HIGH ACHIEVERS WEEKEND WRAP: 4 local long-track speed skaters named to national team for first 2 World Cup meets

By Martin Cleary

Autumn is a season of dramatic change as refreshing temperatures change to bitter cold digits, the majestic colours fade to bright white and daylight is overtaken by more darkness.

It’s the same in sports as field hockey steps aside for ice hockey, football is kicked out of bounds for basketball indoors and the speed of the cross-country runners is replaced by even faster athletes on long-track speed skates.

Speaking of speed skating, the best long-track skaters in the country assembled in Calgary last week for the Canadian championships. Speed skating is one of the few sports to stage its national championships right off the bat, which is a big step for Speed Skating Canada to name its fall national teams.

The International Skating Union’s World Cup long-track speed skating season begins in Salt Lake City, Utah, Nov. 14-16 and makes its only Canadian stop in Calgary Nov. 21-23.

The final three World Cup meets are Dec. 5-7 in Heerenveen, The Netherlands, Dec. 12-14 in Hamar, Norway and Jan. 23-25 in Inzell, Germany. The long-track speed skating program for the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milano-Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy is Feb. 7-21.

On Tuesday, Speed Skating Canada announced the 12 men and 11 women to represent Canada at the World Cup meets in Salt Lake City and Calgary. The list includes Ottawa athletes Ivanie Blondin, Isabelle Weidemann and Jake Weidemann and Cedrick Brunet of Gatineau.

Skaters will battle for Olympic quota spots for Canada and secure their own qualification for the Olympics.

Based on their performances at the Canadian championships, Blondin and Isabelle Weidemann, who have been named either individually or together the Ottawa Sports Awards female athlete of the year at the last five dinners, showed they’re ready to challenge their international peers.

Sprinter Brunet and Jake Weidemann also were impressive at nationals. Cumberland’s Vincent de Haitre, the 2017 world championship men’s 1,000-metre silver medallist, couldn’t keep pace and only two of his four results were in the top-20 range.

The owner of 60 World Cup medals in her first 15 years on the circuit including gold in five different disciplines as well as eight world championship medals, Blondin posted podium finishes in all three of her races.

She won the women’s 1,500 metres in one minute, 53.86 seconds and was runner-up in the 3,000 metres in 4:03.13 and the 5,000 metres in 7:03.51. Having already pre-qualified for the 16-lap mass start, Blondin didn’t go to the start line for that race.

When it comes to the longest race for women on the speed skating schedule, Isabelle Weidemann was Canada’s best over 5,000 metres, winning in 6:58.67. She also was third over 3,000 metres in 4:04.13 and fourth in the 1,500 metres in 1:56.20.

Brunet had an indication that faster times were coming for him in the men’s 500 metres and it came true. He broke his personal-best record twice at nationals. On Thursday, he won the 500 metres in 34.42 seconds and followed that with another victory Saturday with an even better clocking of 34.35 seconds.

“I skated a 34.6 last week, which was my fastest time to date,” Brunet said in a Speed Skating Canada media release, after his opening race Thursday. “It had been awhile that I was chasing my personal best.

“I got to the starting line more confident than ever and proved to everyone that I have a place here among the best. To have delivered on the ice today really takes some weight off my shoulders.”

Laurent Dubreuil, who holds the Canadian men’s 500-metre record at 33.778 seconds, didn’t compete in that sprint as he was pre-qualified based on his 2024-25 international results.

Brunet also was fifth in the men’s 1,000 metres in 1:08.06.

Jake Weidemann continues his climb up the men’s standings as he was second in the mass start in 7:55.96 and third over 5,000 metres in 6:27.36.

He also was sixth in the 1,500-metre race in 1:45.51, 13th in the 1,000 metres in 1:09.21 and didn’t finish the second 1,000-metre test.

De Haitre competed in four national championship races – 18th over 1,500 metres in 1:49.88; 19th over 500 metres in 36.40 seconds; 21st over 1,000 metres in 1:10.90; and 22nd in the mass start in 8:32.81.

