Weekend Roundup: More Grand Prix gold for pairs world champions, 12 medals for long track speed skaters in Japan

Two Canadian figure skating teams earned their spots in the exclusive ISU Grand Prix Final with podium performances in Finland. Canadian long track speed skaters made a dozen trips to the podium at the ISU Four Continents Championships in Japan, setting a strong base for the upcoming World Cup season. Plus, a couple of world champions in alpine skiing and skeleton got their World Cup seasons off to a solid start.

Keep reading for more on Team Canada’s big moments this past weekend.

Figure Skating: Stellato-Dudek & Deschamps earn second straight gold

Deanna Stellato-Dudek and Maxime Deschamps produced a season-best performance at Finlandia Trophy to win their second ISU Grand Prix gold medal of the year. That officially secures their spot in the ISU Grand Prix Final in early December.

READ: Stellato-Dudek and Deschamps claim second straight gold in Figure Skating Grand Prix

Following a superb short program, the reigning world pairs champions had a much-improved free skate from what they had done at Skate Canada International in late October. The only mistakes were the doubling of a planned triple salchow and a fall out of the landing of the throw triple lutz, a new element for them this season as they continue to increase their difficulty. Stellato-Dudek and Deschamps won the gold medal by more than 23 points with a total score of 207.44. Fellow Canadians Kelly Ann Laurin and Loucas Éthier also put out a season-best to finish fourth, ending up just three points off the podium.

“We made some improvements from Skate Canada,” said Stellato-Dudek of their revised free skate program. “We changed the order of the elements which seemed to be received better and felt better. We’re still having some technical problems so we’re going to have to go back and work on them, but everything, short and long, was better than our last outing which is all we can ask for.”

There was a surprise in ice dance as Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier finished with the silver medal. The reigning world silver medallists has been in first place following the rhythm dance. But in the free dance, they had a fluke fall at the end of their twizzle sequence and earned lower levels of difficulty than expected on two other elements. That dropped them down behind Great Britain’s Lilah Fear and Lewis Gibson, who had upset reigning world champions Madison Chock and Evan Bates earlier this fall when the Americans also had a rare fall.

Combined with their win at Skate Canada International, however, the runner-up result is still enough to qualify Gilles and Poirier for the Grand Prix Final.

Long Track Speed Skating: Big Canadian medal haul in Japan

Canadian long track speed skaters claimed 12 medals at the ISU Four Continents Speed Skating Championships in Hachinohe, Japan to kickstart their international season.

Ivanie Blondin won four medals, headlined by her victory in the women’s mass start. She also won gold in the women’s team sprint (a non-Olympic event) with Carolina Hiller and Béatrice Lamarche, as well as bronze medals in the 1500m and 3000m. It was a double podium for Canada in the 3000m as Isabelle Weidemann took silver. Blondin and Weidemann had hoped for another podium with Valérie Maltais in the women’s team pursuit, but even the best can sometimes lose an edge, which is what happened to Weidemann on the second lap as she slid into the safety mats.

Graeme Fish grabbed Canada’s only gold on the men’s side, winning the 5000m. Laurent Dubreuil was triple medallist, skating to silver in the 500m and bronze medals in the 1000m and men’s team sprint with Anders Johnson and Yankin Zhao. David La Rue and Hayden Mayeur won silver and bronze, respectively, in the men’s mass start. La Rue had been leading before a slight slip exiting the final corner allowed Kazakhstan’s Vitaliy Chshigolev the chance to get past him right at the finish. Mayeur also won bronze in the men’s team pursuit alongside Ted-Jan Bloemen and Connor Howe.

“I felt really good and executed my race plan very well, which was a lot of fun. This title gives me confidence for the upcoming weekends. It proves that I’ve been doing the right things in the off-season. I’m starting to feel like I did back in 2020,” Fish said, recalling the year he won 10,000m gold and 5000m bronze at the ISU World Single Distances Championships.

The ISU World Cup season will begin with its first of six stops this coming weekend in Nagano, Japan.

Alpine Skiing: St-Germain builds momentum at slalom World Cup

Laurence St-Germain placed 10th in the first women’s slalom of the FIS World Cup season on Saturday in Levi, Finland. St-Germain’s two-run total time of 1:49.45 left her 2.25 seconds back of American Mikaela Shiffrin who earned her 98th career World Cup victory. St-Germain climbed the standings from 27th place after the first run by posting the third-fastest second run.

“Really happy with my second run today,” said St-Germain. “I was a little stiff in the first run so really wanted to ski instinctively and free in the second run. The second run wasn’t perfect, but I was really going for it and that’s how you have to race here in Levi.”

St-Germain, who is the reigning world champion in women’s slalom, posted her best result of last season in Levi when she finished seventh in November 2023. Throughout her career, she has also finished in the top 10 in three other World Cup slalom races in Levi.

The 30-year-old from St-Ferréol-les-Neiges, Quebec will lead the Canadian slalom team to Gurgl, Austria for the next World Cup stop this coming weekend. The only other Canadian to finish both runs in Levi was Amelia Smart who placed 23rd. Ali Nullmeyer had been 12th-fastest in the first run but could not finish the second run.

Skeleton: Clarke opens World Cup season in top six

Racing on a new track for her, Hallie Clarke placed sixth in the IBSF World Cup opener in PyeongChang, South Korea on Saturday. Clarke’s two-run time of 1:48.67 left her just 0.13 of a second back of a podium position and a quarter of a second behind the winner, Great Britain’s Amelia Coltman.

“I’m very happy with the race. I was a little frustrated after the first run, but I was able to pull it together in the final heat with a personal best time that helped me climb some spots. This is a much stronger start to the season than last year so I’m very excited to continue the momentum,” said Clarke.

In a second race on Sunday, Clarke placed 14th, one spot behind veteran teammate Jane Channell who had finished 11th the day before.

Clarke, now 20, made history earlier this calendar year when she became the youngest ever world champion in women’s skeleton and just the second Canadian to ever win the title, 21 years after Michelle Kelly did it in 2003. The IBSF World Cup circuit moves on to Yanqing, China where women’s and men’s skeleton races will take place on Saturday on the track used at Beijing 2022.

Tennis: Canada’s Billie Jean King Cup title defence ends in quarterfinals

The defending champions of the Billie Jean King Cup bowed out in the quarterfinals to Great Britain on Sunday in Malaga, Spain.

In the first match of the tie, Rebecca Marino lost in straight sets (6-0, 7-5) to 2021 U.S. Open champion Emma Raducanu. Leylah Annie Fernandez, ranked 31st in the world, could not keep Canadian hopes alive as she fell 6-1, 6-4 to Katie Boulter, No. 24 in the WTA singles rankings. The doubles match did not need to be played.

Though the Canadian women are done in Malaga, the Canadian men are not as the Davis Cup Finals are also taking place there this week. Their quarterfinal against Germany is set for Wednesday. Canada’s Davis Cup team includes Denis Shapovalov, Gabriel Diallo, Alexis Galarneau, Milos Raonic, and Vasek Pospisil.