Credit Speed Skating Canada – Filippo Tomasi – Volleyball World
There's a lot for Team Canada fans to watch over Thanksgiving weekend, as the Artistic Gymnastics World Championships and Men's Volleyball Olympic Qualifying Championships come to a close
Meanwhile, the Beach Volleyball World Championships are underway, and Canada's best long track speed skaters will compete at the national championships to earn their spots on this season's World Cup squad.
Here's what you don't want to miss:
Artistic gymnastics
The action continues at the FIG Artistic Gymnastics World Championships, taking place in Antwerp, Belgium. It was indeed a great encounter for Team Canada, as the men's team secured their qualification for Paris 2024 after an impressive fourth-place performance in the qualifying round. The team of Zachary Clay, Rene Cournoyer, Felix Dulce, William Emard and Jason Rampersad continued to finish seventh in Tuesday's team final.
Read: Canada qualifies for Paris 2024 in men's artistic gymnastics
For the first time in 20 years, Canada will have full Olympic teams in men's and women's artistic gymnastics. The women earned their Olympic qualification at the World Championships last year, when they won the bronze medal in the team event.
There are still more gymnastics games coming this weekend! Ellie Black, a Team Canada veteran and three-time Olympian, will compete in the women's all-around final on Friday and the uneven bars final on Saturday. She won the all-around silver medal at the 2017 World Championships and finished fifth last year. She finished fifth in the all-around qualifier in Antwerp – the same city where she made her world championship debut a decade ago.
On the men's side, Felix Dulce will compete in two apparatus finals, with the floor exercise final taking place on Saturday and the horizontal bar final on Sunday. He finished fifth and eighth respectively on those machines during qualifying.
Read: Putting Canadian men's artistic gymnastics back on the map
You can broadcast the competition on CBC Sports.
Beach volleyball
Canada is fielding three teams this weekend in the Beach Volleyball World Championships, being held in Tlaxcala, Mexico, until October 14.
Competition begins for the Canadians on Friday as Sam Schachter and Daniel Dearing take on the Brazilian duo.
The Canadian women begin action on Saturday, with Sarah Pavan and Molly McBain playing for a Swiss team, while Melissa Humana-Paredes and Brandi Wilkerson play for a Moroccan tandem. Humana-Paredes and Wilkerson are seeded first in Group D, which also includes teams from the Czech Republic and Paraguay.
In an interview with Olympic.ca this summer, Wilkerson expressed her belief that a world title was within her team's reach. The duo is still in the first year of their partnership, but they have enjoyed significant success, including an Elite 16 win in Montreal this summer.
Read: Brandi Wilkerson on big wins, learning from losses, and making a positive impact
There is some additional incentive for worlds, as the gold medal-winning teams will be guaranteed a spot in the Olympic quotas in Paris 2024. Humana-Paredes and Wilkerson will also compete in the Pan American Games later this month in Santiago, Chile.
volleyball
Team Canada continues its quest to qualify for Paris 2024 in the men's Olympic volleyball qualifying tournament. In Group C action in Xi'an, China, Canada finished second with a record of three wins and one loss, with three round robin games remaining.
Three Olympic qualifying tournaments are held simultaneously in three different cities. The top two teams in each tournament will receive the qualification ticket to Paris 2024.
Facing the Netherlands in their first match, Canada cruised to a five-set win, before posting a convincing 3-1 win over Argentina.
The Canadians' only defeat came to Poland, who are yet to be defeated in the tournament. However, Canada gave the top-ranked team in the world a tough time, as the match ended in a tiebreaker. The Canadians then came back to win their encounter with China in three straight sets. Stephen Marr, Arthur Szwark and Eric Lupke were consistently among the top Canadian scorers in the first four games.
Canada faces Bulgaria on Thursday at 10pm ET, Belgium on Friday at 10pm ET, and concludes the tournament against Mexico on Sunday at 4am ET.
You can stream the tournament on CBC Sports.
BMX racing
The final four BMX World Cup races of the season take place in Santiago del Estero, Argentina over the next two weekends.
Canadian Molly Simpson currently sits sixth in the overall Women's World Cup standings, with two fourth-place finishes, two fifth-place finishes and an eighth-place finish on the track in 2023. At 20, she will be the country's sole representative in elite women's events.
Ryan Tougas is the only Canadian participant in the men's elite events. Both riders will represent Team Canada at the 2023 Pan American Games in Santiago in Chile later this month, as will Teigen Pascual and Curtis Cree, who compete in the women's and men's under-23 categories, respectively, this weekend.
There are two titles at stake in each category over the weekend, with a final on Saturday and another on Sunday.
Long track speed skating
It may be hard to believe that winter sports are here! This past weekend marked the 2023 Canadian Short Track Speed Skating Championships, so this weekend it's the trackers' turn to test themselves before heading to the World Cup circuit next month.
Many decorated Olympians will be at the Oval in Calgary this weekend, including Olympic medalists Laurent Dubreuil, Ted-Jan Plomin, Isabelle Weidemann, Evanie Blondin and Valérie Maltese.
Blondin is out of short track national level competition for the first time since she switched to long track 13 years ago. She has decided to challenge herself, with an eye toward racing in both speed skating disciplines at the 2026 Winter Olympics.
The meeting can be broadcast on CBC Sports.
