The South Shore and the Laurentians completely dominated the first day of competition of the 56th final of the Quebec Games in Rivière-du-Loup, winning 22 and 18 medals respectively.
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The performances of the athletes in gymnastics allowed the South Shore to reach the podium 11 times and climb to first place in the medal table.
Alexia Carré, Fabio De Felice and Mathis Paradis were the three gymnasts from the South Shore to win a gold medal.
Meanwhile, young Laurentians confirmed their domination in weightlifting with an impressive harvest of 12 medals in this favorite discipline.
Briana Chartrand, Thomas Pilote and Mariana Elena Andras shone, grabbing three gold medals each.
Provided by Kévin Beaulé
Weightlifter Briana Chartrand
In weightlifting, we should also mention the performances of Santiago Apolinar (Richelieu-Yamaska) and Antonin Lanoue (Lanaudière) who also climbed to the top step of the podium three times.
The Joly show
In short-track speed skating, the Joly sisters from La Mauricie literally stole the show, completing the triple crown. In turn, Érika, Justine and Ariane flew over the ice at the Cité des Jeunes Stadium to win a gold medal in their respective categories.
These performances were underlined by the encouragement of their teammates and by their coach Éric Bédard who is experiencing a return to his roots since he trained in Rivière-du-Loup with coach François Gogoux at the start of his career.
Provided by the Quebec Games (Alex Garneau)
Once again this discipline will have given rise to spectacular races. The partisan crowd also pushed with local skater Clara Boudreau-Alexandre who won a bronze medal, the only one for the host delegation from Est-du-Québec.
” I am very happy. Everyone encouraged me and I felt the crowd,” commented the 14-year-old skater from Louperivoise, who also comes from a family of skaters.
Figure skating
The Laval athletes in figure skating had a great day with two gold medals out of a possibility of three.
Alessia Taddeo and Liam Schmidt managed to climb to the top step of the podium.
It was also the start of the women’s hockey tournament. The Chaudière-Appalaches team got off to a good start with two shutout wins.
The preliminary round will continue tomorrow with six games and already in the evening, the teams will compete for the quarter-finals.
Always concerning Chaudière-Appalaches, the Lévisien Raphaël Fortin deserved a gold medal and another silver in gymnastics. The region ended its day with a total of five medals.
For its part, the Capitale-Nationale won seven medals, including two gold.
Medal Table – Day 1
- Medals: 3 gold, 6 silver, 13 bronze
Total: 22
- Medals: 11 gold, 4 silver, 3 bronze
Overall: 18
- Medals: 2 gold, 4 silver, 6 bronze
Total: 12
- Medals: 3 gold, 2 silver, 6 bronze
Overall: 11
- Medals: 1 gold, 6 silver, 3 bronze
Total: 10