January
Canmore technical skier has season best World Cup results. Erik Read skis to 14th in slalom and 15th place in giant slalom in Adelboden, Switzerland.
Canadian biathlete cracks top 10 on the World Cup. Emma Lunder shoots and skis to ninth place in the 12.5 km mass start in Ruploding, Germany.
The Lake Louise to Banff Loppet returns to an in-person event following two years of the cross-country skiing race being virtual due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Top ski prospect crashes at FIS Alpine Junior World Ski Championships after nearly getting on the podium. Canmore’s Britt Richardson led after the first run in the giant slalom in St. Anton, Austria, but a slip and fall on the second run knocked the local skier out of contention.
Canmore hockey player makes NHL debut. Luke Philp got called up to the Chicago Blackhawks to play against the Vancouver Canucks on Jan. 24. Two days later, the 27-year-old forward recorded his first NHL point against the Calgary Flames.
Canmore speed skier flies to personal best at the World Cup. Jeff Read grabs seventh place in super-G in Cortina D’Ampezzo, Italy.
Canada has a record-setting 2023 Para Nordic Skiing World Championships, winning a remarkable 16 medals (seven gold, six silver, three bronze) – the most ever for the Canadians at a world championships. Five Canadians finished on the podium in individual biathlon and cross-country races: Mark Arendz, Collin Cameron, Natalie Wilkie, Christina Picton, and Brittany Hudak. After the championship, Cameron dedicated his first biathlon victory to his late father.
Cross-country ski prospect has two top-20 results at FIS Nordic Junior World Ski Championships. Canmore’s Xavier McKeever finished 16th in the junior men’s sprint and 13th in the 20-kilometre classic to open the international competition in Whistler, B.C.
We ๐ love ๐ puck ๐ pics #BudLightCelly pic.twitter.com/1CnsOFmgb2
— Chicago Blackhawks (@NHLBlackhawks) January 27, 2023
February
Canmore trio medals at 2023 FIS Alpine World Ski Championships. Underdogs Erik Read, Jeff Read, Britt Richardson and Ontario’s Valerie Grenier won bronze in the mixed team parallel in Meribel, France, after defeating ski heavyweights Austria in the small final.
Canmore speed skater takes on Olympic champ in Crystal Globe showdown. Long track specialist Connor Howe went head-to-head in the 1,500-m against Dutch superman Kjeld Nuis for the title of overall champion and a hefty payday. However, the fatigue of the season caught up to Howe as Nuis easily won the pairing.
The Alberta World Cup Society announces the FIS Cross Country World Cup is coming to Canmore in February 2024.
International biathlon racing returns to Canmore when the IBU Cup comes to town from Feb. 24 to March 4. Olympian Adam Runnalls had Canada’s best result, finishing ninth in the men’s 10-km sprint (7/10).
Canadian biathlete in top-10 at the IBU World Championships. Emma Lunder cashes in at seventh place in the 12.5 km mass start (18/20) in Oberhof, Germany.
The Canmore Wolverines senior girls won gold at the annual basketball tournament at Banff Community High School. The Banff Bears finished with bronze.
Canmore high school football players head to Texas for tournament. Running back Kai Perron and wide receiver Bryton Kapitza took part in the International Border Wars, a multi-nation youth football tournament in San Antonio. The duo was part of University of Alberta Golden Bears U18 Selects, a top squad of handpicked athletes, playing against teams from the U.S., Saskatchewan and Alberta.
Banff, Okotoks curling clubs participated in the first-ever curling game being played between teams at two different rinks using live streaming technology. Separated by 160 km, each team entrusted a neutral placer to position the rocks as accurately as possible after each throw.
March
Big results for Canucks at Nordic World Ski Championships. The team consisting of Xavier McKeever of Canmore, Antoine Cyr of Gatineau, Graham Ritchie of Parry Sound, and Olivier Léveillé of Sherbrooke had an exceptional fifth place in Planica, Slovenia, which tied Canada's best ever four-men's relay finish.
Canmore Special Olympians strike gold at provincial games. Cross-country skier Shane Stewart had a triple gold performance and figure skater Meg Ohsada won two gold medals at the Special Olympics Alberta Winter Games in Strathcona County.
