Local news delivered daily to your email inbox. Subscribe for FREE to the rdnewsNOW newsletter.

Alberta hauls in 11 medals Wednesday at Canada Winter Games

Feb 20, 2019 | 9:41 PM

Team Alberta athletes continue to rack up medals at the 2019 Canada Winter Games.

Eleven more medals on Wednesday bring the home province’s medal total to 28, second only to Quebec’s 48 in the overall standings.

Hon Won Son of Calgary took the gold medal in the women’s 500m short track speed skating at the Gary W. Harris Canada Games Centre.

“I feel amazing right now. It’s definitely not a result that I expected. The final was pretty tough,” said Son. “The crowd was definitely the biggest factor. The most fun thing to do was racing with that crowd, cheering you on.”

In the men’s 500m final, Brendan Yamada of Calgary squeezed in a third place.

“I’m super grateful to be representing Alberta and earn this medal on behalf of Alberta,” he said.

“I’ll never forget the experience at the Canada Games. It’s just amazing just spending time with my teammates, seeing all the other events, being in this atmosphere.”

In the ring, two Alberta boxers earned silver medals.

Cole Brander of Edmonton took silver in the 56kg division, losing on points to Avery Martin-Duval of Quebec, a three-time National Champion.

“I think I could have done a lot of things better. I’m happy with some aspects of my performance. I am happy I stuck it out. He’s a strong fighter, he’s fast, but I’m strong, I’m fast, and he was better than me today, but there’s always next time. We’re going to work hard, and we’re going to fight for it,” said Brander.

In the 75kg weight category, Janick Lacroix fought for the gold medal against Mohamed Zawadi of Ontario. The tightly contested fight went in favor of the Ontario boxer in judges decisions, giving Lacroix the silver medal.

“Silver is a big deal. I was coming here for the gold medal for sure, but I’ll take what I can get and come back stronger next year at Nationals,” said Lacroix.

“I’ve been through a lot and worked through it. I worked really hard for it, and I am proud of it. Today I definitely fought for my old coach Mike [Kucik]. I always fought for him. Everything I do is for him now,” commented Lacroix on the passing in 2016 of his former coach Mike Kucik.

Brooklyn McDougall continued her domination in long track speed skating, winning her fifth medal in five races this week with a silver medal in the women’s 1000m. Kaleb Muller also added a silver medal to his collection, his fourth of the games.

At the pool, Alberta won gold in the Artistic Swimming duet event, the first gold in the event for Alberta since 1999.

Megan Cressey, 19, of Sylvan Lake posted a solid second run of 78.0 points to secure the silver medal in freestyle skiing – slopestyle.

Jake Sandstrom, 18, of Calgary won silver for Alberta on the men’s side.

In Biathlon, both the Alberta men’s and women’s team earned medals, with the women taking home the gold medal and the men the silver medal.

(With file from Team Alberta media release)