While some have achieved great success in their disciplines, others have completely missed their goals. Overview of the summer of the Franco-Ontarian athletes.

The month of September and the beginning of the new school year are over and we are slowly heading towards autumn. Therefore, the time seems ideal to take stock of the summer of our Franco-Ontarian athletes, who have excelled, for better or for worse, during the summer season.

If we were to award the title of Athlete of the Summer, it would be hard not to award it to Ottawa’s Michael Wood. The French-speaking cyclist, who secured a stage win at the world’s most prestigious cycling event, the Tour de France, didn’t do things by halves. A commanding victory in the legendary ascent to the Puy-de-Dôme ensured that he was able to achieve his goals from the ninth day of the race.

The hardest part then was finishing the Tour and reaching the Champs-Élysées on July 23, which he managed to do with a final 48th overall.

Good and not so good in the pools

Summer also inevitably rhymes with swimming. The World Championships were held in Fukoka, Japan. With goals from Jessica Gaudreault, the French-Ontarian goalkeeper from Mississauga, the Canadian water polo team was knocked out by the eventual Dutch champions in the quarter-finals of the competition (10-17).

A 14-12 win over Greece in the classification match saw the Canadians finish in 7th place, denying them their ticket to the Paris Olympics, which was reserved for the competition’s two finalists. There is a new qualification window for the Pan American Games, which take place in Santiago from October 20th to November 5th.

Nina Kucheran, breaststroke specialist from Sudbury, was still in the pool but missed the world championships but excelled at the national championships, held in Scarborough in early August. She secured four podiums, but was still disappointed that she hadn’t reached her goal of beating her personal bests in her favorite disciplines: the 50, 100 and 200m breaststroke. She faced the experienced Rachel Nicol in every race, who took all first places. In the end, Nina Kucheran won two silver and two bronze medals.

Alexandre Landry, The Revelation

Alexandre Landry followed in the footsteps of Nina, his Sudbury teammate competing in the same discipline, and surprised everyone – including himself – by finishing third in the 200m breaststroke. A native of Hanmer, northern Ontario, he has broken many of his personal bests in this competition and is one of the French Ontarian athletes he looks set to follow in his discipline for years to come.

We leave the pools and head to the slopes. Like Nina Kucheran in swimming, Jacqueline Madogo in athletics was unable to validate her ticket to the world championships, which took place from August 19 to 27. After a tricky start to the summer that left her struggling to hit the times she hoped for, she still finished in style at the Canadian Track and Field Championships, where she claimed a win in the 200m and a new personal best distance (22”91).

She also achieved her best time over 100 m with a bronze medal. Unfortunately, his times proved insufficient to achieve the minimum qualifications for the World Cup and to qualify individually. Overall, the Canadian squadron also did not perform well enough to qualify for the competition.

To end this section dedicated to the results of Francophone Ontarian athletes in individual sports, we would have liked to tell you about their performances during the La Francophonie Games in Kinshasa, but no Francophone Ontario athlete took part.

bankruptcies in football

The summer has been a busy one for Canadian football. With rumors of the federation’s bankruptcy and the poor performance of both the men’s and women’s teams, it’s difficult to stay positive for Jonathan David, Vanessa Gilles and Cloé Lacasse.

Jonathan David and the men’s team had a great opportunity to beat USA in the Nations League final and eventually establish themselves as the leading team in the region. Instead, current former coach John Herdman’s men lost 2-0 to their southern neighbor, who again asserted their superiority.

The stars of the selection, including Jonathan David, then did not take part in the Gold Cup (lost in the quarter-finals to… the United States), which sends a rather mixed message to football fans, who are nonetheless growing in numbers in Canada.

On the women’s side, fans were delighted with the selection of Bev Priestman, crowned Olympic champion, to star at the World Cup in Australia. The adventure was ultimately short-lived for Cloé Lacasse, Vanessa Gilles and their teammates as they missed out on their competition entirely. A 0-0 draw with Nigeria, an unconvincing win over Ireland and a crushing 4-0 loss to the host nation – one of the competition’s favorite nations couldn’t get past the chickens…

Maybe you want to make amends for all this misery with Toronto FC and their Italian stars? No, the TFC, prior to their recent win against Philadelphia (3-1), stayed on 10 straight losses and are bottom of the table in the East. Not to mention that Franco-Ontarian Lukas McNaughton was traded during the season.

PLC and basketball put a smile on your face

So it remains for the local championship, the Canadian Premier League, to find a bit of luck with three Ontario teams staffed with Francophones Cardboard. Forge FC, Atletico Ottawa and, more surprisingly, York United are all in contention with six rounds remaining before qualifying for the finals.

We end this review of the summer of Franco-Ontarian athletes with basketball. First in the women’s where Laeticia Amihere realizes her dream of playing in the WNBA on the Atlanta Dream side. When her stats don’t blow the screen (7.3 minutes per game), the Mississauga native is having a satisfying first season of learning.

In a very competitive league (only 12 players per squad), the Canadian has managed to secure a spot despite being left out of her position by more experienced players. The fact that she is an integral part of the workforce despite the short playing time shows that the franchise is counting on her. A good omen for the future.

Finally, I don’t want to mention the sensational trip of another Mississauga native, near Jakarta, who speaks French quite well. Obviously, it’s about RJ Barrett and the Canadian selection, which this Sunday, September 3, managed the feat of eliminating reigning world champions Spain, qualifying for the quarter-finals of the World Cup, but above all qualifying for the World Cup to secure Olympic Games 2024. Canada will participate for the first time since the year 2000.