Canmore speed skater takes silver at the ISU World Speed Skating Championships. Canmore’s Connor Howe, and Canadian teammates Antoine Gélinas-Beaulieu and Hayden Mayeur crossed the finish line in second place in the men’s team pursuit in Heerenveen, the Netherlands.
Local high school basketball teams participated in zones. In 2A, the Banff Bears JV boys finished third, and the girls finished fourth. In 3A, the Canmore Wolverines senior boys team finished third. The Wolverines JV and Grade 9 boys finished fourth, respectively.
Canadian Para Nordic skiers Mark Arendz and Collin Cameron each won crystal globes, which is the title of best overall athlete throughout the season.
Banff figure skater sisters come up huge at championship. Hazel Schmaltz won the 2023 StarSkate pre-juvenile U13 title and best overall skater of the year award, while Olive Schmaltz, 15, won the gold artistic, the highest level of artistic in Canada, and the Merit Award, which is voted on by officials as best performance of the championship in all categories.
Canmore speed skier rockets to fifth at World Cup finals. Canmore’s Jeff Read nearly was on the podium at the season-ending the super-G in Grandvalira, Andorra – 0.16 seconds behind bronze.
For the first time, a Canmore women’s curling team advanced to provincials. The team of skip Karen Dreaver, Kristy Langs, Janice Egger, Adele Sanford, and team alternate Kim Sanford amazed themselves with a 2-1 record at zones to qualify for the 12-team provincials in Lethbridge. The team finished with a 1-4 record at provincials.
Canmore rugby player selected to national team. A long time dream came true for Holly Phillips when the 24-year-old rugby star was selected to the national women’s 15s roster for World Rugby’s 2023 Pacific Four Series.
The Canmore Eagles are eliminated from the playoffs. The Junior A hockey team lost the first round series 4-2 against the Drumheller Dragons.
Canmore ski cross athlete Kris Mahler won a national title. Banff’s Zach Belczyk was fifth overall.
At age 19, Canmore alpine skier Britt Richardson becomes the youngest national champion in 2023, winning super-G.
The Vixens won the Rundle Women’s Hockey League with a 3-2 finals victory over the Luna Wolves on March 19 at the Fenlands Banff Recreation Centre.
After uncertainty it would return in 2023, Frozen Thunder secured funding to return to the Canmore Nordic Centre. The high-performance and recreational cross-country ski snow loop is to help get athletes on snow before the season begins.
Banff speed skaters Lily Fochuk and Poppy Wheelhouse compete at national youth championships in Saskatoon. Representing Alberta, Fochuk won two silvers in the 400-metre and 800m races and finished first overall in the 1,000m female open.
Canmore duo compete in 'world's toughest cross-country ski race'. Andy Buchholtz and Alma Steyn completed the three-day, 160-km race in harsh conditions in Greenland.
Banners fly for Canmore hockey teams and players
The Bow Valley Timberwolves, a U15AA Cochrane-based hockey team loaded with local talent, handily own the South Central Alberta Hockey League banner. The team – with local forwards Grayden Solodan, Easton Milne, Lukas Boruta, Austin Gammon, defenceman Chase Kjemhus, and goalie Kingston Cuell – went 30-1-1 on the season and qualified for provincials.
Thomas Boruta of the Bow Valley Timberwolves U18AA and the Airdrie Xtreme U15AAA team, with local players Will McLaughlin, Griffin Horne and Issac Riep to their respective provincials. The Xtreme went undefeated at provincials.
Additionally, in the Canmore Minor Hockey Association the CAHL U11, RHL U11A, RHL U13A, RHL U13B all won their respective league banners.
Canada Winter Games
Eleven Bow Valley athletes qualified to the Canada Winter Games in Prince Edward Island and at Crabbe Mountain, New Brunswick between Feb. 18 to March 5. The event is to give a proving ground for athletes, aged between 13-20, wanting to compete at the international level.
