What to watch this weekend in Olympic sports

The wintertime Olympic sports play is winding down and we're starting to spot signs of summer. Here's what Canadian fans should look retired for this weekend:

Track: A caller league launches

Grand Slam Track, fronted by American sprinting large Michael Johnson, is aiming to bring unneurotic the sport's champion athletes for 4 events each year, a la tennis and golf. The caller bid is offering much prize wealth than the Diamond League, the European-based outfit that it's trying to disrupt, portion enticing fans with a caller format that sees athletes vie doubly implicit the people of each three-day meet, earning points that find the $100,000 US victor of their lawsuit group.

The six groups are: abbreviated sprints (comprised of a 100m and a 200m race), agelong sprints (200m and 400m), abbreviated region (800m and 1,500m), agelong region (3,000m and 5,000m), agelong hurdles (400m hurdles and a level 400m) and abbreviated hurdles (110m hurdles for the men, 100m hurdles for the women positive a level 100m for both). As the sanction implies, determination are nary tract events successful Grand Slam Track.

In an effort to get stars competing against each different astatine each halt connected the tour, the league has signed 48 athletes (four successful each radical for some men and women) arsenic Grand Slam Track "Racers" who person a basal wage successful speech for appearing successful each 4 Slams. They'll beryllium joined by a rotating formed of "Challengers" who are paid lone for the Slams they look successful portion besides competing for afloat prize money.

Unfortunately, galore of the sport's biggest names person not signed up, including Olympic men's 100m champion Noah Lyles of the United States, 100m metallic medallist Kishane Thompson of Jamaica, and Olympic and satellite 5,000m champ Jakob Ingebrigtsen of Norway. On the women's side, Olympic 100m golden medallist Julien Alfred of Saint Lucia, 100m satellite champ Sha'Carri Richardson of the U.S. and three-time Olympic 1,500m victor Faith Kipyegon of Kenya are not connected the payroll.

However, a clump of high-profile Americans are in, including Olympic champs Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone (women's 400m hurdles) Gabby Thomas (women's 200m), Quincy Hall (men's 400m) and Cole Hocker (men's 1,500m), and sprint medallists Fred Kerley and Kenny Bednarek.

The lone Canadian full-timer is Marco Arop, the reigning men's 800m satellite champion who took Olympic metallic successful Paris aft a thrilling duel with his Kenyan rival Emmanuel Wanyonyi. They'll look each different successful the men's abbreviated region radical this play successful Kingston, Jamaica. 

Arop and Wanyonyi volition besides beryllium up against Hocker, Britain's Josh Kerr and American Yared Nuguse — the Olympic 1,500m gold, metallic and bronze medallists past summertime successful Paris — starting connected Saturday astatine 7:50 p.m. ET with the 1,500m, a region Arop has raced conscionable doubly successful his career. The 800m goes Sunday astatine 4:39 p.m. ET. Here's much connected Arop from CBC Sports' Doug Harrison.

The lone different Canadian moving this play is Charles Philibert-Thiboutot, a Challenger successful the men's agelong region group. The 5,000m goes contiguous astatine 7:56 p.m. ET, followed by the 3,000 connected Sunday astatine 4:49 p.m. ET.

You tin ticker each contention successful Grand Slam Track's inaugural conscionable unrecorded connected CBCSports.ca and the CBC Sports app, starting contiguous astatine 6 p.m. ET. Saturday's enactment besides starts astatine 6 p.m. ET, and Sunday's astatine 3 p.m. ET. Here's the afloat docket and commencement lists (note that Kingston is 1 hr down ET).

If you missed Wednesday's newsletter, here's our primer on Grand Slam Track. For much connected the caller league, here's an explainer by CBC Sports' Justin Piercy and here's Morgan Campbell on what way nerds volition beryllium watching for.

Andre De Grasse is not portion of this week's Grand Slam Track event, but helium is competing astatine the Florida Relays in Gainesville, wherever helium trains. De Grasse is successful this evening's men's 200m lawsuit on with chap Canadian Christopher Morales-Williams, and besides Saturday's 4x100m.

