It was the Bronze Age over the weekend for Island athletes at the 2013 World University Games in Kazan, Russia.
Stacie Anaka was in Kazan but her mind was firmly focused on Rio. The Reynolds Secondary School graduate, who is aiming for the 2016 Summer Olympics, won bronze in the women’s 67-kilo freestyle Sunday
“It’s always nice to win a medal for your country and seeing the flag raised,” Anaka said in a statement. “It would have been nicer if it was a gold medal. But I wrestled hard today and I felt pretty confident.”
Swimmer Eric Hedlin of Victoria captured bronze in the men’s 800-metre freestyle after narrowly missing the podium by placing fourth in the 1,500 freestyle earlier in the Games. Also on the senior national team, Hedlin is preparing for the 5K and 10K open-water events of the 2013 FINA world aquatics championships later this month in Barcelona — and the Rio Olympics beyond that.
“In the 1,500, I wanted to medal and was disappointed when I didn’t. I was happy I could come back and prove I still could swim fast at a big event like this,” Hedlin said in a statement.
“It gives me confidence to swim those events. It’s really important to have closing speed in the 10K.”
In men’s volleyball, Canada, with Marc Howatson of Victoria, placed fifth after going 5-2.
In soccer, Jaclyn Sawicki of the University of Victoria placed 10th with Canada’s women’s team.
Canada’s basketball prospects for future Olympics — already considered substantial with a spate of recent first-round NBA draft picks and with Victoria’s Steve Nash now at the helm as national team GM — look even brighter after the Canadian team went 6-0 to reach the World University Games semifinals in Kazan. Kyle Wiltjer, the NCAA-champion son of Olympian and Parkland High grad Greg Wiltjer, scored 11 points in the fourth quarter as Canada defeated Brazil 88-77 in the quarter-finals. A 78-68 loss Monday to host Russia, however, will have Canada playing for bronze.
ROAD TO RIO: Kirsten Sweetland and Kyle Jones, both of Victoria, placed fifth respectively in the women’s and men’s races of the World Cup triathlon event Sunday in Palamos, Spain. Jones was a London Olympian while Sweetland continues her tenacious comeback from injuries that threatened her career. “I am happy to be racing near the podium consistently after such a long time away,” said the Stelly’s secondary graduate … Christine Roper of Victoria, bronze medallist with the Canadian women’s eight and silver medallist in the four, was involved in both Canadian podium appearances as the rowing World Cup regatta ended Sunday in Lucerne, Switzerland.
It was a sobering weekend for an Elk Lake-based national team, which is used to so much more hardware.
“No one on the team is satisfied with the overall performance here, but we know we have a lot of high-calibre athletes who will take important lessons from this and be better next time around,” said Rowing Canada high performance director Peter Cookson … B.C. defeated Ontario 22-17 in the men’s U-18 championship final of the Victoria International Youth Sevens at Centennial Stadium in the version of rugby that makes its Olympic debut at Rio 2016.
