Boxing, biathlon, freestyle highlight medals for Team BC on Day 6

In freestyle skiing, Skye Clarke (Vancouver) won a gold medal in slope style with a first round score of 80.00 and a second round score of 84.6. 

“I’d hoped for it, but it was a nice surprise for sure,” said Clarke of winning a medal. “Everything went well and it all pieced together perfectly.”

Clarke said she hadn’t tried landing a switch right seven last March, but pulled it out for the Canada Winter Games. 

“The fact there was two jumps, usually in the competition I am in there is three, and I like to do one switch. So with a switch seven you take off and land switch so usually I don’t get the chance to do that. It was cool to do it here,” said Clarke.

Josephine Howell (Mount Currie) was 5th with a first round score of 39.00 and a second round score of 52.40.

Team BC boxers finished their competition at the 2019 Canada Winter Games with a podium result.

Brayden Sims (Fort St. John) was in tough against Justice Harborne of Manitoba, but came out as the 60kg champion, winning the gold medal on a judges’ decision of 3–2. Sims started with a tough first round, with all five judges giving the round to Harborne. He quickly turned it around for rounds two and three, where he took the majority of judges’ scores to get the win. It was British Columbia’s first gold medal in boxing since Jessy Brown won the 56kg event at the 2011 Canada Winter Games in Halifax.

Dylan Clark (Cranbrook) was next up on the card, fighting Matthew Ross of Nova Scotia in the 69kg bronze medal bout. Clark started the bout with a strong first round, but ultimately lost to Ross on points 5–0.

Jonathan Hannah (North Vancouver) then took on Mohammed Makhlouf of Manitoba in the bronze medal 75kg bout. Hannah fought a hard fight, and pulled out a win on point 4–1 to take home the bronze medal.

For the final Team BC fight of the Games, Brayden Hellekson (Nelson) went out with a bang against Seamus O’Brien from Newfoundland and Labrador. Part way through the second round, the referee stopped the contest in favour of Hellekson, solidifying the bronze for the Nelson boxer. It was the second time of the Games that won a match when the referee stopped the contest. 
In long track speed skating, Josh Telizyn (Fort St. John) skated his heart out to secure the bronze medal in the 1000m at Great Chief Park this morning in a time of 1:14.65. On this last day of competition for Long Track Speed Skating, Team BC had a great showing, competing hard and skating fast in the shorter distance.
 
“I came out of the opening 200 a little slower than I would have liked, but then I built through the last 800m like an animal,” said Telizyn talking about his medal performance. “I really hung in there for the last 200m and when I crossed the line and the board second 2nd, I was so pumped. I just waited for the rest of the heats to end and I am so excited to have the medal.”
 
“We had our ups and downs and the 500m earlier this week, we have just been hungry. Since then I had just been chomping at the bit for redemption.”
 
In biathlon, Team BC women raced to another medal finish. Following the gold and silver performances Tuesday in the 7.5km individual pursuit, Team BC added the bronze medal in the 3x6km team relay.

Gillian Gowling (Whistler), Natalie Benoit (Summerland) and Larissa Black (Squamish) crossed the line in 3rd position to secure the 5th medal for Team BC biathlon at the 2019 Canada Winter Games. 

Danica Ariana (Coldstream) also competed today but on an official team of members from different provinces. The unofficial team finished 4th just behind British Columbia.

Each team member completes 3 laps each leg (about 2 km loops).

“I was the first leg of the relay today. I was feeling a bit tired on the skis, but my shooting was good on the range, so we were able to get a good head start,” said Gillian Gowling who was the first leg of the three person relay today.

Natalie Benoit was the second leg in the relay.  

“Today felt a bit tougher. Gillian got me a huge lead. I had to make a comeback from 5th to 3rd after suffering a few spares. In the relay we shoot five targets every bout, but then you have three targets to make up any misses. I had to do three penalty loops today which was really tough and set us back.”

Larissa Black, yesterday’s 7.5km individual pursuit gold medallist, was the last leg in today’s relay. 

“The whole race I worked on closing the gap as best I could. I was trying to chase second the whole race. They got us by 30 seconds.”