In alpine, Thomas Cais flew to silver in male giant slalom (GS), and Maxim Cater finished fifth in the same race. Cais would go on to take 9th in super-G, 25th in ski cross, and 28th in slalom. Cater finished 12th in super-G, 16th in slalom, and 33rd in ski cross.
Emma Fynn finished in ninth in the female GS. Fynn also had three other top-15 results (12th in ski cross, 14th in slalom, and 15th in super-G), but as a 15-year-old, she finished in the top-3 in her age group in each event.
In biathlon, Alberta won bronze in mixed relay with the team of Kase Repp, Aimee-Rae Morin, and locally-based skiers Liam Tinworth and Lucia Baergen.
Tinworth won a pair of silvers in the male sprint and 10-km pursuit races.
Baergen and Canmore’s Theo Fradette placed sixth in the single mixed relay.
In solo races, Fradette won bronze in the male’s 12.5-km individual, and just missed the podium 7.5-km sprint, placing fourth.
In cross-country skiing, Team Alberta won silver in the 4X5-km mixed relay freestyle with the squad consisting of Canmore skiers Sabine Comeau and Noah Weir Chaba, and Edmonton’s Alison Mackie, and Calgary’s Jonas Rolseth.
Comeau started her 2023 Canada Winter Games with a bronze medal in the female 7.5-km sprint.
Weir-Chaba took silver in the male’s 10-km sprint.
Canmore’s Seb Parent scored a trio of top-10s including 10th spot in the male classic and 8th in the sprint. Parent’s mixed relay team, Alberta B, skied into fifth place.
Canmore’s Felix Clement finished 33rd in the male mass start, 40th in the sprints, and 42nd in the classic. Clement’s mixed relay team, Alberta C, came in 10th.
Mogul skier Kierra Hurry was the final athlete to qualify, but had to withdraw due to an ankle injury.
April
Banff freerider Seth Sands won the IFSA North American Junior Freeride Championship in Golden, B.C.
Russia banned 333 Canadians for the “spread of rabid Russophobia," including a group of 42 retired Olympians with a handful being prominent figures living in, or with ties to, the Bow Valley. The banned Canadians are standing up against any athletes from Russia or Belarus competing at the Paris 2024 Olympics, even as neutral competitors with no flag, until the attacking countries withdraw their forces from war-torn Ukraine.
Three-time Olympian and ski racer Trevor Philp calls it a career at age 30.
Canmore Illusions Gymnastics Club’s Kaija Puurunen and Paige Reiben are provincial champs following stellar performances at the WAG Artistic Provincials at Calgary Olympic Oval.
May
Bow Valley teens are selected in the Western Hockey League prospects draft. Defenceman Will McLaughlin, 15, was selected in the fifth round (105 overall) by the Portland Winterhawks, and Griffin Horne, 14, was picked in the eighth round (158 overall) by the Calgary Hitmen.
Canmore Wolverine football player, lineman Keithan Simeon, is selected to Football Alberta’s Indigenous all-star team.
The Banff rugby men’s team’s season starts. For it, the team debuts its new kits that have the initials EEG stitched on the trunks, in memory of Ethan Enns-Goneau, who was tragically murdered in Banff in August 2022.
June
Canmore Eagles plea to community after ‘financial punch’ from new calendar. The local club's “hand is being forced to spend” an estimated $65,000 in additional operating costs for the 2023-24 Alberta Junior A Hockey League (AJHL) season due to the league adopting a full interlock schedule, or moving down to one division, which the Eagles firmly oppose.
The Banff Bears rugby boys won zones after defeating rival the Stratchona-Tweedsmuir Spartans at Calgary Rugby Union. The team advance to provincials …
Canmore Wolverines soccer boys won bronze at zones after a 3-2 comeback against the Strathmore Spartans.
The Alberta Junior Hockey League announces all players will have to wear face cages by the 2025-26 season.
Canmore’s Noah Philp, a prospect for the Edmonton Oilers, retires. The 24-year-old centre said he was shifting his focus elsewhere.
Bow Valley high schools hand out athletic awards. For the BCHS Bears, Cam Geyer and Alicia Smith won male and female athlete of the year awards. For the CCHS Wolverines, Kai Perron and Indigo Hill won male and female athlete of the year awards. For the OLS Avalanche, winning the senior athlete of the year awards were Cassie Lang and Raymond Vargas. The junior awards winners were Seth Sands and Xera Fernandez.
