Day five adds four more medals for Team BC

On a beautiful day at the Riverbend Golf and Recreation Centre, BC athletes performed well in the individual pursuit events. BC swept the gold medal spots today with Larissa Black (Squamish) winning the women’s 7.5km in 25:42.4 and Ryan Elden (Quesnel) winning the men’s 10k in 27:14.4.

“It is very rare that we have anyone at our events cheering. You defiantly don’t see a crowd like this at Biathlon events so that was really motivating,” said Black.

Larissa was immediately followed on the podium by Gillian Gowling (Whistler) at 25:48.8 securing the silver for Team BC.

“I had Gillian with me on the last lap and we are super competitive with each other so that was really fun to go after it and really race to the finish,” said gold medal winner Larissa Black. “I knew I had paced myself really well and still had a bit left in the tank to go for it at the end and it worked.”
Another race another gold medal for Team BC in the men’s 10km individual pursuit. Ryan Elden (Quesnel) won the gold medal while Andrei Secu (Coquitlam) won his second bronze medal of the games with a third place finish.

In what was described on course as a Team BC and Quebec sandwich, Elden and Secu were able to surround the favourite, Quebec’s Leo Grandbois to secure a two-podium finish.

Elden, who shot clean in the race going 20 for 20, finished with a time of 27:14.4 and Secu was just behind at 28:59.6.

“The snow was super fast today, and it was warm which is really nice,” said gold medalist Elden. “I was focused and everything turned out the way I wanted it today. The course is pretty tough and there are not a lot of spots you can gain time on other people, so I am very happy the range went well for me today.”

All the biathletes will be back in action tomorrow with the team relays.

Team BC boxers solidified spots in the medal bouts on Tuesday night at Westerner Park.

Jerome Leroyer (Nanaimo) took on Mason Galvao of Ontario, but lost the hard fought decision 5– 0. Jonathan Hannah (North Vancouver) then took on Estéban Nadeau of Quebec for the second time in three days in the 75kg event, where he took the decision 5–0. Brayden Hellekson (Nelson) wrapped up the evening for Team BC in the 81kg event, defeating his opponent Quinn Neald of Saskatchewan by a judges score of 4–1.

Brayden Sims (Fort St. John) had the day off in the 60kg event, as he received a bye to the Gold medal bout. Dylan Clark (Cranbrook) did not fight, as he won his bout in the 69kg event in a walkover.

Clark, Hannah, and Hellekson will each compete for the bronze medal in their weight classes on Wednesday night, while Brayden Sims will go for gold.

Boxer Jerome Leroyer (Nanaimo) has learned so much from his Canada Games experience.

“Never underestimate your opponents, don’t get stressed about the crowd and how big the event is, because when you get in the ring it’s just you and your opponent,” said Leroyer. “When you get in the ring, the crowd doesn’t matter, nothing else matters, it’s just you and your opponent; you have to fight and focus.”

Boxing teammate Brayden Hellekson (Nelson) had this to say about his family being present.
“It feels great to have them screaming in crowd keeping me going and have somebody here to support me and someone to get some great pictures. I have other people who aren’t family here too and it’s amazing to have them around.”

Two events were on the schedule on day 3 of the artistic swimming competition of the 2019 Canada Winter Games: the solo and duet free preliminaries. Lasting longer than their technical counterparts, free routines do not include any mandatory technical elements and truly let the athletes express their strength, power and grace.

Kendall Stirrat (Vancouver) and Hannah McDonagh-Proud (Nanaimo) scored 71.7333 for a combined score of 143.4881, will advance to A final. Kaitlyn Aylesworth (Victoria) and Mara Lambert (Victoria) scored 68.2000 for a combined score of 136.8032, will swim in the B finals
“We swam really well,” said Aylesworth. “Our patterns were super close. I think we’ll work on getting higher on our egg beater and maybe a little sharper.”

“Our swim went really well and we’ll fix a little bit of synchronization tomorrow,” added Stirrat on her performance with Lambert. And on competing in Calgary, she added “even though we’re separated, we still feel connected which is really fun because, yeah, we’re kind of lonely out here but not too lonely.”

Three Team BC gymnasts qualified to compete in today’s All-Around Final through their performances in the team event earlier in the week.

Although no one placed top three, in Gymnastics they award ribbons to places 4 through 8th. Kennedy Duke (Surrey) placed 8th overall.

“Having all three all-around finalists from BC place in the top 15 was an amazing accomplishment. BC has such a great contingent of well-rounded gymnasts! The girls are looking forward to the Individual Apparatus Finals on Thursday,” said Coach Liudmila Lobaznyuk.

Following Kennedy Dukes 8th place finish for BC was Ella Rogers (Langley) in 11th, and Kathy Zhong (Langley) in 14th place. The Individual Apparatus will take place on Thursday, February 21st.

Team BC Ringette won on the final day of round robin play at the 2019 Canada Winter Games. The girls scored 6 goals to Team Saskatchewan’s 4 goals. BC outscored Saskatchewan 2 to 1 in the 1st period and 3 to 2 in the 2nd period. BC scored the only goal in the 4th period.

