Canadians won all sorts of medals this weekend

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On snow and ice, in the water, on the track and atop the mat, Canada’s Olympic athletes reached the podium in a wide array of sports on Saturday and Sunday. Let’s get you caught up:

Artistic swimmer Jacqueline Simoneau won Canada’s first (and still only) medal of the World Aquatics Championships.

Simoneau took silver in the women’s solo technical event on Saturday in Doha. There are no solo events for artistic swimmers in the Olympics, but Simoneau and Audrey Lamothe are attempting to qualify for Paris in the duet. Canada is also trying for an Olympic spot in the team event. Competition in the sport formerly known as synchronized swimming continues through Saturday.

The Canadian women’s water polo team got off to a strong start, trouncing South Africa 24-2 in their opener on Sunday. Canada continues group play on Tuesday at 4 a.m. ET vs. Great Britain. The Canadians are trying to earn one of the two remaining spots in this summer’s Olympics, and this is their last chance to do it.

Canada remains without a medal in diving after Caeli McKay placed eighth in today’s women’s 10m platform final. McKay took bronze in this event at last year’s worlds, where she also clinched an Olympic spot for Canada. She’ll team with Kate Miller in the women’s 10m synchronized final on Tuesday at 10:32 a.m. ET.

Watch diving, artistic swimming and the Canada-Great Britain women’s water polo match live on CBCSports.ca, the CBC Sports app and CBC Gem on Tuesday. Here’s the full streaming schedule.

Speed skater Valérie Maltais captured her first solo World Cup championship.

After taking bronze in Friday’s 3,000m race at the World Cup season finale in Quebec City to finish third in the women’s long-distances standings, Maltais secured the women’s mass start title with a ninth-place finish on Sunday. Ivanie Blondin, who joined with Maltais and Isabelle Weidemann to win Olympic gold in the team pursuit in 2022, finished second in the mass start chase. The trio placed second in the team pursuit this season, ending their run of four straight World Cup titles.

On the men’s side, Canadian Ted-Jan Bloemen’s victory in the 5,000m on Friday lifted him to a runner-up finish in the men’s long-distances standings while Laurent Dubreuil’s silver in the 500m on Saturday pushed him to second place.

The world championships take place next week in Calgary.

Two Canadian figure skating duos took gold.

The ice dance tandem of Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier and the pairs team of Deanna Stellato-Dudek and Maxime Deschamps each captured their first-ever title at the Four Continents Championships, an annual meet for countries outside Europe.

Canada’s Laurence Fournier Beaudry and Nikolaj Soerensen took silver in the dance event in China, where they were competing for the first time since withdrawing from last month’s Canadian championships after it was revealed that Soerensen was accused of sexual assault.

Canadians won three of the four ski cross events in Italy.

After India Sherret raced to her first-ever World Cup gold on Friday, Reece Howden and Marielle Thompson won Saturday’s men’s and women’s competitions, respectively, while Brittany Phelan took silver in the women’s.

Howden leads the chase for his third men’s World Cup title in four years. Thompson is neck-and-neck with Canadian leader Hannah Schmidt in the women’s standings, with Phelan sits in fourth place.

Snowboarder Eliot Grondin continued to dominate.

The 2022 double Olympic medallist won both of this weekend’s men’s snowboard cross events in Georgia, giving him four victories in five starts this season. Grondin, who has yet to miss the podium this season, enjoys a huge lead in the standings as he seeks his first World Cup title.

Other standout Canadian performances:

* 800m world champion and Olympic gold-medal favourite Marco Arop broke the Canadian indoor 1,000m record with his winning time at a track meet in Boston.  

* Nineteen-year-old aerials skier Alexandre Duchaine earned his first World Cup gold in Friday’s weather-altered event in Utah.

* Two-time Paralympic biathlon champion Mark Arendz won three consecutive races at a Para World Cup stop in Italy, taking gold in a sprint on Friday, a pursuit on Saturday and a 10K on Sunday. Canada’s Brittany Hudak and Natalie Wilkie took gold and bronze, respectively, in Sunday’s women’s event.

* Three Canadians reached the podium at a judo Grand Slam event in Paris. Two-time world champion Christa Deguchi and Olympic bronze medallist Jessica Klimkait took silver and bronze, respectively, in the women’s 57kg division while François Gauthier-Drapeau got a bronze in the men’s 81kg.

* 2023 track cycling world championships silver medallist Dylan Bibic won the men’s elimination event at the Nations Cup season opener in Australia, while Olympic medallist Lauriane Genest took bronze in the women’s kierin.