The team describes the great atmosphere at Riverbend once again. “Everyone was cheering was really loud. It was very motivating. There were people all around the course so it was extremely motivating,” said Black.

Up next: Individual 10km on Thursday. This is a race with no penalty laps – it’s a shooters race. Each competitor receives a time penalty of 0.45 seconds for each missed shot. 
Not to be outdone, the men’s biathlon team added another bronze medal in the 3×7.5km team relay. That is two relays and two bronze medals for Team BC at Riverbend Golf and Recreation Area. Team BC was comprised of Andrei Secu (Coquitlam), Ethan Algra (Vernon) and Ryan Elden (Quesnel). Elden won gold yesterday in the 10km Individual Pursuit, while Secu adds today’s finish to his two-bronze week (10k individual pursuit and sprint competition).
 
Tallying with the female side, Team BC biathlon has earned seven medals heading into Thursday’s events.
 
Secu went first in the relay and described his performance post-race. “I tried to stick with Quebec in the first lap and was able to shoot clean. I left the range with Alberta and we basically just tried to chase down Quebec together.”
 
In another crazy day at Riverbend Golf and Recreation Area, the athletes reflected on the crowd and the cheering they could hear around the whole course.
 
“The cheering was insane, on every corner of the course. Because in the relay it is a mass start, the noise out of the gate was so loud and crazy. It was just a lot of fun to be out there,” said Secu.
 
Secu has already had quite the week at the 2019 Canada Winter Games and he will compete again Thursday in search of a 4th podium finish.
 
Second in the Team BC relay was Algra. “I was in a battle the whole leg with Alberta. We both had a little trouble in the range with the prone shots, but I hope I can get it together and shoot clean tomorrow.”
 
Rounding out the three person relay was yesterday’s golden biathlete Ryan Elden. Elden was tagged off in a good position thanks to his teammates and had an unfortunate crash on one of the corners on the course. The fall left his riffle in trouble, and he had to complete the competition with a spare rifle.
 
“It’s a little disappointing as I would have liked to be closer and really fighting for gold and silver position, but all in all, we are proud of another podium finish. It’s been a fun week so far.”

Team BC continued to roll through the Table Tennis competition on Wednesday at Westerner Park.
In the male singles event, Steve Wang (North Vancouver), Kenny Jiang (Burnaby), and David Lin (Richmond) each started the day in the quarterfinals. In his match against Sam Orend of Ontario, Lin cruised to a 3 games to 0 victory to solidify a place in the semifinals. Steve Wang (North Vancouver) rallied behind a loud cheering section to upset second ranked Alexander Bu of Ontario and also advance to the semifinals. Unfortunately, Kenny Jiang (Burnaby) couldn’t join Lin and Wang in the semifinals, as he was defeated 3 games to 0 by third ranked Tommy Xu of Quebec.
Later in the day, David Lin (Richmond) was defeated by Edward Ly of Quebec 3 games to 0 in the semifinals to put him in the bronze medal match, but Steve Wang (North Vancouver) upset Tommy Xu of Quebec 3 games to 0 to advance to the gold medal match.

In female singles, Fiona Nie (Surrey) bounced back after a disappointing Tuesday. In the 5/8 placement semifinals, Nie defeated Katherine Morin of Quebec 3 games to 1, putting her in the 5th/6th placement game. There she played Yu-Hsan Chen of Ontario, where she lost 3 games to 0 to finish the event in sixth place.

In the semifinals, Patrina Hui (Burnaby) was defeated 3 games to 1 by Ann Shiao of Ontario and will play for bronze. Teammate Benita Zhou (Vancouver) defeated her opponent Sophie Gauthier of Quebec to advance to the gold medal match.

The team will play for six medals on Thursday. In the morning session, Fiona Nie (Surrey) and Benita Zhou (Vancouver) will play Ann Shiao and Jin Wu of Ontario in the female doubles gold medal match, while Kenny Jiang (Burnaby) and Steve Wang (North Vancouver) will play Mattéo Martin and Tommy Xu of Quebec in the male doubles gold medal game. In the afternoon, Steve Wang (North Vancouver) will take on Edward Ly of Quebec for the male singles gold medal, while David Lin (Richmond) will play Tommy Xu (Quebec) for bronze. Benita Zhou (Vancouver) will play Ann Shiao of Ontario in the female singles gold medal match, while Patrina Hui (Burnaby) will take on Sophie Gauthier of Quebec for bronze.