The Quarter Finals begin on Wednesday at Collicut Centre.  Team BC placed 3rd in pool B and competes at 2:00 p.m. vs. New Brunswick. BC finished with 2 wins and 2 losses while New Brunswick had a 1-2 record. 

BC’s long track speed skaters rarely have the opportunity to race the longer distances as meets and competitions rarely offer them. Today’s competition marked one of the few chances some of these skaters have had to test their legs at the 5,000m and 3,000m. These distances are not a training priority as they are so long, and take a lot of time out of the schedule.
 
“We were impressed with the boys focus and their ability to keep their form. This is a tough race and we do not have many opportunities to race it. Obviously you get better when you can do it often this opportunity and result has been extraordinary. So proud of the boys,” said coach Adam Ingle.
 
The men raced 5,000m, 12.5 laps of the track a Great Chief Park. Top result for the men was Jacob Rubuliak (Kelowna) in 6th place. 

In the Women’s 3,000m, all racers performed well and battled adversity. The longer distances require a mental toughness, they are long and hard. A 6th place finish was also top for the women with Laura Hall (Salmon Arm) clocking in at 4:52.37.

Tomorrow at Great Chief Park – the 1,000m and Mass Starts will take place.

Table Tennis started off February 19 at Westerner Park with Patrina Hui (Burnaby) and David Lin (Richmond) playing a mixed doubles quarterfinal match against Alberta. The British Columbians got off to a good start, but were ultimately upset by the host Albertans 3 games to 2. Playing against Nova Scotia in the 5/6 placement game, Hui and Lin were no doubt the stronger team, making quick work of their opponent, winning 3 games to 0. They finished the mixed doubles event with a fifth place result.

Steve Wang (North Vancouver), Kenny Jiang (Burnaby), and David Lin (Richmond) began their male singles events after receiving byes to the Round of 32. David Lin (Richmond) quickly defeated Daniel Zhao of Prince Edward Island 3 games to 0, advancing to the Round of 6 where he defeated Daniel Jiang of Alberta 3 games to 0. Kenny Jiang (Burnaby) matched Lin’s success, defeating Ben Robertson of Nova Scotia 3 games to 0 and Zhaoyu Chen of Alberta 3 games to 0 in the Rounds of 32 and 16 respectively. Steve Wang (North Vancouver) completed the male singles sweep on the day, defeating Michael Hiscock of Newfoundland and Labrador 3 games to 0 and Joshua Lu of Saskatchewan 3 games to 0. All three men compete Wednesday morning in the quarterfinals.

“I think my matches were, I played a bit nervous, a bit tight, and I didn’t really let go for the whole thing,” said Wang on his performance. “I’m very glad and proud that my team all made it to the quarters and they are going to be competing against the strongest players in this tournament tomorrow and we hope we win and get to finals,”

In the female singles, Patrina Hui (Burnaby) took her Round of 16 match against Carol-Jean Wong of Manitoba 3 games to 0 and her Quarterfinals match against Katherine Morin of Quebec 3 games to 0. Benita Zhou (Vancouver) also won both her matches, defeating Lucy Fan of Saskatchewan 3 games to 0 in the Round of 16 and Ivy Bao of Alberta 3 games to 1 in the Quarterfinals. With their wins, Hui and Zhou both advanced to the semi-finals on Wednesday afternoon. Fiona Nie (Surrey) had two difficult matches on the day in the female singles. She got off to a great start on the day, defeating Emilia Mallette of Quebec 3 games to 1 in the Round of 16. In the Quarterfinals however, the 13-year old lost a hard fought five game battle to Ann Shiao of Ontario 3 games to 2.

In short track speed skating the Ladies and men’s 500m repechage rounds are scheduled to start on Wednesday. The main event is set to go at 2:55pm MT with the ladies 500m quarter final to start, followed by the men’s.

BC had a good showing in the men’s 500m event with three skaters, Lukas MacDonald (Vancouver), Craig Miller (Prince George), and Marshall Shupe (Maple Ridge) qualifying direct to the main event. Keanan St. Rose (Prince George) and Noah Hyun (Port Coquitlam) have a chance to qualify for the main event via the repechage rounds on Wednesday morning.

Sherilyn Chung (Coquitlam) is the only skater to qualify direct to main for Team BC on the ladies side, with a time of .46.773 in round 2 of qualifications. 

The remaining skaters from BC, Samantha Spencer (Burnaby), Ainsley Spencer (Burnaby), Jane Green (Maple Ridge) and Annabelle Green (Maple Ridge) all have an opportunity to claim a spot in the 500m main event via repechage. 

In wheelchair basketball Team BC kept their momentum going with a 49-31 win over Newfoundland.
 
“This was our second win for BC,” said Ryleigh Bissenden (Victoria). “We played hard and aggressive defence and it paid off.” 

Gabriel Harrison (Pender Island) was the top scorer with 15 points.

In BC’s second game of the day, Ontario defeated BC 63-39. Tanner Jung (Langley) was BC’s top scorer with 14 points while Nicholas van Bakel (Pender Island) chipped in with 11. 

Team BC will now play in the consolation round.

In men’s hockey Team BC scored seven goals in the first; six in the second and two in the third enroute to a 15-1 thrashing of Team PEI.