Athletes are continuing to show tenacity and do their territory proud at the Canada Summer Games.
Wrestling
After fighting hard for three days of competition and shattering expectations, Team Yukon’s wrestlers completed their tournament in Canada Games Park on Aug. 11.
Jaymi Hinchey finished sixth place in the individual up to 56-kg female category. The 15-year-old won all three of her fights against Newfoundland, New Brunswick and Nunavut on Aug. 10.
Hinchey was defeated by fall in the fifth/sixth place game against Alberta’s Jusleen Sidhu.
Eban Basnett placed eighth in the up to 65-kg male category. Jayden Iskra placed ninth in the up to 60-kg, defeating Jusipi Alainnga Dimitruk of Nunavut in his final dual. Ryan Gayangos finished tenth in the up to 70-kg.
Judo Yukon congratulated the wrestling team on their accomplishments at the Games in a post on Facebook.
“There were some fine examples of how to make yourself better, your teammates better and to honour your sport — Outstanding work and super proud!”
Swimming
The Games are also testing the mettle of Yukon swimmers in Brock University’s Eleanor Misener Aquatics Centre.
On Aug. 10, Thomas Gishler came in second in the 200-metre freestyle ‘B’ final and Tuja Dryer earned a seventh-place finish in the 100-metre butterfly ‘B’ final. The women’s 4x100 medley relay team placed 10th in the finals, but the men’s team was disqualified.
The next day in the pool, Sabine Keesey, 14, knocked 33 seconds off their personal best in the 800-metre freestyle timed final, clocking in at 9:52.25. They finished 13th thirteenth overall.
Team Yukon swam in four other finals on Thursday: the 1500-metre freestyle, 800-metre freestyle, 200-metre individual medley and 4x100 freestyle mixed relay.
Thomas Gishler finished ninth in the 1500-metre men’s freestyle final and fourth in the ‘B’ final for the 200-metre individual medley.
Cycling
The Roldan sisters, Mara, 18, and Mathilde, 16, raced in the mountain bike team relay event on Wednesday morning at Twelve Mile Creek.
They were the only team with two racers instead of three, so the younger sister rode double laps in the Ontario heat.
The “peanut-butter-like mud” that prevented Mara from being able to complete her individual race on Monday was no longer an obstacle.
The Yukon sister team crossed the finish line in seventh place.
Soccer
The men’s soccer team has played three games so far.
They made history on Aug. 8, beating Novia Scotia 3-0 and becoming the first soccer team from the Yukon to defeat a province at the Canada Summer Games.
They lost to Alberta 2-0 on Aug. 9.
Team Yukon fought hard in the qualification round against British Columbia on Aug. 11. It was a close match, but they lost to their rival team 1-0.
They’ll play Manitoba in the seventh/eighth place game on Aug. 12 at 1 p.m. EST.
Contact Magan Carty at magan.carty@yukon-news.com