Winnipeg's Ivo Thiessen among Canada's top young squash players

The Thiessen bloodline is no stranger to racquet sport, and 19-year-old Ivo Thiessen is no different as an up and coming Manitoban squash player.

Thiessen started the sport at a young age, first introduced to the enclosed court and rubber ball by his father, John — an avid squash player himself.

“When I was younger, he was just taking me down (to the Racquet Club), throwing me on the court and making me hit a ball,” Thiessen explained. “Then it just progressed. He kept putting me in lessons, kept pushing me and then I started to actually begin enjoying it once I figured it out a bit.”

Thiessen not only had the support from his father, but from other family members who had a personal love of the game.

Fanning captures second straight senior’s title, while Martens’ provincial victory 27 years in the taking

Todd Fanning is among the most decorated golfers in Manitoba history.

But a second straight senior men’s championship — captured Wednesday at Breezy Bend — was especially sweet.

That’s because it opens the door for him to represent the province at the Canadian senior men’s championship, which just so happens to be set for his sporting backyard at Niakwa in early September.

“This tournament was really important for me. Not only defending, but to try and get on the team and try to represent our home course,” Fanning told the Free Press.

Living the strongman life means special training for special strength

Behind the Scenes: How is the stage lit? Who hangs the paintings? What happens in the dish pit? Behind the Scenes is a recurring series highlighting the important and often invisible work happening at arts and culture venues across Winnipeg.

Vínarterta and vikings, fashion and fris-nok, music and midway rides. There’s no shortage of entertainment at Íslendingadagurinn, Gimli’s long-running Icelandic cultural festival, but one event in particular has proved a strong draw in recent years.

Since launching in 2022, the Magnús Classic Gimli Strongman competition has become a festival highlight, attracting large crowds to the displays of superhuman strength performed under the watchful eye of the town’s lakeside viking statue.

Interest in the sport has been growing globally as well.

Men’s title turning into two-horse race between clubmates Fanning and Doyle

Angela Martens was once a rising star on the Manitoba golf scene, with the 1999 provincial amateur title serving as Exhibit A.

But life eventually took precedence over sport as she faded from the competitive spotlight, with a runner-up finish at the Amateur in 2010 marking her most recent appearance near the top of the leaderboard.

Now, all these years later, Martens is back — and on the cusp of another championship.

The Elmhurst member takes a one-shot lead into Wednesday’s final round of the 2026 Hodson Financial Women’s Senior Championship at Breezy Bend after posting rounds of 80 and 79.

New women’s senior champ to be crowned

They may as well re-name the Manitoba Women’s Senior Championship the “Rhonda Orr Open” at this point, given the way she has dominated the annual event.

The 64-year-old, who plays out of Southwood Golf & Country Club, has won 10 straight titles — and 12 of the past 13 — to etch her name in local sports history.

Unfortunately, Orr’s incredible streak is coming to a screeching halt this week. Rather than teeing it up on Monday at Breezy Bend for the start of the 54-hole event, she was home recovering from a recent medical procedure which quickly put everything into perspective.

“Very disappointing that I wasn’t able to recover enough to play. That was my goal, but it didn’t work out. I definitely had a few tears over it,” Orr told the Free Press.

Winnipegger Bairos-Novak medals at wheel gymnastics worlds

Steven Bairos-Novak has always had a knack for participating in the more unconventional side of sports. He has since added wheel gymnastics to that list.

The Winnipegger has always been an athlete but not consistently in the same sport. In high school, he was deemed too short to play basketball and while that was one dream crushed at a young age, he pivoted to start something new.

“My dad wanted me to do a sport and he knew another parent of a pole vaulter, so he got me started. I fell in love with pole vault,” Bairos-Novak said.

Starting in Grade 10, he trained at Winnipeg Optimist Athletics, learning the world of track and field. Coincidentally, recent athlete-builder inductee of the Sports Manitoba Hall of Fame — Wayne McMahon — was one of his coaches, alongside Scot Dressler.

Sultans one win away from MJBL three-peat

A small delay due to lightning didn’t slow down the Carillon Sultans as they stormed into Koskie Field and defeated the Elmwood Giants 12-0 Sunday to take a 2-0 series lead in the Manitoba Junior Baseball League final.

Across the first two games of the best-of-five series, Carillon has a 27-5 run advantage after a similar offensive output during Game 1 in Steinbach on Friday. The Giants and Sultans have played in the finals the past three seasons, with Carillon winning both previous years.

The Sultans offence was quick to strike, plating eight runs in the top of the second inning. Anders Meilleur cleared the bases with a three-run double to start the barrage, with Dayton Christensen crushing a three-run home run to left-centre to cap off the inning.

“If we get on a roll in an inning, it’s contagious,” head coach Don Meilleur said. “We don’t hurt teams by getting one or two runs an inning, we hurt teams because we put up a crooked number most of the time and today was the perfect example… Anybody on that bench and anybody in the lineup can hurt another team. We just always find ways to get somebody to be a hero.”

Cross Lake pro blueliner walks away from sport he loves to live and work in northern community he loves even more

CROSS LAKE — It’s a hot, hazy Tuesday evening in northern Manitoba, and Jericho Blacksmith and his buddies are gathered inside a baseball dugout.

There isn’t a glove or bat in sight.

Instead, the young men are engaged in a loud, good-natured race to see who can get blackout drunk the fastest, passing around bottles and cans purchased from the local vendor, which had just been restocked when the weekly truck rolled into town earlier that day.

