FAIRBANKS, ALASKA
Yukon athletes climbed onto the podium 85 times at the 2014 Arctic Winter Games last week.
Team Yukon finished the Games with a total of 85 medals, with 22 gold, 25 silver and 38 bronze.
That put Yukon fifth overall in the medal count out of the nine circumpolar jurisdictions at the 23rd biennial event that saw 2,000 athletes take part.
Alaska took the top spot for the fifth Games in a row with 190 ulus including 67 gold. Yamal was second with 134 medals (55 gold) and Alberta North third with 125 medals (42 gold).
Rival territory N.W.T. narrowly edged out Yukon with 86 ulus, including 25 gold. Team Nunavut placed sixth in the ulu count behind Greenland.
When the territory hosted the 2012 Games in Whitehorse, Yukon placed second in the medal count with 122. About 250 Yukon athletes competed last week, down from 272 in 2012.
Yukon won 101 ulus at the 2010 Games in Grande Prairie, Alta., to place fourth in the medal count. This year Yukon took in just four more than it did at the 2008 Games in Yellowknife when it won 81 medals, but with 26 gold.
Yukon’s snowboarding squad had the largest medal haul for the territory’s team in Fairbanks with 21, including four gold.
Yukon also amassed 14 snowshoe medals and led Team Yukon with five gold.
The territory’s Dene games and Arctic sports squads won a combined 17 medals.
Yukon’s ski and snowshoe biathletes claimed nine medals with Whitehorse’s Nadia Moser taking three gold and a bronze in junior female ski biathlon. She was the only Yukon athlete to win three gold in individual events.
Yukon snowshoe athlete Kieran Halliday won three gold, including one in a relay race.
Yukon was held to just two gold in team sports. Team Wallingham, led by skip Joe Wallingham, took gold in male curling on Thursday and Yukon’s junior female soccer team won gold on Saturday.
Gold
Josie Storey – alpine skiing kombi junior female
Katie Vowk – alpine skiing slalom juvenile female
Robyn Poulter – arctic sports kneel jump junior female
Nadia Moser – ski biathlon 7.5km individual junior female
Nadia Moser – ski biathlon 6km sprint junior female
Nadia Moser – ski biathlon 7.5km mass start junior female
Daniel Sennett – snowshoe biathlon 3km individual juvenile male
Yukon – curling junior male
Yukon – Dene hand games junior female
Yukon – Dene hand games open male
Anthony Primozic – Dene games snow snake junior male
Doronn Fox – Dene games snow snake open male
Yukon – indoor soccer junior female
Haylie Grant – snowboarding slopestyle juvenile female
Haylie Grant – snowboarding arctic air juvenile female
Reanna Newsome – snowboarding rail jam juvenile female
Esa Suominen – snowboarding team competition juvenile male
Aidan Bradley – snowshoeing short distance combined junior male
Alice Frost-Hanberg – snowshoeing short distance combined juvenile female
Kieran Halliday – snowshoeing 5km cross country junior male
Kieran Halliday – snowshoeing 10km cross country junior male
Yukon – snowshoeing 4x400m relay junior mix
Silver
Josie Storey – alpine skiing slalom junior female
Katie Vowk – alpine skiing giant slalom juvenile female
Fayne O’Donovan – arctic sports one foot high kick junior female
Fayne O’Donovan – arctic sports all around junior female
Maria Peters – ski biathlon 7.5km individual junior female
Daniel Sennett – snowshoe biathlon 2.5km mass start juvenile male
Yukon – snowshoe biathlon 3x2km relay juvenile mix
Yukon – Dene hand games juvenile female
Brittney Brown – Dene games all around junior female
Michael Ritchie –speedskating 666m individual juvenile male
Shea Hoffman –speedskating 777m individual junior male
Michael Ritchie –speedskating 1,000m individual juvenile male
Yukon –speedskating 2,000m relay juvenile male
Haylie Grant – snowboarding team competition juvenile female
Tim Schirmer – snowboarding rail jam juvenile male
Esa Suominen – snowboarding slopestyle juvenile male
Esa Suominen – snowboarding slalom juvenile male
Esa Suominen – snowboarding arctic air juvenile male
Adam Waddington – snowboarding slalom junior male
Adam Waddington – snowboarding arctic air junior male
Adam Waddington – snowboarding rail jam junior male
Adam Waddington – snowboarding team competition junior male
Sara Burke-Forsyth – snowshoeing short distance combined junior female
Kieran Halliday – snowshoeing short distance combined junior male
Yukon – volleyball junior male
Bronze
Abby Hawes – alpine skiing slalom junior female
Alpine Skiing Team – team competition
Matthew Jacobson – arctic sports head pull open male
Reena Coyne – arctic sports sledge jump junior female
Fayne O’Donovan – arctic sports triple jump junior female
Fayne O’Donovan – arctic sports arm pull junior female
Yukon – basketball junior male
Yukon – ski biathlon 3x3km relay juvenile mix
Yukon – ski biathlon 3x4.5km relay junior mix
Hannah Jirousek – cross-country skiing 5km interval start Freestyle midget female
Yukon – cross-country skiing 3x3km relay freestyle midget female
Brittney Brown – Dene games snow snake junior female
Jedrek Dendys – Dene games snow snake junior male
Justin Smith – Dene games snow snake open male
Anthony Primozic – Dene games all around junior male
Yukon – Dog mushing team four-dog 7.5km race juvenile
Yukon – gymnastics team competition
Yukon – hockey midget male
Yukon – indoor soccer junior male
Michael Ritchie – speedskating 777m individual juvenile male
Micah Taggart-Cox – speedskating 1,000m individual juvenile male
Shea Hoffman – speedskating 1,500m individual junior male
Rachel MacIntosh – snowboarding slopestyle junior female
Rachel MacIntosh – snowboarding rail jam junior female
Reanna Newsome – snowboarding slopestyle juvenile female
Reanna Newsome – snowboarding slalom juvenile female
Reanna Newsome - team competition juvenile female
Tim Schirmer – snowboarding slopestyle juvenile male
Tim Schirmer – snowboarding slalom juvenile male
Esa Suominen – snowboarding rail jam juvenile male
Ava Cairns-Locke – snowshoeing 2.5km cross-country juvenile female
Darby McIntyre – snowshoeing 2.5km cross-country juvenile male
Kate Londero – snowshoeing short distance combined junior female
Angus Clarke – snowshoeing short distance combined juvenile male
Sara Burke-Forsyth – snowshoeing 5km cross-country junior female
Alice Frost-Hanberg – snowshoeing 5km cross-country juvenile female
Yukon – snowshoeing 4x400m relay juvenile mix
Ryan Thompson – Inuit wrestling 82kg junior male
Contact Tom Patrick at tomp@yukon-news.com