Moose Jaw Koseikan Judo Club competitor Avery Gibney couldn’t have come any closer to winning a medal at the Canada Winter Games.
The 17-year-old Peacock student lost her opening match in the female 52 kg division at the elite multi-sport event currently underway in Prince Edward Island but would string together back-to-back wins on the consolation side to advance to one of two bronze medal matches.
There, Gibney would lose by ippon to Quebec’s Laurence Gagnon to settle for fifth place.
Gibney ran into some bad luck in the draw, as she took on eventual gold medalist Leanna Au from B.C. in her opening match and would give up a pair of wazari to drop to the consolation side.
Things changed dramatically in Gibney’s favour from there, as she’d defeat Manitoba’s Kaya Leveille by ippon and follow up with a two wazari win over Nova Scotia’s Katherine Brown to book her spot in the bronze medal match.
Fresh off his appearance in weightlifting at the Saskatchewan Winter Games last week, Avonhurst Judo Club competitor Paxton Nelson reached the bronze medal semifinal in the male 50 kg division before falling short.
Like Gibney, Nelson ran into the luck of the draw in his first match, taking on eventual gold medalist Antoine Degranges of Quebec and losing by two wazari. The shoe was on the other foot in Nelson’s first consolation match, where he took a double wazari win over Newfoundland’s Brayden Swain before losing by ippon to Ontario’s Arel Roitman in the semifinal.
Koseikan’s Kolbi Fenrick competes in the 57 kg female division on Thursday, facing New Brunswick’s Mahee Savoie in her opening match.
Moose Jaw Skating Club competitors Eric Swalm and Rowan Gray each took part in their Pre-Novice male figure skating short programs on Tuesday and posted top-15 performances.
Swalm put down a score of 21.94 to sit in 12th place, while Gray recorded a skate of 19.86 and is 13th overall.
Both are in action during the free skate on Thursday.
Rui Qin of Ontario is in first place after the short program with 44.30 points.
Brooklyn Nimegeers and Team Sask are off to a tough start in female hockey at the Canada Winter Games.
Saskatchewan opened with an 11-1 loss to B.C. on Monday before dropping a 4-2 decision to Quebec Tuesday to sit at 0-2 heading into their final preliminary round game.
Things were relatively close against B.C. early, as Saskatchewan only trailed 3-0 after the opening 20 minutes, but a big second period saw the west coast crew build an 8-1 lead through two.
Julia Duke scored Team Sask’s lone goal at 14:23 of the second period, with Jada Johns drawing the lone assist.
Nimegeers got on the board offensively in Saskatchewan’s next game, drawing an assist on Ella Wingert’s goal with 1:01 to play in the second period. That goal would send things into the third period all tied 2-2, but Quebec would score 23 seconds into the final frame and add an empty netter with 18 seconds remaining to secure the win.
Greta Henderson scored Team Sask’s other goal 5:09 into the second.
Saskatchewan closes out the round robin portion of the Games against New Brunswick on Wednesday night.
