What to watch this weekend in Olympic sports
The winter season is definitely here
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The calendar says winter is still a couple weeks away, but we're already in the thick of the winter Olympic sports season. Here are the top things for Canadian fans to keep an eye on in skating, skiing and sliding:
Figure skating: Big titles up for grabs
The exclusive Grand Prix Final is happening in France, where the top six in each discipline compete for one of the most prestigious titles in the sport.
For the fifth straight time, no Canadian singles skaters qualified for the Final. No Canadians are involved in the pairs competition either after reigning world champions Deanna Stellato-Dudek and Maxime Deschamps withdrew due to an illness.
Canada's two remaining entries are in the ice dance, and both teams are outside a podium spot after today's opening round. Marjorie Lajoie and Zachary Lagha sit in fourth place, which isn't bad considering they ranked sixth in the season-long standings. But third-ranked Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier are dead last after Poirier fell during today's skate. Everyone is chasing back-to-back world champs Madison Chock and Evan Bates of the United States, who will try to wrap up their second straight Grand Prix Final gold in the free skate on Saturday at 1:40 p.m. ET.
WATCH | CBC Sports tells you what sports to watch this weekend:
The women's free skate is on Saturday at 7:30 a.m. ET. Three-peat world champion Kaori Sakamoto of Japan is a surprising fourth after a disappointing short program. The men's free goes Saturday at 3 p.m. ET. World and Grand Prix Final champion Ilia Malinin of the U.S. built a huge lead in today's short skate.
The pairs event wrapped up today with Germany's Minerva Fabienne Hase and Nikita Volodin winning for the second straight year. Here are the latest results.
Alpine skiing: Speed events launch and Vonn's comeback begins
The first World Cup downhill of the season took place today at Colorado's Beaver Creek resort. Swiss journeyman Justin Murisier was the surprise winner, upsetting runner-up Marco Odermatt for his first World Cup victory and just the second medal of his career. Odermatt, also from Switzerland, is the defending World Cup men's downhill, super-G and giant slalom champion and is trying for his fourth consecutive overall title.
Canada's Jack Crawford, the reigning super-G world champion, placed fourth — 0.16 of a second off the bronze medal. Brodie Seger was 10th while Cameron Alexander, the downhill bronze medallist at the 2023 worlds, failed to complete the course.
Beaver Creek will host the season's first super-G on Saturday at 12:30 p.m. ET, followed by a giant slalom on Sunday at noon ET.
The women's World Cup stop scheduled for Quebec's Mont-Tremblant this week was cancelled due to a lack of snow. But American great Lindsey Vonn is beginning her comeback at age 40 with some lower-level downhill and super-G races this weekend at Colorado's Copper Mountain.
Freestyle skiing: Perfect start for Kingsbury
Canada's Mikaël Kingsbury earned his record-extending 92nd World Cup victory today by winning the men's moguls in Sweden. Kingsbury, who took last week's season opener in Finland, will try to make it 3-for-3 when he returns to the hill for the dual moguls on Saturday at 7:30 a.m. ET.
Canada's Maia Schwinghammer took bronze in today's women's event for her first-ever World Cup medal in moguls (she won a silver in dual moguls last year). She'll also compete in the dual moguls on Saturday.
Canada's halfpipe skiers are looking to build on a successful World Cup opener as the tour picks back up at China's Secret Garden resort. Brendan Mackay won the men's gold and Andrew Longino took bronze back in September in New Zealand, while Rachael Karker grabbed the women's bronze.
Mackay and twin brothers Evan and Dylan Marineau qualified for tonight's final, starting at 10 p.m. ET. Karker is among five Canadian women hoping to advance after their qualifying round was postponed until later today.
Short track speed skating: Can Canadians stay hot?
Coming off a month-long break between World Cups, Canada's short trackers hope to maintain the momentum from their season-opening two-week homestand in Montreal. Canadians rocketed to 14 medals, including nine gold, across a pair of meets at Maurice Richard Arena.
William Dandjinou comes into this week's stop in Beijing with a big lead in the men's overall standings after piling up five individual medals — four of them gold — in Montreal. The 23-year-old rising star also leads the 1,500m chase and is tied with fellow Canadian Steven Dubois atop the 500m.
Medal races will take place Saturday and Sunday starting at 1 a.m. ET.
Bobsleigh: New mom Humphries returns
The bobsleigh World Cup season opens in Germany, where Canadian Olympians Melissa Lotholz and Cynthia Appiah will compete against each other in the women's monobob on Saturday at 10 a.m. ET. They'll also pilot separate sleds in the two-woman event on Sunday at 5:45 a.m. ET.
A third Canadian women's pilot, Bianca Ribi, is beginning her season on the North American Cup circuit as she balances bobsleigh with her firefighting career. Ribi will join the World Cup circuit after the Christmas break as she tries to qualify for the 2025 world championships. Canada's top two men's sleds, piloted by Taylor Austin and Patrick Norton, are following the same plan.
Kaillie Humphries, a star pilot for Canada before a bitter falling out resulted in her switching to the United States, is set to race for the first time since becoming a mother six months ago. The three-time Olympic gold medallist and five-time world champ will compete in the women's monobob, which she won at the 2022 Olympics for the U.S.
The skeleton World Cup season continued today on the same track in Altenberg where the bobsleigh races are happening. Jane Channell's 11th-place finish in the women's event was the best result by a Canadian.
A couple other things to watch:
* Beach volleyball's Pro Tour Finals wrap up Saturday in Qatar. Canada's Melissa Humana-Parades and Brandie Wilkerson won their group-stage finale today to improve to 2-2, but that wasn't enough for the Olympic silver medallists to advance to the knockout rounds. The women's final is Saturday at noon ET, followed immediately by the men's.
* Canada's Dylan Bibic can win his second consecutive men's endurance title as the Track Cycling Champions League concludes Saturday in England. Bibic had the lead heading into the final two rounds of competition. Canada's Sarah Van Dam sat second in the women's endurance standings as she chases her first title. Saturday's action starts at 12:30 p.m. ET. Here's more on the Canadians.
How to watch:
Every event for which I've listed a start time can be streamed live on CBCSports.ca and CBC Gem.
On Saturday, the CBC TV network will be showing a PWHL matchup between Minnesota and Toronto live at 2 p.m. ET, plus some winter Olympic sports coverage before and after the game. Here's the full streaming and broadcast schedule.