SURPRISING GEE-GEES WIN MEN’S OUA TENNIS SILVER, ZHENYA KONDRATOVSKI NAMED COACH OF THE YEAR

The surprising fifth-seeded University of Ottawa Gee-Gees earned the men’s silver medal at the OUA tennis championships in Markham.

The second-seeded University of Toronto Varsity Blues captured their second team title in three years, after edging the Gee-Gees 4-3 for their 33rd championship of all time.

Ottawa reached the final by defeating the University of Waterloo Warriors in the quarterfinals and upsetting defending champion Western University Mustangs in the semifinals.

The Gee-Gees started the final strong, picking up the single point in doubles. The teams of Alex Lungu and Vlad Pirusca, Filip Popadich and Aidan Bliss and Will Adamson and Matthew Shenk-Pare won their men’s doubles matches.

In singles, Pirusca defeated Rassam Yazdi 6-1, 7-6 (8) and Adamson held off Eric Ma 4-6, 6-3, 6-0.

The Varsity Blues won the other four singles matches for their four points to secure the gold medal. The Toronto roster included two players from Ottawa – Alex Zhang and Yazdi, who was named as an OUA all-star for the fifth time in his university career.

The all-star list also included Pirusca and Lungu.

Gee-Gees’ Zhenya Kondratovski was selected the OUA coach of the year.

In the bronze-medal match, Queen’s edged Western 8-7. Ottawa players Dermott Duggan and Ben Hilderman were on the Queen’s roster.

ELIZABETH VROOM SPARKS QUEEN’S TO WOMEN’S OUA CROSS-COUNTRY RUNNING TITLE

Queen’s University Gaels swept the men’s and women’s OUA cross-country running team championships on their home Fort Henry course.

The Gaels women’s team included Ottawa’s Elizabeth Vroom, who placed sixth overall in the women’s 8,000-metre race in 28 minutes, 11.8 seconds and was named an OUA first-team all-star. She also was the top runner for Queen’s.

The race for the women’s team title was extremely close as Queen’s and the University of Windsor Lancers finished deadlocked in first place with 70 placement points each, while the third-place Western University Mustangs had 71 points. The tie for first was broken by the team with the fastest sixth-place runner.

“I was really excited,” Vroom said in an OUA media release about being part of the winning team. “I saw everyone running towards the group and I was like, ‘what’s happening?’ And then someone screamed, ‘we won!’ and everyone was jumping up and down screaming. It was a really good moment.”

CARLETON’S ROSIE O’BRIEN NAMED OUA WOMEN’S ROWER OF THE YEAR

The Carleton University Ravens played host to the OUA rowing championships in St. Catharines and Rosie O’Brien made the most of it.

O’Brien not only won the women’s lightweight singles and was fourth in the women’s double with Hayley Murray for the Ravens, but also she was selected the OUA women’s athlete of the year.

Ian Dekker and Sarah Healey of the University of Ottawa shared the OUA women’s development coach of the year award.

In the team standings, Ottawa was fifth at 134 points and Carleton took seventh at 119 points for the women, and the Gee-Gees were sixth at 86 points and the Ravens finished eighth at 46 points for the men.

TEAM HOMAN EARNS SILVER MEDAL AT PAN-CONTINENTAL CURLING

Defending champion Rachel Homan of the Ottawa Curling Club came close to another title this season, but had to settle for second place at the U.S. Steel Pan-Continental curling championships in Virginia, Minnesota.

After winning the Grand Slam of Curling event the previous week in Nisku, AB, Homan and her rink of third Tracy Fleury, second Emma Miskew and lead Sarah Wilkes won five of seven round-robin matches to qualify for the playoffs.

An 8-3 decision over Tabitha Peterson of Chaska, Minnesota, in the semifinals, placed Team Homan in the final against the undefeated Chinese rink skipped by Rui Wang.

