Dave Holland/COC – Leah Hennel/COC – AP Photo/Ian Walton
Following the excitement sparked by Nick Taylor’s historic RBC Canadian Open win last Sunday, Team Canada will have another chance to shine this weekend.
The new national hero headed straight to Los Angeles, where he is one of seven Canadians on the US Open course. In rowing, Team Canada will make its World Cup debut this season. For the first time since 2021, an Olympic veteran returns to World Cup archery. Meanwhile, the Canadian track team is aiming for a podium finish at the championships. Pan Americans as Canada’s top beach volleyball duo are looking to build their momentum.
Here is a quick rundown of the events not to be missed this weekend:
rowing
Canadian rowers will compete in their first major regatta of the season, joining the World Cup at the circuit’s second stop in Varese, Italy. Canada will field boats in eight competitions – men’s and women’s eights, women’s fours, men’s and women’s fours, women’s doubles, lightweight women’s doubles and men’s singles sculls – with a total of 31 rowers and oarsmen.
Avalon Wasteneys, Kasia Gruchalla-Wesierski, Sydney Payne and helmswoman Kristen Kit – who all won Olympic gold in the women’s eights at Tokyo 2020 – are back at the same event. Three-time Olympian Will Crothers, who won silver in the eights at London 2012, will be a veteran in the men’s eights.
Other Olympians on the team include Jill Moffatt and Jenny Casson, who will return in the women’s lightweight doubles sculls, while Trevor Jones will represent Canada in the men’s singles sculls. Carling Zeeman, who competed in two Olympic Games in singles, has now joined the women’s singles team. Rowing Canada has released the full list of team members.
The races start with the waves on Friday. The finals take place on Saturday and Sunday. CBC Sports will broadcast the competition live Begins Saturday at 9:15 a.m. Eastern Time.
archery
Six Canadian archers are out and about in Medellín, Colombia World Cup stage 3. That group includes Eric Peters, who finished fifth in the men’s recurve competition at the first World Cup of the year in mid-April. Along the way, he defeated reigning Olympic champion Mete Gazoz of Turkey in front of his own fans. Team Canada did not take part in the second World Championships in Shanghai in May.
Veteran Crispin Duenas, who has not competed in major international competition since his fourth Olympic appearance in Tokyo 2020, returns to the World Cup. However, after Wednesday’s qualifying round, it was Devaang Gupta who emerged as the top-ranked Canadian, a few points clear of Peters.
In the women’s category, Kristine Esebua achieved the best qualifying placement with a 14e place ahead of her teammates Stéphanie Barrett and Virginie Chenier. The elimination rounds for the individual men’s and women’s recurve archery competitions begin Friday, as do the elimination rounds for the mixed team competition. The final takes place on Sunday.
track cycling
THE Pan American Track Cycling Championships are underway in San Juan, Argentina. The competition started on Wednesday and will last until Sunday.
Despite missing Olympic sprint champion Kelsey Mitchell, who prefers to focus on her preparation for August’s World Championships, the Canadian team is still impressive. On Wednesday, Olympic bronze medalist Lauriane Genest won silver in the women’s team sprint with Sarah Orban and Jackie Boyle. Dylan Bibic, the reigning world champion in men’s scratch racing, added the Pan American title to his list. Team Canada also won gold in the men’s team sprint with strong performances from James Hedgcock, Tyler Rorke and Nick Wammes.
golf
It wasn’t long before Nick Taylor became the first Canadian to win the RBC Canadian Open in 69 years. Taylor is in Los Angeles with fellow Canadians Corey Conners, Adam Hadwin, Mackenzie Hughes, Taylor Pendrith, Roger Sloan and Adam Svensson for the third major men’s tournament of the year, the 123rd edition of the US Open.
Arriving at the Los Angeles Country Club on Monday, Hadwin found tournament organizers were taking his safety seriously after he was attacked by a security guard while trying to celebrate with Nick Taylor last Sunday.
broadcasts RDS the four rounds of the tournament.
Beach volleyball
Melissa Humana-Paredes and Brandie Wilkerson are aiming for their second consecutive Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour podium after finishing third on May 31 at the Elite 16 event in Ostrava, Czech Republic. This weekend they are in Jurmala, Latvia for a challenge event.
The qualifying phase begins on Friday and sets the stage for the elimination round, which begins on Saturday. The final takes place on Sunday. The tournament will be streamed online by volleyball world.
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