Canmore trail runner Adam Mertens completes an ultra rare mountain adventure. Called the Bow Tie, Mertens is, on record, the only person to have completed the giant jaw-dropping trek that goes up and down some of the most famous mountains in the Bow Valley, in a single push. Starting at 2 a.m. in the dark of night outside the Canmore Rose and Crown on June 30, Mertens’ piled on the miles by first doing the Canmore Quad (Grotto, Lady Macdonald, Ha Ling and the East End Of Rundle), which led into the Rundle Traverse, and then finished off with the Banff Triple Crown (West End of Rundle, Sulphur and Cascade). The finish line was at the Banff Rose and Crown on July 1 at around noon. The remarkable effort took Mertens 32 hours, 10 minutes and 22 seconds to complete the entire 115 kilometre feat, which had a 9,500 metre elevation gain.
July
The Nakoda Warriors host inaugural Mînî Thnî Indian Relay Race.
The Canmore Tennis Association celebrates its centennial. Four new courts open at Lions Park in conjunction with 100 years of tennis in Canmore.
After a year of speculation, Lake Louise is cut from the alpine World Cup’s 2023 calendar. There is no timeline on a return.
While on the road to qualify to the Paris 2024 Summer Olympic Games, Canmore climber Becca Frangos earned two world cup personal bests in consecutive weeks at European venues.
Canmore triathlete Heather Myers crowned Ultraman Canada women’s champion, following a monster distance of a 10-kilometre swim, 420 km bike and 85 km run at a time of 31:28.06.
Stoney Nakoda archer Nikkita Beaver-Ear and basketball player Jonah Chiniquay compete at the North American Indigenous Games.
Bow Valley Riptides swimmers had big results at the summer provincials, winning 12 medals (seven gold, two silver, three bronze) and smashed 27 club records, including outstanding athlete, Beni Purnhauser, who won five golds and one bronze.
In swimming, Rhys Ashcroft won three gold (100m and 200m breaststroke, 400m freestyle), silver in the four by 50m relay, and bronze in the 200m medley in the category one boys events. He also placed sixth in the 50m backstroke. Canmore’s Ethan Lake had a silver in the 200m freestyle, bronze in the 200m backstroke, and fourth in the 50m backstroke in category two boys.
In canoe-kayaking, Jordy Munro won two gold medals (K-1 boatercross, slalom team), two silvers (C-1 slalom, K-1 slalom) and a bronze (canoe polo) in the 15-17 boys category, while Connor Page won gold (slalom team) and two bronze medals (canoe polo, K-1 boatercross).
In football, Canmore’s Dawson Rodney and the Calgary Stampeders All Stars won it all, defeating the Edmonton Wildcats 21-5 in the championship game.
In track, Zoélia Labonté and her team placed third in the U16 girls’ relay. Meanwhile, Nya White just missed the podium twice, placing fourth in the U16 girls’ 80-metre hurdles and fifth in the 200m hurdles.
For the mountain biking portion, local cyclist Vera Heal won two gold medals in U13 girls’ events, while Greta Dove earned two bronze medals, and Stevie Heal finished seventh and eighth. In U15 girls, Charlie Pittard snagged two silvers. In U13 boys, Oliver Robins placed fourth and seventh.
In triathlon, Trillian Klinkhamer won a silver medal in the 12-13 girls’ individual event. She also won a pair of fourth places in duathlon and co-ed relay. Poppy Wheelhouse finished seventh in both the 12-13 girls’ duathlon and individual triathlon.
Canmore’s Varden Borggard’s zone 2 boys soccer team finished fourth.
August
Canmore’s Sara Poidevin, one of Canada’s top road cyclists, competes at the inaugural “Super Worlds”, a huge international event featuring 13 cycling disciplines brought together with world titles on the line.
Canmore defenceman Finn McLaughlin and Team USA take bronze at the Hlinka Gretzky Cup in Slovakia.
