Sports
Teen swimming sensation Summer McIntosh leads Canadian medal haul with world title, relay bronze – CBC Sports
At just 15 years old, Canadian Summer McIntosh asserted herself as a swimming force on Wednesday at the aquatics world championships.
In the first event of the day, the Toronto native won her first career world championship gold medal in the 200-metre butterfly. Later, in the last race on the schedule, she powered Canada to bronze in the women’s 4x200m freestyle relay with an opening leg that would have been fast enough to win individual gold.
McIntosh wasn’t the only Canadian teen to make waves on Wednesday, either.
Josh Liendo, 19, reached his first-ever podium at worlds, swimming to bronze in the men’s 100m freestyle.
And relative team veteran Kylie Masse added a new accolade of her own, capturing the country’s second gold medal of the day in the 50m backstroke.
McIntosh now has the full set of medals at worlds after previously earning silver in the 400m freestyle. She earned her gold with a world-junior record of two minutes 5.20 seconds, breaking the mark she set in semifinals Tuesday.
“I think I’m a little bit in shock right now,” she said after the race.
WATCH | McIntosh bursts to gold medal:
American Hali Flickinger took silver in 2:06.08, while China’s Zhang Yufei scored bronze in 2:06.32.
McIntosh bided her time en route to victory, keeping close to the leaders through 100 metres while making sure not to empty the gas tank too early.
“I didn’t expect to go 2:05,” McIntosh said. “But as soon as I stepped out with all the energy and excitement from the crowd, I just fed off that. I got a lot of adrenaline and motivation and put it down.”
That unexpected time was over eight seconds faster than McIntosh’s mother Jill Horstead swam to finish ninth at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics.
The gold medal also marked the first podium appearance ever for Canada in the women’s 200m butterfly at worlds.
WATCH | McIntosh leads Canadian relay bronze:
Not even two hours later, McIntosh led off the relay team, followed by Kayla Sanchez, Taylor Ruck and Penny Oleksiak.
The teen got the Canadians out to a massive lead with a time of 1:54.79 that would have been good enough for gold had she competed in the individual 200m freestyle. It also marked McIntosh’s second world junior title of the day.
The rest of the squad just had to hang on from there, which they barely did. Canada held off fourth-place China by less than a second, finishing in 7:44.76.
“It was fun to be a part of,” said Oleksiak, the team’s anchor who also swam in the women’s 100 freestyle semifinals. “It was a tough double for me but having the girls really helped.”
Katie Ledecky claimed her 18th gold at a worlds by helping the United States win the event with a championship record of 7:41.45, while Australia snagged silver in 7:43.86. The 25-year-old Ledecky now has 21 medals, extending her record for the most among female swimmers in the competition.
WATCH | Behind McIntosh’s generational talent:
It’s the seventh career medal at worlds — all earned in relays — for Oleksiak, matching Masse for the national record and equalling her Olympic total.
She’ll have a shot at her first individual podium on Thursday at 12:02 p.m. ET, when she’ll compete in the 100m freestyle final alongside Sanchez. Oleksiak won gold in the event at the 2016 Olympics.
McIntosh had two fourth-place finishes at last year’s Tokyo Olympics and won a gold and two silver medals at the 2021 short-course championships last December in Abu Dhabi.
WATCH | The significance of Lane 4:
Liendo brings home bronze
Liendo took an alternate approach from McIntosh, getting off the blocks quickly and reaching the 50-metre mark in first place.
But the Markham, Ont., native, who became the first Black Canadian to win a medal at a major international meet at the short-course championships, couldn’t maintain his blistering pace over the final 50m.
Even still, Liendo stayed strong enough to touch third with a time of 47.71 seconds. Romania’s David Popovici topped the podium in 47.58 seconds, and France’s Maxime Grousset took silver in 47.64 seconds.
WATCH | Liendo takes bronze in 100m freestyle:
American Caeleb Dressel, a seven-time Olympic medallist and a favourite in the event, withdrew from the rest of the competition for unspecified medical reasons ahead of the race.
Mintenko said she could not be more specific about the reasons for Dressel’s withdrawal, but that he may decide to speak about it himself. She declined to say whether it was a mental or physical problem. Dressel had appeared in good shape.
He had pulled out of Tuesday’s semifinals in the 100m freestyle and it wasn’t clear at the time if he’d be able to continue. He was also due to race the 50m freestyle and 100m butterfly later in the worlds.
Masse golden again
Masse, the two-time reigning 100m backstroke champion who relinquished her title to American Regan Smith earlier at worlds but held on for silver, said that race was out of her mind by the time she got to the pool on Wednesday.
Masse stormed to an early lead in the non-Olympic event, but appeared to fall back to the pack as the race approached its quick end.
Yet the Canadian found one final gear, out-touching American Katharine Berkoff with a time of 27.31 seconds to win gold.
“It goes by really fast. I’m just focusing on nailing the touch because I know it comes down to the small details,” she said.
WATCH | Masse golden in 50m backstroke:
Masse became the first swimmer from Canada, male or female, to win three golds at a worlds.
Berkoff finished in 27.39 seconds, with bronze medallist Analia Pigree of France just one one-hundredth of a second behind.
Canada’s Ingrid Wilm barely missed the podium, placing fourth in 27.43 seconds.
“I had a horrible touch,” Wilm said. “I know I can do better than that. You have good days and bad days.”
For more stories about the experiences of Black Canadians — from anti-Black racism to success stories within the Black community — check out Being Black in Canada, a CBC project Black Canadians can be proud of. You can read more stories here.
