

“I have been playing it safe this year, but I reached the point where I said ‘we are doing it. I know I can do it.’ I proved that to myself in training and qualis this weekend.”

Alpine Skiing: Crawford top-six in World Cup downhill

Jack Crawford finished sixth in his first FIS World Cup downhill race since his historic win in Kitzbuehel last month.

Racing in Crans Montana in the Swiss Alps, Crawford finished with a time of 1:56.91, just 0.03 seconds back of fourth place, but 0.42 from a podium spot. Franjo Von Allmen took the win to lead an all-Swiss podium.

Crawford currently sits in fifth place in the Crystal Globe downhill standings. Saturday’s result is his sixth top-10 finish of the season and was his fifth in a row.

The Canadian women were in Sestriere, Italy. Britt Richardson finished 11th in the giant slalom for her second best result of the World Cup season. Ali Nullmeyer was 11th in the slalom for her best World Cup result since March 2024.

Aerials: Fontaine close to first individual podium of season

Miha Fontaine earned his best individual FIS World Cup result of the season, finishing fourth in men’s aerials in Beidahu, China. Fontaine’s score of 112.67 in the super final put him just 3.26 back of a podium position. Alexandre Duchaine just missed advancing to the six-man super final, placing eighth in the first round of the final.

On Monday, Duchaine joined with Marion Thénault and Lewis Irving to finish fourth in the mixed team event.

Ski Slopestyle: Two top-six finishes in Stoneham

Canada’s top slopestyle skiers were competing on home snow in Stoneham, Quebec over the weekend. Olivia Asselin led the way with her fifth-place finish in the women’s final. Three Canadians made the men’s final, led by Evan McEachran‘s sixth-place performance. Charlie Beatty and Max Moffatt finished 15th and 16th, respectively.

This time around, Dubreuil clocked 34.70 seconds to finish behind Kazakhstan’s Yevgeniy Koshkin (34.52). Poland’s Marek Kania joined them on the podium, finishing just six-hundredths of a second behind Dubreuil. The Lévis, Que., native now holds an impressive 41 international medals, including six golds, since joining the circuit in 2011.

Meanwhile, Ivanie Blondin also had a strong weekend, partnering with Carolina Hiller and Béatrice Lamarche to claim silver in the women’s team sprint. The trio finished in 1:28.30, narrowly trailing the Polish team (1:28.09) and edging out the Netherlands (1:28.46). Blondin also shined independently, racing to a bronze medal in the mass start.

A men’s trio of Dubreuil, Anders Johnson, and Connor Howe also finished fourth in the team sprint event.

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.