The Canada Winter Games continue in Red Deer, Alta., with Team Yukon back in action for week two of the games after a day off on Feb. 23.
Cross-Country Skiing
Team Yukon’s cross-country skiers started competition with free races on Feb. 25 and free sprints on Feb. 26.
In the female 7.5-km free race, Whitehorse’s Natalie Hynes narrowly missed the podium after finishing fourth with a time of 23 minutes and 2.8 seconds.
Gold went to Quebec’s Laura Leclair with a time of 22 minute and 11.6 seconds.
Other Yukon finishes included Amanda Thomson in 16th, Hannah Deuling in 19th, Sonjaa Schmidt in 29th and Hannah Jirousek in 30th.
Derek Deuling was the top Yukoner in the male 10-km free race, finishing ninth with a time of 23 minute and 37.4 seconds.
The win went to British Columbia’s Remi Drolet in 22 mintues and 5.1 seconds.
Sasha Masson was 23rd, Jamie Phillips-Freedman was 44th, Ben Puskas was 48th and Marcus Deuling was scheduled to race but did not compete.
During female sprint qualification, all five Yukoners qualified for heats.
In the quarterfinals, only Hynes was able to advance after finishing second in her heat.
Hynes was fourth in her semifinal, narrowly missing a spot in the ‘A’ final, and ultimately finished second in the ‘B’ final and eighth overall.
Things were quite so successful in the male sprint, where only Derek was able to qualify in the top 30, finishing 27th.
Marcus finished 31st, Masson finished 33rd, Puskas finished 41st and Phillips-Freedman finished 48th.
In his quarter-final heat, Derek finished sixth.
Skiing continues with classic mass-start races on Feb. 28 and mixed relays on March 2.
Freestyle Skiing
Freestyle skiing concluded on Feb. 22 with half pipe competition.
In the male half pipe event, two Yukoners competed in qualifications but failed to advance to the finals.
Max Logan put down a 34.40 in his second run, good for 21st overall, while Chris Arsenault’s 31.20 in his first run earned him 25th spot.
Alberta’s Xander Cayer won gold with a 78.00 in the finals on run two.
Speed skating
The final short-track speed skating event for the Yukon duo of Micah and Caius Shepherd Taggart-Cox was the male 3,000-metre points race on Feb. 22.
Micah led the way for the territories, finishing with 359 points in 27th position. Caius Shepherd finished 44th with 60 points.
The win went to Quebec’s Nicolas Perrault.
Hockey
Female hockey competition started on Feb. 24 with the first day of preliminary competition.
In pool ‘C’, Team Yukon lost to Team Newfoundland 15-1 in the opening game. The lone Yukon goal came from Zoe Leas at 8:58 of the second period unassisted.
The team was back on the ice on Feb. 25 for another preliminary game, this time taking on Team Prince Edward Island.
Prince Edward Island won the game 13-1, with the Yukon goal coming near the middle of the third period from the stick of Joy Morin assisted by captain Maddie Nicholson.
Pool play wrapped up on Feb. 26 with Team Yukon dropping a 7-1 decision to Team Northwest Territories.
Team Yukon’s goal came early in the first period, tying the game at 1-1. Jordan Macdonald scored with assists from alternate captains Georgia Musil and Cayman Oestreich.
Female hockey continues with qualifying round games on Feb. 27 and quarter-finals set to start Feb. 28.
Squash
Mackenzie Cameron took to the squash court for the start of male individual competition on Feb. 24, losing his match against Ontario’s Neel Ismail 3-0 (11-1, 11-2, 11-3). The loss eliminated Cameron from advancing in the competition.
Ismail takes on fellow Ontarian Liam Marrison in the gold medal match on March 1.
Male team competition started on Feb. 24, with the Yukon losing to Quebec 4-0. Joining Cameron on the court were Ivan Johnson, Rannon Johnson and Isaac Maddocks. Ivan was the lone Yukoner to win a game, losing 3-1 to Quebec’s Cyrus Sarmad.
Team Yukon took on Team Manitoba on Feb. 25, losing 4-0, and Team Ontario on Feb. 26, losing 4-0.
Team competition continues with matches against Ontario and Saskatchewan on Feb. 27.
Alpine Skiing
Alpine skiing competition started on Feb. 25 with Yukoners competing in both male and female super G races.
Gold in the female competition went to Quebec’s Arianne Forget with a time of 45.9 seconds, followed by Albertans Makenna Lebsack in second and Britt Richardson in third.
The lone Yukoner in the race, Greta Gladwin, finished 52nd with a time of 58.39 seconds.
In the men’s super G, Quebecer Alexis Barabe won gold with a time of 45.27 seconds. Second and third went to Aleksas Valadka and Kyle Blandford, both from Ontario.
Wesley Vangel had the best finish from a Yukoner, placing 36th overall with a time of 49.57 seconds.
