Manitobans add to Olympic experience

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This article was published 15/08/2016 (3626 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

With less than a week remaining at the 2016 Olympic Summer Games in Rio de Janeiro, Manitobans have combined for one medal and a wealth of valuable experience.

A bevy of events still remain for the province’s Olympic stars, however, so the medal count could see an uptick before Sunday’s closing ceremonies.

Winnipeg’s Chantal Van Landeghem will return home with a bronze around her neck from the women’s 4×100-metre freestyle swim relay.

“It was everything that we worked so hard toward. It’s something I will remember for the rest of my life,” Van Landeghem told the Winnipeg Free Press after the Aug. 7 race.

The 22-year-old later came up short in the women’s 50- and 100-metre semifinals, and anchored Canada to a fifth-place showing in the 4×100 medley.

Winnipeg’s Desiree Scott and Winnipeg-born Sophie Schimdt have a real chance at Olympic gold heading into the women’s soccer semifinal match today against Germany, a team Canada knocked off 2-1 in round-robin play.

Canada topped Group F in the preliminary matches, besting Australia and Zimbabwe along with second-ranked Germany.

Canada claimed the women’s soccer bronze medal at the 2012 Summer Games in London. If it can get past Germany, it will play the winner of the Sweden-Brazil semifinal for gold.

Winnipeg’s Justin Duff and the Canadian men’s volleyball team controlled their own fate when they took on Italy in their final group-stage contest Monday night. A win for Canada, which knocked off the United States earlier in the tournament, will see it through to the quarter-final stage.

Oak Bluff’s Tyler Mislawchuk and Winnipeg’s Sarah-Anne Brault will make their Olympic debuts in the men’s and women’s triathlon events, respectively, later this week.

“Overall, it’s been positive so far,” Canadian Sport Centre Manitoba general manger Jeff Powell said. “You can’t expect 10 athletes to go and have performances that are out of this world. You would expect from those athletes that perhaps one of them would have a performance they wouldn’t have wanted. You just don’t know who or where it will come from ahead of time.”

That title went to two-time Olympian Nicole Sifuentes of Winnipeg. The women’s 1,500-metre competitor failed to make it to the final for her second consecutive Games, after finishing seventh in her semifinal Sunday.

After setting personal bests this year, Sifuentes, clearly exhausted and disappointed, told the CBC she did her best and thanked everyone who had helped her get this far.

“For all those people, I run for them,” the 30-year-old said. “I wish I could have give them something to be excited about tonight. This is hard, but I’m thankful I was here and I gave it my best.”

Winnipeg’s Erin Teschuk, along with teammates Geneviève Lalonde and Maria Bernard, became the first Canadian women to compete in the Olympic steeplechase event.

Teschuk finished 14 seconds slower than her personal best, resulting in a 46th-place finish at her first Games.

“It wasn’t the race I wanted. I’m taking lots of motivation out of it… Four years down the line (at the 2020 Olympics), it could be a completely different race for me. I’m trying to focus on that,” Teschuk told Canadian Sport Centre Manitoba after the race.

Isabela Onyshko of Brandon competed Monday alongside American gymnastics prodigy Simone Biles in the women’s beam event. Onyshko, 18, finished eighth in the final after slipping off the beam following a back-handspring tuck attempt.

Still, Onyshko was beaming. 

“I’m still happy with the routine, it felt more aggressive, especially at the beginning,” she said. “I had fun out there, which was the most important part today.”

Winnipeg’s Leah Kirchmann finished 38th in the gruelling 136.9-kilometre women’s road race Aug. 7. She said it was one of the hardest courses she’s competed on.

“I’m happy that I now have my first Olympic experience and it definitely keeps me motivated looking toward Tokyo in 2020,” she said. “I think my chances will be even better there.”

scott.billeck@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @scottbilleck