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Team BC’s long track speed skating team won the province their first medal of the 2019 Canada Winter Games on Sunday afternoon, making the podium with less than half a second to spare.
BC’s speed skating team were the first ones to take their position atop the podium, edging out Manitoba by only 0.34 of a second to score bronze in Red Deer, Alta.
MEDAL ALERT - #TeamBC Women's Long Track Speed Skating Team Pursuit wins BRONZE to secure British Columbia's first medal of the @2019CanadaGames @BCSpeedSkating @SSC_PVC #WEareBC #jcg2019 pic.twitter.com/3j8t0YrjGS
— Team BC (@GoTeamBC) February 17, 2019
“It is amazing, really great,” said Amanda Mitchell, one of the three members of the team hailing from St. John. “Honestly, it means so much. It means our hard work has paid off. It means that we are finally able to show something for all this work and years of dedication we have put into this sport.”
Mitchell was joined by team members Brooke Braun and Yuna Lovell, both from Fort St. John, and Laura Hall, from Salmon Arm.
Quebec won gold with a time of 3:28.70 and Alberta earned silver with a time of 3:33.05.
Only a half hour after Team BC plucked their first medal from the pile, freestyle skier Brayden Kuroda from Penticton struck gold.
GOLD MEDAL ALERT - #TeamBC athlete Brayden Kuroda (Penticton) wins GOLD in Freestyle Aerials with a combined score of 121.65
— Team BC (@GoTeamBC) February 17, 2019
This is #TeamBC first GOLD MEDAL of the @2019CanadaGames 🙌@BCFreestyle @canfreestyleski #WEareBC
Kuroda had a combined score of 121.65 to land the gold medal at Canyon Ski Resort on Sunday, narrowly beating silver medalist Alex Mysko (Ontario) who finished with a score of 119.57, and Olivier Lessard (Quebec) who took silver with a score of 119.29.
Fellow Team BC competitors Josh Maga (North Vancouver) finished in fifth place with a score of 112.59 and Sam Cordell (Vancouver) landed in seventh with a score of 104.78.
Team BC has 320 athletes, coaches, managers and mission staff representing British Columbia in Red Deer, Alta. from Feb. 15 to Mar. 3 –– only a fraction of the approximately 3,600 athletes, coaches, managers from across the nation competing in the 19 different sports.
Team BC is currently in fourth place with three medals: one gold and two bronze. Andrei Secu (Coquitlam) scooped up the last medal of the day in the biathlon sprint competition (7.5-km), winning bronze.
MEDAL ALERT - #TeamBC Andrei Secu (Coquitlam) wins BRONZE in the men's biathlon sprint competition (7.5km) at the @2019CanadaGames
— Team BC (@GoTeamBC) February 17, 2019
That's two bronze medals 🥉 today so far for #TeamBC #WEareBC@biathloncanada @BiathlonBC pic.twitter.com/TVcjuUPYP2
To follow and cheer on Team BC, click here, or learn more about the Canada Games here.