Other Yukon results included Naoise Dempsey in 53rd, Clayton Michael Chapman in 54th, Orin Gladwin in 59th and a DNF from Charlie Hawes.
Racing continued on Feb. 26 with the male and female giant slalom events.
Winning gold in the female competition was Forget with a combined time of one minute and 44.27 seconds. Second spot went to Richardson and third went to Lebsack.
Greta finished 33rd with a combined time of two minutes and 11.76 seconds.
Top spot in the male giant slalom went to Quebec’s Mathis Lafond with a combined time of one minute and 47.58 seconds. Second place was another Quebecer, Hugo Culver, followed by Ontario’s Valadka.
The best Yukon finish went to Chapman in 23rd with a time of two minutes and 7.09 seconds.
Hawes is listed as a DNF after completing his first run in a time of 57.41 seconds. Vangel, Orin and Dempsey also did not finish the competition.
Alpine competition continues Feb. 27 with slalom competition and concludes on March 2 with ski cross.
Figure Skating
Female pre-novice figure skating competition started on with competitors taking part in the short program on Feb. 25 before competing in the free program on Feb. 27.
After the short program, Alissa Russell is leading the way for Team Yukon in 17th place while Jamie Nickel sits in 20th.
On Feb. 26, the female novice singles competition started with short programs.
Mikayla Kramer currently sits in seventh place.
The free program is scheduled for Feb. 28.
Snowboarding
Team Yukon’s snowboarders took to the hill on Feb. 25 for male snowboardcross.
After qualifications, Ethan Davy was the top Yukoner in 12th and Syth Charchun sat in 33rd.
Charchun had a chance to earn a spot in the quarterfinals in a special heat, but finished second in the field of three.
Davy finished third in his quarterfinal heat and did not advance.
Gold in the finals went to Quebec’s Anthony Gervais-Marcoux, with silver for Colby Graham of B.C. and Bronze for Riley Howell of Ontario.
Davy finished 11th overall and Charchun was 32nd overall.
Snowboarding continues with slopestyle on Feb. 28 and half pipe on March 1.
Archery
Archery competition started on Feb. 26 with Yukoners competing in all six available categories.
Qualifying started for male, female and mixed team compound bow categories with round one on Feb. 26.
In female individual competition, the Yukon’s Sofija Jewell sits tied for fourth with a score of 569. Top spot belongs to Quebec’s Marie Paquette with 583.
In male competition, Vincent Menard is also in fifth with 563. Ontario’s Austin Taylor is leading the way with 585.
As a mixed team, the pair are fifth with a score of 1,132.
Quebec has the lead with 1,168.
Recurve male, female and mixed team categories also started competition on Feb. 26.
In female individual competition, Dawson City’s Emma Tom Tom is in 11th with a score of 362, while Quebec’s Marie-Eve Gelinas leads the way with 531.
Wyatt Kapaniuk posted a 470 in round one qualifying for the male individual competition, good for eighth position. Alberta’s Aaron Cox set the bar with a 580.
The team sits in eighth overall with 832 points. Leading the way is Alberta with 1,097 points.
Round two of qualifying for all archery events is Feb. 27
Judo
Team Yukon has four judoka competing at the games this year.
Whitehorse’s Jonathan Racine was placed into the quarterfinals of the 60-kilogram individual male division where he lost his bout with Saskatchewan’s Maximus Louis Litzenberger.
Racine moved into the repechage, losing to Ontario’s Daniel McCristall.
The Yukon’s other three athletes get into action on Feb. 27.
Cassie Jensen has a berth in the 57-kg individual female quarterfinals, Rowen Kingston is in the preliminaries of the 81-kg male division and Jadon Zayith Leenders is in the preliminaries of the 81-kg-and-higher male division.
Judo concludes with team competition on March 1.
Badminton
Team Yukon started badminton competition on Feb. 25 with action in doubles and singles competition.
In female doubles play, the pair of Gabrielle Belanger and Lily Kremer lost to a team from Alberta in round one play — knocking the duo out of the competition.
The team of Lukas Sebastian Kobler and Anton Menzel lost in round one of male doubles competition while the Yukon duo of Austin Meng Au and Carl Knickle were seeded directly into round two, losing 2-0 to a team from Quebec.
In mixed doubles, the duo of Tristan and Shayla Kremer lost 2-0 to a team from Prince Edward Island.
All three Yukoners in female singles competition — Lily, Belanger and Shayla — lost their round two matches.
Menzel won his round one match in male singles competition 2-0, while Au and Kobler both lost 2-0.
In round two, Menzel won again beating Alex Zheng of Prince Edward Island 2-1 while Knickle and Tristan both lost 2-0.
Menzel’s winning ways came to an end in round three against Quebec’s Mathieu Morneau, losing 2-0.
Badminton mixed team competition starts Feb. 28.
Contact John Hopkins-Hill at john.hopkinshill@yukon-news.com