Ringette scored three goals in the 2nd quarter enroute to a 4-3 quarter-final win over New Brunswick. Unofficial goal scorers were Sidney Crowe (Maple Ridge), Hailey Takasaki (Richmond), Alyssa Carter (Coldstream) and Ashley Robb (Coquitlam).

New Brunswick outshot BC 36-26. BC now plays a semi-final game Thursday at the Downtown Arena against Ontario. 

After three days of technical and preliminary routines, the first medals were awarded at the artistic swimming competition, in the duet event. In the A flight, Hannah McDonough-Proud (Nanaimo) and Kendall Stir rat (Vancouver) finished 5th and in the B flight, Mara Lambert Wilson (Victoria) and Kaitlin Aye worth (Victoria) also finished 5th. Competition concludes Thursday with the presentation of the solo finals and the team finals.

In short track speed slating’s 500m main event, Sherilyn Chung (Coquitlam) finished 3rd in her quarterfinal heat with a time of 45.968, qualifying her into the C Final. She closed out the 500m event earning top spot in the C final with a time of 47.439. Jane Green (Maple Ridge) finished 4th in her quarterfinal heat with a time of 48.085. She would later compete in the E Final with a finishing time of 48.792. Chung and Jane finished the 500 m event in 9th and 18th place, respectively. Annabelle Green (Maple Ridge) finished 22nd, Ainsley Spencer (Burnaby) 24th and Samantha Spencer (Burnaby) 26th out of a total of 46 skaters. 

The men’s 500m main event included four BC competitors. Lukas MacDonald (Vancouver)  and Craig Miller (Prince George) finished 5th in their quarterfinal heats, both moving on to the E Finals where MacDonald would lead the heat, and Miller finishing 5th.  Noah Hyun (Port Coquitlam) finished 4th in his heat moving onto the D Final where he would again finish 4th in the heat. Marshall Shupe’s (Prince George) quarterfinal showing was just shy of earning him a spot in the semi finals. He finished in 3rd with a time of 43.638 just behind Alberta’s Matej Pederson (43.183), and would then finish 2nd in the C Final. Shupe finished 10th in the 500m, Hyun 16th, MacDonald 17th, Miller 20th, and St. Rose 27th out of 54 skaters.

Thursday, the 100m event will take place. In this event, there are no qualifications. Rather, the total of the ranking points the skater earned in the 500 and 1500m races will determine their ranking for the 1000m event. 

In wheelchair basketball, Team BC turned what could have been a blow-out loss into a closely contested consolation game against Saskatchewan eventually losing 50-58. After getting off to a slow start, Team BC trailed by 17 points, down 23-40. After getting a couple of great defensive stops in a row, Team BC found themselves only trailing by six points with a score of 52-46 in the fourth quarter.

Nicholas van Bakel (18 points, 11 rebounds) and Gabe Harrison (15 points, 10 rebounds) both from Pender Island each had a double-double. Ben Hagkull (Chilliwack) led all BC players with 38:17 of floor time; he had a team high eight assists. Matthew Norris (Maple Ridge) added eight points as well.

A win Thursday against Manitoba will secure a 6th place finish for BC which would be the best finish for a Team BC Wheelchair Basketball team in the last three Canada Winter Games. 
The Men’s Artistic Gymnastics Team gave it their all in the Men’s All Around Finals Wednesday night. Evan Fedder (Vancouver) finished in 22nd place, Treyson Cerrato (Surrey) finished 23rd and Trevor Ma (Langley) was 24th.

Thursday is the last day of competition and will kick off at 3:30pm with the Men’s and Women’s Apparatus Finals. 

In men’s hockey, a lapse of about seven minutes in the third period allowed Quebec to run away with the quarter-final defeating BC 7-3. Team BC goalie Thomas Milic (Coquitlam) made 56 saves but it just wasn’t enough. Team BC will now compete in placement games beginning Thursday.