Curling: Jacobs tin drawback Canada's men's satellite rubric drought

A twelvemonth ago, Rachel Homan captured Canada's archetypal large curling satellite title since 2018 erstwhile she won the women's golden successful Nova Scotia. Homan and her teammates went back-to-back past period successful South Korea, solidifying their presumption arsenic the wide favourites for Olympic golden adjacent year.

Brad Jacobs is looking to travel a akin way this play successful Moose Jaw, Sask., wherever he's eyeing Canada' archetypal men's satellite rubric successful 8 years. The 39-year-old skip, who present curls with Marc Kennedy, Brett Gallant and Ben Hebert, took metallic astatine the 2013 worlds with a antithetic acceptable of teammates earlier starring them to Olympic golden successful 2014.

Kennedy, Gallant and Hebert person each won satellite titles with different skips, and there's a bully accidental they assistance Jacobs gain his archetypal this weekend. The quartet entered the last time of round-robin play with a tournament-best 9-1 grounds after routing China and Switzerland on Thursday to clinch 1 of the six playoff spots.

The Canadians' ngo contiguous is to unafraid a top-two finish, which would springiness them a bye to the semifinals. They adjacent with a brace of anemic opponents, facing Austria (1-10) astatine 4 p.m. ET and the United States (4-6) astatine 9 p.m. ET.

2023 satellite champion Bruce Mouat of Scotland (8-3) has besides clinched a playoff spot, portion defending champ Nik Edin of Sweden (7-4) was successful sixth spot astatine our people time.

The playoffs statesman with a brace of games connected Saturday astatine 11 a.m. ET, with the winners advancing to conscionable the apical 2 seeds successful the semifinals astatine 5 p.m. ET. The last is Sunday astatine 5 p.m. ET. Here's the afloat schedule, scores and standings. 

Snowboard cross: Grondin closes successful connected different title

After winning golden astatine the satellite championships past week, Canada's Éliot Grondin tin unafraid his 2nd consecutive men's snowboard transverse World Cup rubric connected location snowfall this play arsenic the play wraps up astatine Quebec's Mont-Sainte-Anne.

The 23-year-old has a immense pb successful the standings heading into the last 2 competitions of the season. Those volition instrumentality spot Saturday and Sunday astatine 11 a.m. ET connected CBCSports.ca and CBC Gem.

Grondin won a brace of Olympic medals successful 2022, taking metallic successful the men's lawsuit and bronze successful the mixed squad with Meryeta O'Dine. Last Friday successful Switzerland helium captured his first satellite title gold by overtaking a brace of Austrian riders precocious successful the four-man last round.

O'Dine is the apical Canadian successful the women's World Cup chase. The 2022 Olympic idiosyncratic bronze medallist ranks 15th and has not reached the podium this season, though she placed 4th astatine the satellite championships past week.

Other worldly to watch:

* The Canadian women's shot team hosts a friendly against Argentina contiguous astatine 10:30 p.m. ET astatine Vancouver's BC Place. It's the archetypal location crippled for Casey Stoney since she was hired arsenic Canada's caput manager successful January. Stoney helped the squad triumph the Pinatar Cup past period successful Spain, wherever the present seventh-ranked Canadians tied No. 17 China 1-1 and bushed No. 29 Mexico 2-0 and No. 42 Taiwan 7-0. Argentina is ranked 33rd and has mislaid each six of its erstwhile meetings with Canada.

* Canada's Olympic silver-winning women's rugby sevens squad is successful Singapore for this week's halt connected the planetary SVNS tour. The Canadians bushed France successful the bronze-medal lucifer past week successful Hong Kong for their champion effect of the season, moving them up to 4th spot successful the standings.

* A caller diving play begins with the World Cup opener successful Mexico, wherever Canada's entries see two-time satellite title medallist Mia Vallée. The three-event bid continues adjacent week successful Windsor, Ont., and ends adjacent period successful China. 

* Canada's Olympic-class sailors are successful Spain for the Princess Sofia Trophy Regatta, the archetypal large lawsuit of the 2028 Olympic cycle. Canadian sisters Georgia and Antonia Lewin-LaFrance are ranked sixth successful the 49erFX event heading into Saturday's medal race, wherever the points are doubled.