Heartbeat Highlights

After almost two months of reporting on what amateur sports events are coming up in The Heartbeat, it's time to expand to include what happened in the world of amateur sports.

Biathlon World Cup Win

Jean-Philippe Le Guellec became the first Canadian male to win a World Cup Biathlon race on Saturday when he won the 10km Sprint. His best previous finish was 6th at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics.

You can watch the full race here. The race starts at the 10 minute mark of the video. There is not much coverage of Jean-Philippe until he takes the lead after the second shooting.  I believe the first glimpse of him is at the 45 minute mark and the award ceremony is at 1:36.

Watch the post race interview here. Jean-Philippe's part of the interview starts at the 6:55 mark. It's so great to see his reaction and to put a face to the name (for those who have not been watching biathlon).

The following day, Jean-Philippe would wear number 1 as the other racers chase him in the 12.5km pursuit. You can watch that race here.  The race starts at 19:30 mark of the video.

You can follow him on Twitter at @JeeP_LeGuellec and check out his very cool shooting-themed blog here.

Beach Volleyball World Cup Trials

The Hangar at Downsview Park in Toronto was the venue where four new pairings were vying for a chance to represent Canada at the World Cup Final in Brazil in January. This tournament was announced only a month ago. With the 2012 teams splitting up, Canada decided to have the top four teams compete for the lone Canadian men's spot.

In the semi-finals on Friday night, our 2012 Olympians Josh Binstock and Martin Reader with new partners lost their respective semi-finals.

In the first semi, Christian Redmann and Matt Zbyszewski won their match against Binstock and Maverick Hatch 2-1 (21-18, 19-21, 15-12).

In the second semi-final, Chaim Schalk and Ben Saxton defeated Reader and Sam Schachter 2-0 (21-16, 21-14)

You can watch the semi-finals here.

I couldn't make it to the semi-finals but did attend the finals on Saturday night. There were quite a few friends/family/fans in attendance. Most of the crowd were behind the video camera so the video doesn't show the support that the players had.

Redmann and Saxton had a very successful pairing in the past which included competing at the Pan Am Games in 2011. They also qualified for the 2012 Olympics but with Canada only having one spot, they had a playoff that they lost to Binstock and Reader. This time, Redmann and Saxton were on opposite sides of the net.

It was a very close and exciting match. Schalk and Saxton had a 3 point lead half-way through the first set only to have Redmann and Zbyszewski win four points in a row to take the lead. The match then see-sawed until Redmann and Zbyszewski had set point leading 20-18. They couldn't convert however and Schalk and Saxton won the first set 24-22.

The second set was just as close but in the end, Schalk and Saxton pulled off the match win with a 21-18 finish in the second set.

You can watch the final here.

I had a great talk with Christian Redmann the next day. Although he was understandably disappointed, he seemed satisfied with his team's effort. He and Matt had only practiced together half a dozen times since this World Cup trial was announced. He also explained that they are not normally match fit at this time of year. Their performance should give them a lot of confidence for the upcoming season once they get more practice together.

Schalk and Saxton were more match ready having played a Norceca tournament in September that they won winning the five matches they played.

Good luck to Chaim Schalk and Ben Saxton at the FIVB World Cup Final January 9-13.

Speed Skating

Christine Nesbitt won gold in the 1500m at the Long Track Speed Skating World Cup in Kazakhstan. Teaming up with Ivanie Blondin and Brittany Schussler, they won the team pursuit.

Charles Hamelin won the silver medal in the 500m Short Track Speed Skating World Cup in Japan. He has been on the podium for all six of his races this fall, but has yet to reach the top spot.

Canada Cup #1 was held in Québec City over the weekend with national team and development team members competing. The following were the race winners:

Tamara Oudenaarden - 500m (2 races)
Kate Hanly - 1000m (2 races)
Josie Spence 1500m, 3000m and 5000m

Laurent Dubreuil - 500m and 1000m.
Guillaume Blais-Dufour - 1000m and 1500m
Alec Janssens -  5000m and 10000m
Kyle Parrot - 500m (tied) (second 500m race)
Muncef Ouardi - 500m (tied) (second 500m race)

You can read more news and results about all of these speed skating events at the Speed Skating Canada website here.

FIS World Cup in Lake Louise

Larisa Yurkiw and Marie-Michelle Gagnon gave the home crowd something to cheer about when they finished in the points in 25th and 28th respectively in the Super-G on Sunday.

You can watch Larisa's run here and Marie-Michelle's here. CBC also have interviews with them on the site.

I can't talk about the Lake Louise event without mentioning Lindsey Vonn who dominated the whole weekend winning all three races. I have watched her second downhill run a few times now in awe that she actually won after a scary moment that looked like she would crash. She was skidding towards the safety nets and off balance on one ski but she managed to stay on her feet and make up the lost speed and time. She still won by over half a second. You can watch that race here. Sunday's Super G win was the seventh win in a row for Vonn at Lake Louise and 14th overall.

FIS World Cup at Beaver Creek

Canada had four men in the points in the downhill race on Friday. Erik Guay was 15th, Benjamin Thomsen 16th, Jan Hudec 24th and Manuel Osborne-Paradis 28th.

On Saturday Jan Hudec was the top Canadian in 10th followed closely by Erik Guay in 11th.