Table tennis players Alice Provencher and Siméon Martin edged out freestyle skier Ashley Koehler for Team Quebec’s first-ever medal at the 2023 Canada Winter Games in Prince Edward Island . On Sunday, Provencher and Martin indeed won the gold medal in the mixed doubles table tennis competition, about 30 minutes before Koehler savored a third place in the jump event.
At the Prince Edward Island Convention Centre, Provencher, from Drummondville, and Martin, from Montreal, triumphed over the Yukoners when they entered the scene. They followed that up with victories over Manitobans in the quarter-finals and then British Columbians in the semi-finals.
In the gold medal heads-up, Provencher and Martin defeated Ontarians Jessie Xiaorong Xu and Kevin Guo after five hard-fought sets.
“The stress mounted in the semi-finals against British Columbia, because we were aware that we were playing for a medal”, confided Provencher, very happy to have achieved their objective which was to climb on the first step of the catwalk in Charlottetown.
It was under the eyes of Chef de Mission Éric Pilote that this very first medal for the Quebec team was won. The latter also took the opportunity to give gold pins to the winners.
The other Quebec mixed doubles duo in action, made up of Nélina Murdanaigum, from Laval, and Joakim Desmeules, from Saint-Augustin-de-Desmaures, won their two preliminary matches, then their first playoff game, but is tilted in the quarter-finals.
In doubles, Provencher and Murdanaigum fell to Manitoba in their first duel of the preliminaries. Monday morning, they will cross swords with the Ontarians.
Still in doubles, but for the boys, Martin and Desmeules had the British Columbians. They will conclude the preliminaries against the Ontarians on Monday morning.
freestyle skiing
Sixth after qualifying for the freestyle ski jumps event, Ashley Koehler bet big for the final. A specialist in moguls, the athlete from Lac-Beauport decided to put his fears aside and use his past experience in jumps to migrate to the second hill. A risk that earned him valuable points, allowing him to climb to the third step of the podium.
” I am really happy ! I did jumps when I was younger, so I gave myself a little pat on the butt to take my level up a notch. »
The main reason for his stay in Prince Edward Island, however, remains the mogul events, which will take place from February 24th.
In their first ever aerials competition, Louis-David Chalifoux of Quebec City and Félix Bertrand of Saint-André-Avellin played it safe by staying on the small hill. They respectively finished 4e and 10e. This final serving them rather as a warm-up, the moguls are aiming for nothing less than a double against the individual bumps.
Unfortunately, the paths of Alycia Hudon, from Saint-Colomban, and Mavrick Sauvé, from Mirabel, came to an end in qualifying, with both placing 11e row in the afternoon.
Full results
Ringette
The Quebec team got off to a good start in defending their Canada Games title won in Red Deer in 2019 with a 6-3 victory over Manitoba. The Repentignoise Laurence Lacombe particularly distinguished herself by scoring three goals, while the Gatineau resident Brittany Lanouette scored twice. Monday afternoon, the representatives of La Belle Province will face Alberta.
girls curling
The Quebec team managed a comeback to save themselves with an 8-7 victory over the Saskatchewan team. Led 7-2 after five ends, the women’s quartet scored 1, 2 and 3 in the last three sets. The British Columbians will be their next opponents on Monday afternoon.
Squash
Montreal’s Ava Bicknell and Gatineau’s Alexandria Crisostomo were rather hasty in their first outing at the Eastlink Center, both winning 3-0. In the round of 16 on Monday, Bicknell will meet Alberta’s Ella Watson, while Crisostomo will take on BC’s Ocean Ma.
Hockey
Quebec hockey players made a successful debut at MacLauchlan Arena, enjoying a 6-4 win over the Manitobans. The attack came from several color carriers of the Fleurdelisé, five different markers having registered on the score sheet. The New Brunswickers will be the next opponents of the representatives of the province, Monday afternoon.