By Dan Plouffe
The 50th edition of the Preston Street Criterium bicycle races brought a couple of local cycling stars back home as Matteo Dal-Cin and Alison Jackson won the men’s and women’s elite races on Sunday in Ottawa’s Little Italy.
Dal-Cin, who now rides for the Passion Project team, won the 2017 Canadian championships men’s road race in Ottawa, one year after crashing on the final turn while battling for the crown.
Jackson raced for Canada in the Tokyo Olympics and previously competed for the Ottawa-based Cyclery women’s professional developmental team.
The event also included categories for masters, junior and youth athletes.
2 rugby wins for national women’s team players
Local rugby players Olivia De Couvreur, Claire Gallagher and Maya Addai helped Canada to wins in both ends of a two-game series against host Spain in Villajoyosa.
Canada edged Spain 27-26 on Saturday following an earlier 27-12 victory.
Provincial podiums for rhythmic gymnasts
Local rhythmic gymnasts earned seven individual podium performances at the Ontario championships in Markham.
Kanata’s Fiona Tong and Ottawa’s Elizabeth Sklokin earned medals at the highest levels of competition in the 5C and 6C divisions respectively.
Ottawa’s Claire Sun won the lone local gold medal in the 6A category, while Ottawa’s Mackenzie Hao (6B) and Pirouette’s Megan Jia (6A) were silver medallists, and Kanata’s Emily Zhang (6B) and Barrhaven’s Katelyn Situ (4A) took bronze.
The group of medallists were also among the standout performers at the provincial qualifier hosted by Kanata Rhythmic in town earlier this season.
Team Canada volleyball women fall 1 win shy of Olympics
Ottawa volleyball players Shaïnah Joseph and Vicky Savard won’t be going to the Paris 2024 Olympic Games following a defeat in Volleyball Nations League play.
Canada needed to finish ahead of The Netherlands in the world rankings after the three weeks of Nations League preliminary round play, but a 24-26, 16-25, 23-25 loss in their head-to-head match with the Dutch in Japan sealed their fate and left them one spot short of an Olympic berth.
Ottawa archer’s path to Paris gets a bit bumpier
Ottawa’s Eric Peters missed a chance to claim a sure trip to the Paris Olympics when he and the Canadian men’s recurve team bowed out with a loss to Uzbekistan at a qualification event in Turkey.
“We went out there and we really attacked the shots and we gave it everything we could, and it just didn’t work out for us,” Peters said via Archery Canada following the match. “In through the first four ends of scoring, it was just up and down. We had some good ends. We had some bad ends, each of us, individually and as a whole team, and Uzbekistan was shooting great – they’re a really good group of shooters.
“We would normally be expected to beat them, but archery is a ‘who has it that day’ sort of game, and it just wasn’t our day.”
Canada could still claim a men’s team Olympic berth based on world rankings should they turn in an exceptional performance at this week’s World Cup event, again in Turkey.
Regardless, 27-year-old Peters still has a strong chance of being selected as Canada’s representative in the individual competition, having secured a quota position for his country with a breakout silver medal performance at last year’s world championships.
Ottawa’s basketball best gather for all-star classic
The city’s best local youth basketball players gathered for the 2024 National Capital All-Star Classic at the University of Ottawa, featuring games between U14, U16 and U18 Gold and Black teams.
Top scorers included Anna Sleep (U14 girls, 20 points), Vanessa Ephraim (U16 girls, 19 points), Gabriel Kabongo (U14 boys, 17 points) and Zach McKinnon/James Ferris (U16 boys, 17 points each).
Nepean Junior Fest brings together field hockey friends
The Nepean Nighthawks hosted its annual Nepean Junior Fest, as field hockey took over the Nepean Sportsplex for all-day games on both Saturday and Sunday as well as Friday evening.
A total of 26 teams took part in five divisions – U10 and U12 coed, U14 and U16 girls, and U23 boys.
See below for a photo gallery of the action:
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