This is an excerpt from The Buzzer, which is CBC Sports’ daily email newsletter. Stay up to speed on what’s happening in sports by subscribing here.
A few things for Canadian fans to keep an eye on:
What to watch this weekend in Olympic sports
While the Super Bowl is obviously the biggest thing happening in sports this weekend, there’s a lot going on in the Olympic sphere too. Here’s what Canadian fans should look for:
Alpine skiing worlds: Things are going downhill
It’s been a tough week for Canada’s top contenders. Defending men’s super-G champion Jack Crawford finished 27th in that event today in Austria, while Cam Alexander was ruled out for the rest of the worlds after injuring his knee in a downhill training crash on Thursday. Val Grenier DNF’d in yesterday’s women’s super-G.
Grenier is capable of challenging the top skiers in the women’s downhill on Saturday. She won a junior world title in this event in 2016 before a terrible crash in 2019 caused her to drop the downhill. She picked it back up last year and almost immediately took bronze in a World Cup race, only to suffer another season-ending crash two days later. Grenier will be joined Saturday by Canada’s Cassidy Gray, who finished 20th in the super-G.
Despite his disappointing super-G today, Crawford can head into the men’s downhill on Sunday with confidence after his big World Cup win recently at Kitzbühel. And keep an eye on Jeff Read, who placed a career-high 10th in today’s super-G.
Swiss star Marco Odermatt is favoured to repeat as men’s downhill champion after winning his first super-G world title today. Italians Federica Brignone and Sofia Goggia rank 1-2 in the women’s World Cup downhill standings.
Women’s hockey Rivalry Series: Winner takes all
Canada’s Blayre Turnbull scored the tying goal with a little over two minutes left in regulation last night in Halifax, but American goalie Gwyneth Philips stopped everyone in the shootout to give the United States a 2-1 win that evened the series at two games apiece. The rubber match goes Saturday night in Summerside, P.E.I.
This is the third year in a row that the Rivalry Series will be decided in the final game. Canada roared back from a 3-0 deficit to win the last four games in both 2023 and 2024 before the series was shortened to five games this season to accommodate the PWHL’s schedule. The Canadians won two of the three contests in the United States in November before the series shifted to the Maritimes.
Short track speed skating: Dandjinou dominating
The short track World Tour returns from a two-month layoff for three days of racing in the Netherlands. The Canadian to watch in the medal rounds this weekend is Will Dandjinou, who has already racked up six individual gold medals across the first four tour stops to build a big lead in the men’s overall standings. The towering 23-year-old Quebecer is the only skater to win a race at every distance, making him a potential multi-medal threat when he makes his Olympic debut next year.
Triple Olympic medallist Steven Dubois ranks fourth in the men’s overall standings and first in the 500m — the only solo distance that Dandjinou does not lead. Dubois and Dandjinou have also helped Canada to the No. 2 ranking in the men’s relay.
On the women’s side, Canada tops the relay standings while Danae Blais, Florence Brunelle and Kim Boutin rank seventh, eighth and ninth overall, respectively.
Ski cross: It’s crowded at the top
Heading into this weekend’s World Cup doubleheaders in Italy, only a few points separates the top three in the women’s standings.
Super-consistent Canadian India Sherret holds a narrow lead after reaching the four-skier final in all but one of her nine starts so far, including two wins. Germany’s Daniela Maier is second, followed by Canada’s Marielle Thompson, who won both women’s races at last week’s World Cup stop in Switzerland to give her four gold medals on the season.
On the men’s side, Canada’s Reece Howden ranks fourth after grabbing a bronze last week. Kevin Drury is in sixth place.
Freestyle skiing: A rare miss for Kingsbury
Canadian star Mikaël Kingsbury’s four-event winning streak ended last night when he failed to reach the six-skier final round in a World Cup men’s moguls competition at Utah’s Deer Valley. Kingsbury lost his balance on a mogul and was unable to execute his ensuing jump, resulting in a 16th-place finish. It was just the second time in nine starts this season that the all-time World Cup wins leader did not reach the podium.
Canada’s Julien Viel followed up his silver-medal performance last week in Quebec by finishing fourth, while Maia Schwinghammer took bronze in the women’s event after capturing her first-ever World Cup gold last week.
Kingsbury will have a chance to bounce back Saturday night in the dual moguls, which follows tonight’s aerials events at Deer Valley. Canadians Émile Nadeau and Marion Thenault have each won a bronze medal this season.
Other stuff to know about:
The Para alpine and biathlon world championships are taking place in Slovenia, where Canadian Paralympic stars Mark Arendz and Natalie Wilkie each won a biathlon gold on Thursday. The alpine downhill, super-G and combined events were cancelled due to safety concerns, but the slalom and giant slalom will go ahead.
The luge world championships continue through Sunday in Whistler, B.C., where Canada finished eighth in the mixed doubles event and had the 11th- and 12th-place duos in the mixed singles relay. Here’s more on the rebuilding Canadian team.
Whistler is also co-hosting the Invictus Games with Vancouver. The international multi-sport event for wounded, injured or sick military personnel kicks off Saturday with an opening ceremony at B.C. Place Stadium featuring pop star Katy Perry. Here’s more on the Games.
Lake Placid, N.Y., is hosting women’s ski jumping World Cup events for the first time ever. Canadian Olympic medallists Alexandria Loutitt and Abigail Strate rank 10th and 21st in the overall standings.
Canada’s Sarah Mitton won the women’s shot put today at a World Athletics Indoor Tour meet in Germany. On Saturday, two Canadian Olympians will compete in the 117th Millrose Games in New York City. Audrey Leduc will run the women’s 60m while Simone Plourde competes in the prestigious women’s Wanamaker Mile.
WATCH | Mitton sets new national record:
On her fifth and final shot put throw Friday at the World Athletics Indoor Tour Gold meet in Karlsruhe, Germany, Sarah Mitton of Brooklyn, N.S., wins the competition with a throw of 20.68, setting a new Canadian indoor record.
How to watch:
Many of the events mentioned above will be live-streamed on CBCSports.ca and CBC Gem. The CBC TV network will also feature a variety of winter-sports action on Saturday from 1-6 p.m. ET. Here’s the full streaming and broadcast schedule.