Homan led 2-1 after two ends and 3-2 after five ends of the 10-end final. But after Wang took two in the sixth and stole one in the seventh to secure a good lead, Homan couldn’t score enough points to retain the Pan-Continental title.

Homan counted one in the eighth end, but Wang responded with two in the ninth. The Canadian skip’s final rock left her with a score of two, which was one short of tying the match.

Brad Jacobs went 9-0 to win the men’s championship, which included a 7-3 victory over American John Shuster in the gold-medal game.

Former Ottawa curler Hugh Milliken skipped the Australian rink, which finished at 0-7 in the round robin. Milliken, who represented Australia in 11 world championships including his last one in 2008, is 68.

At the Canadian Olympic pre-trials curling competition in Wolfville, N.S., three rinks with Ottawa-Gatineau connections narrowly missed qualifying for the best-of-three men’s and women’s finals between the first- and second-place finishers.

Scott Howard of the Navan Curling Club and Jean-Michel Menard, who was the skip on the Felix Asselin rink from Amos, PQ, finished in a three-way tie for third place at 4-3, after the round-robin.

Ottawa’s Danielle Inglis led her rink to three straight wins at the end of the women’s round robin, but her 4-3 record also left her deadlocked in a four-way tie for third place.

CARLETON MEN’S SOCCER FALLS IN PENALTY KICKS IN OUA SEMIS

The York University Lions advanced to the OUA men’s soccer championship final with a penalty-kicks victory in the provincial semi-final over the Carleton University Ravens.

Carleton opened the scoring on the road when Mohammed Bouzidi converted a penalty kick in the 19th minute, but penalty kicks were not as friendly to the Ravens in the shootout that ultimately decided the match.

York got the equalizer in the 64th minute and then the teams went scoreless for the next hour through regulation and two extra time periods.

Carleton missed only once in the penalty-kicks session, but York made good on all five of its attempts to end the Ravens’ season.

It was only the second loss of the season for the Ravens, who went 6-1-5 in the regular season and won earlier playoff matches over Trent (3-1) and Toronto Metropolitan (1-0 with an Adam Ross goal in extra time).

LATE WINDSOR TOUCHDOWN ELIMINATES OTTAWA IN OUA FOOTBALL

The University of Windsor Lancers scored the game-winning touchdown on a fumble recovery with 20 seconds remaining for a 31-24 win over the University of Ottawa Gee-Gees in the OUA football quarterfinals.

Lancers quarterback Nick Dimovski took the snap on the two-yard line and ran for paydirt before fumbling the ball into the end zone. Running back Weagbe Mombo fell on the ball for the winning touchdown. Windsor used seven plays to move the ball 40 yards in 2:04.

Windsor led 14-7 after the first quarter, 24-10 at halftime and 24-17 after three quarters. Early in the fourth quarter, running back Souleymane Camara scored the game-tying touchdown for Ottawa, which set up the tense finish.

Derrick Garraud-Boucard and Charles Asselin scored the other touchdowns for Ottawa. Kicker Zachary Copeland added three converts and a 42-yard field goal.

On defence, Jaxxon Brashear had 10 solo tackles for the Gee-Gees.

UNDEFEATED GEE-GEES WOMEN’S HOCKEY TEAM WINS FOURTH GAME

The University of Ottawa Gee-Gees women’s hockey team improved its OUA East record to 4-0, after defeating the University of Windsor Lancers 4-0.

Alex Ferguson and Beatrice Bilodeau scored two goals each for Ottawa, which has scored 13 goals and allowed only three in its first four games.

The Carleton University Ravens split their two OUA women’s hockey games, defeating Ontario Tech University Ridgebacks 3-2 in overtime, but losing 2-1 to the University of Toronto Varsity Blues.

Payton Miller scored twice for the Ravens against Ontario Tech, while Lanie Guimond had one goal. Hayden Serniuk had Carleton’s goal against the Varsity Blues.