“Honestly, everything can be pretty brutal around here,” says the 26-year-old lifelong resident, pointing to isolation, a lack of opportunity and relentless boredom.

Manitoba Mid-Amateur champ aided by seven-year-old son acting as caddy

Doug Penner had the benefit of experience on his side, and yet it was his far less seasoned caddy whom he credited for helping him capture the Golf Manitoba Men’s Mid-Amateur Championship at Quarry Oaks on Wednesday.

The Steinbach local’s tournament-low seven-under 65 in the final round to win by a pair of strokes was aided by his seven-year-old son, Liam, whose young eyes helped his father read some tricky greens as they enjoyed a high-stakes day on the links together.

“Surprisingly, he calms me down, gets me into the zone and made some good reads,” said Penner, who grew up playing at Quarry Oaks and now golfs out of the Steinbach Fly-In. “He helped quite a bit. He’s only seven, but he’s into golf, and he knows the game, so very special having him on the bag.”

Penner began the day four strokes back of Evan Nachtigall, and that deficit quickly became five after he bogeyed the opening hole. That was the only blip in his round, as Penner poured in eight birdies on the ensuing 17 holes to finish the 54-hole tournament 12-under par (204), two shots clear of Nachtigall and David Spurr.

Elmhurst golfer carries four stroke lead into final round of Mid-Am

Evan Nachtigall wouldn’t call it a perfect day of golf, but it was pretty darn close for the Elmhurst member.

The 25-year-old holds the solo lead at 9-under par in the provincial Men’s Mid-Amateur Championship after a 36-hole opening day at Quarry Oaks in Steinbach on Tuesday.

Nachtigall, the reigning Men’s Golfer of the Year, carded a four-under 68 on his opening 18 on the strength of four birdies and an eagle, then did one better on his second time out, firing a bogey-free five-under 67 in gusty conditions.

“It’s been a good day,” said Nachtigall, who won the 2025 Men’s Amateur Championship. “I feel like I really stayed patient out there. Definitely frustrated on the greens, for sure. I felt like I probably had at least 20 good looks at birdie out there today, and I’m just burning edges. But at the end of the day, nine-under through two rounds, I’ll take it.”

Winnipegger honoured to wear Maple Leaf in Saturday rugby clash

Kyle Steeves is living a dream that he never imagined.

It wasn’t long ago that the 26-year-old pondered what career he would choose to pursue. Professional rugby never entered his consciousness.

As a wide-eyed teen on St. Paul’s High School’s rugby team, Steeves didn’t think much further than which team he would line up against that week.

He enjoyed the physical nature of the sport, but in his eyes, it was never more than an excuse to lay a big hit.

Super-Spike volleyball tourney returns for 24th year

It’s that time of the year again for Manitobans to participate in an iconic summertime event. Super-Spike is back and better than ever with a whopping 3,100-plus players — the most the event has had since 2017.

Taking place at Maple Grove Rugby Park this upcoming weekend from July 17-18, volleyball players of all levels of experience will be bumping at the outdoor courts in hopes of dusting off their skills or to simply have a little fun in the sand.

Greg Paseshnik, the events general manager, could not be more excited for this years tourney.

“Super-Spike is in year 24 now which is hard to believe,” Paseshnik said. “I still think it’s one of Winnipeg’s best kept secrets.”

Eagles galore at St. Boniface as Neill takes first men’s amateur title

Rory Neill wasn’t actually operating on auto pilot, even if it often appeared to be the case.

Over the course of 54 holes at St. Boniface Golf Club, Neill was able to execute his game plan to near perfection and his remarkable consistency allowed him to earn a two-stroke victory at the Golf Manitoba men’s amateur championship on Wednesday afternoon.

Neill, who plays out of Glendale, held the lead after 18 and 36 holes and he rarely wavered, shooting a three-under 69 during his final round to finish at five-under 211, holding off Drew Jones of Shilo (who had the low round of the day at 67) to secure his third consecutive runner-up finish.

“I was definitely nervous to start the day, but I tried really hard to detach from the scoreboard and just play another round of golf, like I had the first two days,” said Neill, whose lone bogey of the round came on the 18th hole. “It’s cool (to go wire-to-wire). It’s definitely not what I would have expected. I talked to some guys earlier in the week and we all agreed that it was definitely going to be a bunched-up leaderboard here. I knew that coming into (the final round) that there were probably 20 guys that could win

Bisons’ Neill carries lead into final round of men’s amateur

University of Manitoba Bisons’ golfer Rory Neill got out of the gates much slower than he did in Monday’s opening round, bogeying four of his first six holes, but stuck with it, finding birdies on four of the last 10 holes to salvage his round.

Men’s amateur tees off in tight race

It’s a crowded leaderboard after the opening round of the 115th edition of the Golf Manitoba men’s amateur championship.

Rory Neill of Glendale and Jordan Walford of Whitewater Golf Club near Thunder Bay are tied for the lead after carding matching three-under par 69s at St. Boniface Golf Club on Monday.

Neill, who recently completed his sophomore season with the University of Manitoba Bisons men’s golf team, managed six birdies, three bogeys and 9 pars, while Walford had five birdies, two bogeys and 11 pars to sit atop the leaderboard of the 54-hole event which wraps up on Wednesday.

“It was not the easiest of days out there. Windy and quite hot,” Neill told Golf Manitoba after his round. “But I kept the course in front of me and did a good job of not hitting any punch outs or anything — and I was able to roll in some birdies.”