Winnipeg speed skater wins 3 Canada Games medals in 2 days.
One of the province’s top young athletes is leading the podium at the Canada Winter Games.
Winnipeg long track speed skater Sophia Bieber won two medals in Prince Edward Island on Wednesday, including Team Manitoba’s first multisport gold in the women’s 500m.
Bieber, 17, finished the event in 42.25 seconds, edging Alberta’s Maya Lueders by 0.51 seconds to top the podium.
“I thought the 500m today was amazing. I felt really fast coming off the line, and I just wanted to carry that momentum throughout the race,” Bieber said in a statement. said in a statement. “I definitely feel like I pushed my pace here on the second day of the Canada Games.”
Three other Winnipeggers – Skylar Van Horne, 16, Robyn Salie, 19, and Lindsay Smart, 16 – finished fifth, 12th and 18th with times of 43.95, 45.46 and 46.47, respectively.
Later Wednesday, Bieber teamed up with Sali, Smart and Horn to take silver in the women’s team pursuit. The Manitoba skaters posted a time of 3:57.55, edging out Alberta by less than a second.
Four skaters run out.
Team Manitoba long track speed skaters Sophia Bieber, Skyler Van Horn, Robyn Salley and Lindsey Smart compete in the women’s team pursuit at the 2023 Canada Winter Games in Prince Edward Island on Wednesday. (Contributed by Kathy Gartner Kipke)
“The team medal, it really means a lot to us because it just shows all the hard work that we put together as a team,” Bieber said in another statement.
The two medals Bieber won Wednesday, the flagship for Team Manitoba in the opening ceremonies, followed the silver she won Tuesday in the women’s 1,500 meters. She just missed out on the gold medal with a time of 2:33.44 – 0.22 seconds behind Alberta’s Isabel Champagne.
Bieber, Smart, Horne and Salie will all compete in the women’s 3,000 meters on Thursday, as well as two more events on Friday.
Manitoba’s medal tally stands at one gold and three silver.