Canada, say hello to speed skater Charles Hamelin: Short track legend and your co-record holder for most medals in the Olympic Winter Games.
Competing in his fifth and final Games, Hamelin helped the men’s relay team secure gold on Wednesday in Beijing, the 37-year-old’s sixth career Olympic podium to match long track speed skater Cindy Klassen and his fourth in the 5,000-metre event.
Hamelin, Steven Dubois, Jordan Pierre-Gilles, and Pascal Dion crossed the finish line in six minutes 41.257 seconds after taking bronze in the men’s relay four years ago in Pyeongchang, South Korea.
Hamelin of Sainte-Julie, Que., also moved into a tie with women’s hockey players Hayley Wickenheiser, Caroline Ouellette and Jayna Hefford for the most gold by a Canadian at either the Summer or Winter Games.
South Korea captured silver (6:41.679) and Italy bronze (6:43.431) at Capital Indoor Stadium.
WATCH | Hamelin makes history in final Olympic short track race:
Hamelin wins relay gold, ties Canadian record with 6th Olympic medal
1 hour ago
Duration 9:56
Charles Hamelin closed his Olympic career on an emotional high, while the gold medal gives teammate Pascal Dion one of every colour at Beijing 2022. 9:56
Hamelin is expected to retire following the March 18-20 short track world championships in Montreal.
“I want to come back [home] from Beijing with a big smile on my face and happiness in my heart,” Hamelin told Jacqueline Doorey of CBC Sports before the Olympics. “With that feeling and that mindset, I’ll bring back some memories and some [medals].”
After the world No. 1 Canadian squad won its semifinal last Friday, Dion told The Canadian Press the group was motivated to get Hamelin on the podium.
142 World Cup medals
“It is special to be on the team with someone like him,” Dion told Postmedia recently. “He’s a legendary skater. He’s been so good for so many years and the sport has changed so much, and he always adapted.
“We all want to win so bad. It’s not for Charles that we do it, but it would be nice to be part of the team that made him the most decorated guy in Canada.”
From left, Steven Dubois, Maxime Laoun, Charles Hamelin, Jordan Pierre-Gilles and Pascal Dion celebrate their Olympic victory after stopping the clock in six minutes 41.257 seconds to beat South Korea. (Matthew Stockman/Getty Images)
Hamelin, who helped the Canadian squad to Olympic silver in 2006, gold in 2010 and bronze in 2018, has also earned 142 World Cup medals and 37 at world championships, including 14 gold.
He placed 19th in the men’s 1,500 earlier at these Games after helping carry the Canadian flag into the opening ceremony in China with women’s hockey star Marie-Philip Poulin.
For Dubois, the relay gold was medal No. 3 from his Olympic debut after earning bronze in the men’s 500 on Sunday and men’s 1,500 silver a week ago. The 24-year-old from Terrebonne, Que., nearly reached the podium on Feb. 5 as a member of the mixed relay team that placed fourth after being penalized.
Dubois arrived in Beijing coming off his first individual medal of the season with silver in the 500 to wrap up the World Cup season in Dordrecht, Netherlands. He was fourth in the 1,500 at the 2019 world championships in Sofia, Bulgaria, and the following year picked up silver in a triple-medal effort at the Four Continents championships in Montreal.
Elsewhere on Wednesday, Canada’s Kim Boutin and Courtney Sarault were eliminated in their respective women’s 1,500 semifinals.
Sarault, the world’s third-ranked skater in the distance, missed tying Dutchwoman Xandra Velzeboer by 0.013 seconds to advance as the fastest third-place finisher.
Boutin and Sarault went on to finish 3-4 in the B final in 2:45.568 and 2:45.606, respectively.
Boutin, who earned Olympic bronze in the event four years ago but missed the podium in her lone World Cup 1,500 race this season, collected her second straight bronze in the women’s 500 on Feb. 7. The Sherbrooke, Que., native also appeared a lock to push for a medal in the 1,000 until she tumbled on the final curve in the quarter-finals.
The four career medals leaves the 27-year-old one shy of Canadian ice dancer Scott Moir and former short trackers Francois-Louis Tremblay and Marc Gagnon.
