With a medal count of 82 across all sporting categories, Team Yukon continues to dominate the medals chart at the Arctic Winter Games (AWG).
Team Alaska retains the second spot at 77 while Alberta North sits at third place with 61 medals.
Four teams had the day off – cross country skiing, wrestling, speed skating and biathlon ski and snowshoe. Every other team participated in the games as the sporting event entered day five, according to a statement from Team Yukon.
The alpine ski team won eight medals for Team Yukon on Feb. 1.
Tori Vollmer ended the competition on an impressive note, winning her third gold medal in U17 parallel slalom. Her first two golds were in slalom and giant slalom.
Tom Vollmer won gold in the U15 category, his second in the competition, bringing his medal tally to three. The Vollmer siblings’ dad, Dean, coaches the Yukon alpine team alongside Urs Schirmer.
Other wins for alpine ski included Annie Heffner, who won silver in the U17 category, while Mack Jenner of the U17 male category won bronze. On the U15 female team, Ellyann Dinn won gold while Grace Allaway won a bronze medal. Zach Ball of the U15 male team won a bronze medal.
Team Yukon’s statement said every member of the team contributed to the winning of the team event.
Aubree Hombert, Alayna Mortimer, Genevieve Lefebvre, and Chloe Tatsumi of the gymnastics team won bronze in the team event.
Team Yukon officials said despite the freezing temperatures, the snowboard team pulled off a sterling performance. Isabelle Paquette won gold, Stian Langbakk earned silver and Seamus MacDonald took a bronze medal.
The Dene Games had “an exciting day” as the contingents competed in hand games. The junior male team took the gold ulu and the juvenile female team earned bronze. The junior female and open male teams lost out as N.W.T., Nunavut and Alberta North won gold, silver and bronze medals respectively.
The girls’ hockey team earned a berth to the semi-finals after an 8-1 win over Alaska. Taylor Bierlmeier and Jordan MacDonald scored twice, while Zoe Leas, Cassie Cebuliak, Alia Drummond, and Sophie Drummond scored a goal apiece.
Goals from Tanner Gorrell and Beau Yuchak-Lovelace were not enough as the U19 male hockey team lost 4-2 against the N.W.T. The loss marked the end of their participation at the competition.
The U16 boys’ hockey team defeated Alaska 7-2 and will play the N.W.T. team on Feb. 2 in the semi-finals before hoping to proceed to the medal round.
John Chisholm, Noah Lapierre and Micah Oslund found the net as the male juvenile futsal team defeated the N.W.T. 4-3.
The female juvenile futsal team lost their first match of the games 4-1 to the N.W.T. Their colleagues, the Yukon junior female futsal team, lost 2-1 to Sápmi on Feb. 1.
The male basketball team had their first loss since the competition started, losing 97-76 to Alberta North. The female basketball team also dropped their first contest of the games to Northern Alberta, losing 85-56.
The table tennis team was in action in the doubles event. However, their effort was not enough to take them to the finals. They will play today in the singles event.
The female curling team defeated Nunavut 10-2. They played Alaska on Feb. 1 and lost 8-2. The male team placed third after round-robin play and won 6-5 against N.W.T. to advance to the medal rounds.
The archery started their individual competition on Feb. 1 and will continue on Feb. 2.
In badminton, Winnie Zhang won a ticket to the semi-finals, and so did the junior male and female doubles teams.
The male volleyball team had three games on day four of the competition, winning Alaska 2-0 and N.W.T. 2-1. In the late game the team beat Nunavut in two sets.
The female volleyball team defeated Nunavut in straight sets. They will play Team Greenland in the quarter-finals in today’s late game.
The Level 1 and 2 figure skaters performed their long program on Feb. 1 with Team Yukon losing out in the final medals standing.
The snowshoe team competed in the 400- and 100-metre races. Results will be announced on Feb. 3.
In the Arctic Sports, Sascha Nelson won silver in the junior arm pull, her second medal after winning gold on Jan. 31. Team Yukon’s statement said other athletes in the team gave their best performances in the one foot high kick, with the game ending in the knuckle hop, “in front of a roaring crowd that echoed with the sound of drums.”
Contact Patrick Egwu at patrick.egwu@yukon-news.com