Canmore sailor Matt Stokes and his crew on the Blue Jay are the fastest Canucks at the world’s oldest offshore ocean race, the Marblehead to Halifax Open Race, a 672-km race in the Atlantic Ocean.
Harsh heat hurts Canmore’s CrossFit queen Kim Purdy's chances to repeat her title as fittest woman aged 50-54 at the NOBULL CrossFit Games. Despite having heatstroke, Purdy finished competing and came in sixth.
Canmore rugby star Krissy Scurfield and the Canadian women’s sevens team qualify to Paris 2024 Summer Olympic Games. During the qualifying event, Scurfield broke her nose and scored 12 tries.
September
Canmore’s Ken Hughes, 69, becomes 99th Canadian to win Worldloppet gold, putting in more than 500-km on 10 of the elite cross-country skiing races around the world.
The OLS Avalanche senior girls volleyball team won gold at their home tournament, the first time they have done so in a decade.
The Canmore Wolverines senior girls volleyball takes silver in their home tourney.
Thousands take part in the Melissa's Road Race.
Exshaw hockey coach Justin Cardinal's reputation strengthens from the minors to the NHL. During the Las Vegas Knights 2022-23 Stanley Cup run, goalies Adin Hill and Logan Thompson, pupils of Cardinal, were in constant contact with their longtime coach.
October
Canmore speed skater wins two national titles. Long track specialist Connor Howe won the 1,500m for the third consecutive year, as well as 1,000m. He also finished with silver in the 5,000m.
Canmore hockey prospect Finn McLaughlin is named to the NHL Central Scouting’s ‘players to watch list’.
Canmore biathlete Haldan Borglum summits every visible peak from the town of Canmore boundary – 94 in all. Starting in 2020, Borglum hiked, rock climbed, rappelled, scrambled and bushwhacked through the Rockies on every named and unnamed peak with 300 feet or more of prominence. It took 800-km, with approximately 70 km in elevation gain, to complete.
Paris 2024 Olympic journey ends for Canmore climber. Following a seventh place finish in sport climbing at the Pan American Games, Becca Frangos, 26, was eliminated from qualifying to the Summer Games.
Banff volleyball player looks to become first-time Olympian after the national indoor men’s team earned a berth to Paris 2024. Middle blocker Pearce Eshenko, a member of the national team, will now try to get a spot on Canada’s final 12-man roster.
November
Banff karate trio Daymon Miller, Francois Pace, and Mya Firlotte head to Japan to compete at the 2023 International Friendship Elite Karate Championships. The three competed in a single bracket knockdown tourney, with Miller and Pace each going 1-1 in their categories.
Biathlon Canada feels dire effects of a 30 per cent budget cut. Head coach Justin Wadsworth said the team is scraping by and the loss of funds severely impacted its training camp in the off-season.
Canmore NHLer making difference on defence with Ottawa Senators. After 13 games, defenceman Jacob Bernard-Docker leads the team with 40 blocked shots.
Canmore biker Larix Hallet wins silver at cyclocross nationals in Victoria, B.C.
Canmore ninjas Makayla Breu and Kaden Breu qualified to worlds after impressive results at the Canadian Ninja League nationals, an obstacle course-based competition.
December
Canmore Wolverines senior boys basketball team victorious at home tourney for third consecutive year. Two weeks later, the Wolverines JV boys basketball team won their home tournament.
World Cup gold medallist Kris Mahler's season ends after the Canmore skier's neck is broken at a ski cross race in Switzerland.
Canmore cross-country skier Leanne Gartner qualifies for Youth Olympic Games.
The Outlook's 2023 Athlete of the Year
Britt Richardson, alpine skiing
2023 Highlights
- Bronze medallist at the World Ski Championship in mixed team parallel
- Career best 15th place on the World Cup in giant slalom (GS)
- Youngest national champion (age 19), winning super-G
- Youngest athlete named to the national ski team (age 20)
- World's top ranked 20-year-old woman in GS
Quickly becoming a top-20 threat on the World Cup, the rising ski prospect from Canmore was also leading the field in the World Junior Ski Championships after the first GS run, but fell short of a podium following a wipe out during her second go down the course.