Sports
Matthews game-time decision for Maple Leafs against Capitals with illness – NHL.com
TORONTO — Auston Matthews will be a game-time decision for the Toronto Maple Leafs against the Washington Capitals at Scotiabank Arena on Thursday (7 p.m. ET; SN1, MNMT) because of an illness.
“It’s going to be on how he feels throughout the day,” Maple Leafs coach Sheldon Keefe said.
The forward did not participate in Toronto’s morning skate. Max Domi took his place as the center on a line between Tyler Bertuzzi and Mitch Marner, a right wing recovering from a high-ankle sprain sustained March 7 and will be out the next two games.
Matthews leads the NHL with 59 goals, one from becoming the ninth player in NHL history with at least two 60-goal seasons. He scored 60 in 73 games in 2021-22, when he won the Rocket Richard Trophy, Hart Trophy and Ted Lindsay Award. He had one goal and nine shots in 23:44 of a 6-3 loss to the New Jersey Devils on Tuesday, which extended his point streak to five games (four goals, seven assists).
He missed one game this season with illness, a 7-0 win against the Pittsburgh Penguins on Dec. 16.
“Of course, it’s an adjustment when your best player is out of the lineup,” Domi said, “when anybody is out of the lineup, but I think we’ve done a great job all year of guys stepping up when they have to, and we just have to continue to do that.”
Toronto defenseman Morgan Rielly will miss his second straight game with an upper-body injury.
“He just remains day to day,” Keefe said. “We’re hopeful he’s going to bounce back here. The one thing that is good is once he gets through this day or two here, it’s not going to be a lingering situation. It’s not going to be an injury that’s ongoing. Once he’s past it, he’s past it so we just need to give him some time.”
Sports
Canucks place goalie Thatcher Demko on long-term injured list
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The Vancouver Canucks have placed all-star goalie Thatcher Demko on the long-term injured reserve list retroactively.
“It’s just cap related,” coach Rick Tocchet said after practice Wednesday. “We get some cap relief, that’s all it is.”
The 28-year-old netminder has been considered week to week since being sidelined with a lower-body injury midway through Vancouver’s 5-0 win over the Winnipeg Jets on March 9.
That injury designation hasn’t changed, Tocchet said.
Demko boasts a 34-18-2 record this season, with a .917 save percentage, a 2.47 goals-against average and five shutouts.
Casey DeSmith has taken over the starting job for Vancouver, going 3-2-1 since Demko’s injury. He has a .899 save percentage on the season with a 2.73 goals-against average and one shutout.
The earliest Demko could be back in the Canucks’ lineup is April 6 against the Kings in Los Angeles.
He’s expected to be a key piece as Vancouver (45-19-8) prepares for its first playoff appearance since the COVID-shortened 2019-20 campaign.
Canucks general manager Patrik Allvin also announced Wednesday that the club has called up forward Arshdeep Bains from the Abbotsford Canucks of the American Hockey League.
“I’d like to see where [Bains is] at,” Tocchet said, noting he isn’t sure whether the 23-year-old winger will slot into the lineup when the Canucks host the Dallas Stars on Thursday.
WATCH | Bains makes NHL debut
Bains played five games for the NHL team in February before being sent back to Abbotsford.
“He went down, he’s done a couple of things that we like, and he’s got some speed,” Tocchet said.
Vancouver may get another forward back in the lineup Thursday.
Dakota Joshua practised in a full-contact jersey on Wednesday for the first time since suffering an upper-body injury in Vancouver’s 4-2 win over the Blackhawks in Chicago on Feb. 13.
The physical winger, who’s set to become an unrestricted free agent this summer, has a career-high 26 points (13 goals, 13 assists) this season.
Sitting out injured “hasn’t been fun,” Joshua said.
“It feels like forever,” he said. “But at this point, that’s behind me and I’m moving forward.”
Sports
Senators score 5 in 1st, cruise past Sabres
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“I thought that we were ready to go,” Ottawa coach Jacques Martin said. “We got some pucks at the net, we got people at the net. Took advantage of our opportunities and, I think, built a nice lead. And then I thought, in the third period, we continued again. Our goaltending was good. Made some key saves. But I thought we shut them down in the third period good.”
Shane Pinto had a goal and three assists, and Brady Tkachuk, Boris Katchouk, Jakob Chychrun and Drake Batherson each had a goal and an assist for the Senators (31-36-4), who have won three in a row. Korpisalo made 34 saves.
“If you want to win, you need balance,” Pinto said. “And we had that tonight and it’s going to be big for the back-to-back tomorrow (against the Chicago Blackhawks) to have that same thing. So, going to need all the guys on board.”
JJ Peterka and Connor Clifton scored for the Sabres (34-34-5), who have lost four of six. Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen allowed four goals on nine shots before he was replaced by Devon Levi, who made 31 saves in relief.
“We wanted, I guess, to play as individuals,” Clifton said. “I’m disappointed we let ‘Upie’ down, he’s the heart and soul of this team. He’s kept us in so many games, and just to not show up and play that careless style, give them freebies all over the place. … Yeah, obviously, the first 20 really dictated the rest of the game.”
Artem Zub gave Ottawa a 1-0 lead at 2:37 of the first period. He stuffed in a loose puck on the goal line after Katchouk’s shot was redirected by Mark Kastelic between Luukkonen’s pads.
Katchouk made it 2-0 at 4:56, tipping Parker Kelly’s shot from the top of the right face-off circle past Luukkonen.
“It’s keeping the consistency with good effort, right habits,” Katchouk said. “The small things matter so much in this game. And obviously, it worked out tonight with the tip. But kudos to my linemates. ‘Kels’ and ‘Kassy,’ they worked hard to get the puck as well. Those two battle hard every night as well. We feed off each other, and it’s good to play with them.”
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