On Sunday, Boutin and relay teammates Alyson Charles, Florence Brunelle and Sarault were held off the medal podium for a second consecutive Olympics, placing fourth in the 3,000-metre final.
Sarault was also eliminated in the 1,000 quarter-finals, while Sarault, Boutin and Brunelle were part of the mixed relay squad.
TORONTO – Reigning PWHL MVP and scoring champ Natalie Spooner will miss the start of the regular season for the Toronto Sceptres, general manager Gina Kingsbury announced Tuesday on the first day of training camp.
The 33-year-old Spooner had knee surgery on her left anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) after she was checked into the boards by Minnesota’s Grace Zumwinkle in Game 3 of their best-of-five semifinal series on May 13.
She had a goal and an assist in three playoff games but did not finish the series. Toronto was up 2-1 in the semifinal at that time and eventually fell 3-2 in the series.
Spooner led the PWHL with 27 points in 24 games. Her 20 goals, including five game-winners, were nine more than the closest skater.
Kingsbury said there is no timeline, as the team wants the Toronto native at 100 per cent, but added that “she is doing really well” in her recovery.
The Sceptres open the PWHL season on Nov. 30 when they host the Boston Fleet.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 12, 2024.
LAHORE, Pakistan (AP) — A top official of the Pakistan Cricket Board declined Friday to confirm media reports that India has decided against playing any games in host Pakistan during next year’s Champions Trophy.
“My view is if there’s any problems, they (India) should tell us in writing,” PCB chairman Mohsin Naqvi told reporters in Lahore. “I’ll share that with the media as well as with the government as soon as I get such a letter.”
Indian media reported Friday that the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has communicated its concerns to all the Champions Trophy stakeholders, including the PCB, over the Feb. 19-March 9 tournament and would not play in arch-rival Pakistan.
The Times of India said that “Dubai is a strong candidate to host the fixtures involving the Men in Blue” for the 50-over tournament.
Such a solution would see Pakistan having to travel to a neutral venue to play India in a group match, with another potential meeting later in the tournament if both teams advanced from their group. The final is scheduled for March 9 in Pakistan with the specific venue not yet decided.
“Our stance is clear,” Naqvi said. “They need to give us in writing any objections they may have. Until now, no discussion of the hybrid model has happened, nor are we prepared to accept one.”
Political tensions have stopped bilateral cricket between the two nations since 2008 and they have competed in only multi-nation tournaments, including ICC World Cups.
“Cricket should be free of politics,” Naqvi said. “Any sport should not be entangled with politics. Our preparations for the Champions Trophy will continue unabated, and this will be a successful event.”
The PCB has already spent millions of dollars on the upgrade of stadiums in Karachi, Lahore and Rawalpindi which are due to host 15 Champions Trophy games. Naqvi hoped all the three stadiums will be ready over the next two months.
“Almost every country wants the Champions Trophy to be played here (in Pakistan),” Naqvi said. “I don’t think anyone should make this a political matter, and I don’t expect they will. I expect the tournament will be held at the home of the official hosts.”
Eight countries – Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, England, Australia, South Africa, New Zealand and Afghanistan – are due to compete in the tournament, the schedule of which is yet to be announced by the International Cricket Council.
“Normally the ICC announces the schedule of any major tournament 100 days before the event, and I hope they will announce it very soon,” Naqvi said.
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia – Ottawa‘s Gabriela Dabrowski and Erin Routliffe of New Zealand are through to the doubles final at the WTA Finals after a 7-6 (7), 6-1 victory over Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the United States and Australia’s Ellen Perez in semifinal action Friday.
Dabrowski and Routliffe won a hard-fought first set against serve when Routliffe’s quick reaction at the net to defend a Perez shot gave the duo set point, causing Perez to throw down her racket in frustration.
The second seeds then cruised through the second set, winning match point on serve when Melichar-Martinez couldn’t handle Routliffe’s shot.
The showdown was a rematch of last year’s semifinal, which Melichar-Martinez and Perez won in a super tiebreak.
Dabrowski and Routliffe will face the winner of a match between Katerina Siniakova and Taylor Townsend, and Hao-Ching Chan and Veronika Kudermetova in the final on Saturday.
Dabrowski is aiming to become the first Canadian to win a WTA Finals title.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 8, 2024.