In men’s OUA hockey, Carleton, 3-5, turned back the Nipissing University Lakers 4-1 and the Royal Military College Paladins 3-2.

Alex Johnston notched two goals for the Ravens against the Lakers, while Felix Bedard and Alex Fournier completed the scoring.

Brady Egan, Alexandre Hogue and Braeden Virtue were the Carleton goal scorers against RMC.

The Gee-Gees’ record fell to 4-4, after losing 2-1 to Concordia University Stingers in overtime and 4-2 to the Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières Patriotes.

Lucas Veilleux scored a power-play goal for Ottawa against Concordia. The goal scorers against the Patriotes were Andrew Belchamber and Loic Prud-Homme.

CARLETON OPENS OUA BASKETBALL SEASON WITH 2 WINS

The OUA basketball regular season has opened and the University of Ottawa Gee-Gees and Carleton University Ravens combined for two wins and two losses as the four teams eased into their schedule with one game apiece.

The Ravens were double winners as the No. 7-ranked women slipped past the University of Guelph Gryphons 54-51 and the No. 9-ranked men defeated Guelph 68-58.

Kyana-Jade Poulin paced the Ravens women’s team with 21 points, eight rebounds and five assists, while Jacqueline Urban notched 13 points, 13 rebounds and three steals.

Marjok Okado and Emanuel Milon had matching 16-point games and the latter added 12 rebounds. Louth-Mohamed Coulibaly also contributed 12 rebounds.

The Gryphons, however, knew how to the turn back the Gee-Gees. Guelph defeated Ottawa 67-57 in the women’s game and 87-83 in the men’s match.

Allie McCarthy led the Gee-Gees with 18 points, 11 rebounds and three assists and Renee Paquette chipped in 11 rebounds.

Brock Newton was the Gee-Gees’ top player with 23 points, 15 rebounds and four assists, while Alec Phaneuf added 15 points.

END NOTES

· Canada finished with the silver medal at the International Para Hockey Cup in Ostrava, Czechia, after losing the final 3-0 to the United States. It was the fourth loss in as many games for Canada against the U.S. The road to the final saw Canada defeat China 4-2, Czechia 6-1 and Italy 9-1, but lose to the U.S. 2-1 in overtime during the round robin. Gatineau’s Anton Jacobs-Webb counted one goal and four assists, while Ottawa defenders Tyrone Henry and Rob Armstrong also played for Canada at the tournament.

· Four Ottawa players and one coach took aim at the medals during the OUA women’s field hockey championship. First-year goalkeeper Alyssa Kay was on the roster for the York University Lions, which defeated the University of Toronto Varsity Blues 3-1 for the gold medal. Malinda Hapuarachchi is the lead assistant coach for the Varsity Blues. The University of Waterloo Warriors shut out the University of Guelph Gryphons 1-0. Sanik Rewankar and Isabell Beck played for the Warriors, while Bridget West dressed for the Gryphons.

· Ottawa’s Sam Zakutney placed 49th on the high bar and 60th on parallel bars at the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Indonesia to finish in the top half of competitors in both events. Zakutney and his teammates became the first Canadian men’s team to make the team finals at the Olympics at Paris 2024, but the International Gymnastics Federation does not contest a team event at the world championships the year after an Olympics.

· Ariane Bonhomme of Gatineau and the Canadian women’s pursuit team placed ninth at the UCI Track Cycling World Championships in Chile. The 30-year-old Ottawa Bicycle Club product is a two-time Olympian and the eldest rider on the Canadian women’s pursuit squad.

· Ottawa’s Molly Barber competed in six events over three days at the World Aquatics Swimming World Cup series event at the Toronto Pan Am Sports Centre. The 18-year-old who represents Swim Ottawa earned her top finish of 19th in the women’s 100-metre butterfly, while she also placed 21st in the 100 m freestyle, 22nd in the 50 and 200 m fly, 24th in the 50 free and 32nd in the 200 free.