Team Yukon’s Michael Sumner will be bringing home a gold medal from the Canada Winter Games on Prince Edward Island.
The Special Olympics figure skater skated a beautiful routine on March 2 in front of a cheering Yukon crowd to win a gold medal, Team Yukon said in a statement. This will mark his final Canada Winter Games.
The gold complements a bronze won by judoka Jaymi Hinchey in judo as well as bronze medals won by biathletes Cheyenne Tirschmann and Cole Germain in the single mixed relay at the games on Feb. 24.
Jaymi defeated an Ontario opponent in her final fight to earn the bronze.
Team Yukon officials said in the March 2 daily update that Yukon athletes did not disappoint as it was a day of success and personal bests at the competition.
Along with Jaymi’s bronze, judoka Leah Hinchey also made it to the bronze medal round in her weight class, but was defeated. Kaylee Fortier also had two close fights, but was knocked out in two, officials said in a statement.
The alpine ski team sped down the hill in the slalom event. Team Yukon officials said the skiers have been putting up personal bests throughout the games.
Ellayann Dinn had the quickest time in the Yukon women’s division and Mack Jenner was the fastest Yukon male.
The mixed doubles curling team of Bayly Scoffin and Nico Fecteau had two matches on their third day of the tournament.
The duo faced a strong team from British Columbia, scoring two points to take the lead in the second end before eventually losing 8-3.
This was followed by a close match against Newfoundland, where they lost 6-4.
Scoffin and Fecteau had kicked off the first-ever mixed doubles event at the competition on Feb. 28 against their Alberta counterparts.
The four Yukon archers — Sofija Jewell and Emmett Kapaniuk, compound, and Shiori Monzo and Daniel Mead, recurve — had their events on March 2.
Officials said the athletes shot very consistently in front of a large crowd, which moved them to the team event.
The athletes currently at the games arrived Feb. 28 for the second week of events, while athletes who were there for the first week completed their competitions and returned to the territory.
The women’s hockey team started the games against host P.E.I in the town of Summerside. Despite the efforts put in by Yukon athletes Wynne Anderson Lindsey, who stopped 66/69 shots, and Cassie Cebuliak, who scored the only goal, it was their opponents who had the day, winning 3-1.
Stian Langbakk and Lewis Bunce had a good game day on the snowboard slopestyle course on Feb. 28 as they made the finals with Langbakk finishing fifth overall and Lewis in 12th.
The alpine team’s first competition of the games was in the Super G on Feb. 28. Dinn and Carson Nelson put up the quickest Yukon times of 52.11 seconds and 51.29 seconds respectively.
The same day, the badminton team participated in doubles, mixed doubles and singles matches. Team Yukon’s Anton Menzel won his first game 2-0 against his P.E.I. counterpart.
The cross country ski team competed on a 2.5-kilometre loop on Feb. 28. The girls raced 7.5 kilometres and the boys 10 kilometeres in both classic individual races. Simon Connell had the territory’s top finish in the boys’ race, placing 15th. Constance Lapointe, who has competed against many skiers, especially at the World Junior Championships, finished 11th.
On March 1, the female hockey team picked up a 6-1 win over their N.W.T. counterparts to move their record to 1-2.
Emery Twardochleb scored twice while Taylor Bierlmeier, Charlotte Siksik, Cassie Cebuliak and Arnica Bulmer scored a goal each to complete the rout.
The alpine skiers also competed in giant slalom on March 1. Dinn had the quickest Yukon time in the women’s division of 2:11.51 while Charles Nelson was the quickest Yukon male, finishing with a timestamp of 2:04.22.
The cross country skiers competed in the sprints, which began with an individual qualifier before moving into heats. The entire women’s team — Lapointe, Sophia Giangrande, Maude Molgat, Sophie Molgat and Minty Bradford — made it to the top 30 finish on March 1. Connell was the lone male on the list.
Lapointe had the best result of the day finishing fourth overall, while Molgat and Connell made it into the top 10.
Contact Patrick Egwu at patrick.egwu@yukon-news.com