Six athletes who stood out at the Niagara 2022 Canada Summer Games
The Canada Games is all about opportunities, and these athletes took theirs
Kylie Masse, Andre De Grasse, Cassie Campbell, Steve Nash, Catriona Le May Doan, Sidney Crosby, Diana Matheson and Charles Hamelin. A handful of the greatest athletes to ever wear the maple leaf, and they all have one thing in common — they once competed at the Canada Games.
For decades the Canada Games, both the Summer and Winter editions, have been an important chance for athletes, especially younger and less established ones, from coast-to-coast-to-coast to compete against one another on a national stage.
The Canada Games are the highest level of multi-sport competition in Canada, with only national championships and Olympic trials the only competitions with higher national prestige.
Rescheduled from 2021 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the competition was a memorable one for the more than 5,000 athletes and coaches that took part.
Throughout the Niagara 2022 edition of the Games, athletes broke records, 16-year-old Jaida Lee made headlines becoming the first female to play in the male baseball competition, and wrestler Eekeeluak Avalak won Nunavut’s first-ever Canada Games gold medal — in either the summer or winter edition of the Games.
Box lacrosse made a return to the Canada Games for the first time since 1985, with women’s lacrosse teams competing for the first time ever, while women’s rugby sevens also made its debut.
There are so many performances to remember, but here are six athletes in particular who took full advantage of their opportunity to compete in Niagara.
Katie Cosgriffe
Team Ontario, Swimming
With the Paris 2024 Summer Olympics and Paralympics under two years away, the 2022 Canada Games may have been the explosion onto the scene for the next para swimming star to rep the maple leaf — 16-year-old Katie Cosgriffe.
Cosgriffe has Charcot-Marie-Tooth, an inherited neurological disorder which “causes sensations, and loss of normal functions, in the feet, arms, hands and legs”, and has developed for her over the past year or so according to Swim Ontario. Cosgriffe, who swims out of the Burlington Aquatic Devilrays swim club in Burlington, Ontario, was already an accomplished swimmer, and has continued that momentum in the pool in the months since her diagnosis.
A couple of podium finishes in the Canadian Swimming Trials — first in the 100m butterfly multi-class para event, and third in the 400m freestyle — put her into the headlines, but her run at the Canada Games this month was even more impressive.
Cosgriffe competed in seven women’s para swimming events at Niagara 2022, and won six of them — the 50m freestyle, 100m freestyle, 400m freestyle, 100m backstroke, 100m butterfly and 200m individual medley.
In the other event, the 100m breaststroke, she was beaten by Quebec’s Tatiana Nault, and Cosgriffe ended up taking silver.
Her six gold medals tie the record for the most won by a female athlete at a single Canada Games, along with her Ontario teammate Julie Brousseau — who won a sensational eleven medals at Niagara 2022 herself. They equaled Hanna Henderson’s record of six golds at the 2017 Canada Summer Games, while Brousseau’s eleven total medals equals Henderson’s record in that category as well.
Cosgriffe is keen to represent Canada at the Paralympics, and once she gets official classification to be able to compete in international meets, she is definitely one to keep an eye on in the coming years as we approach Paris 2024 and beyond.
Eekeeluak Avalak
Nunavut, Wrestling
Prior to this edition of the Canada Games, Nunavut had won just a single medal since making its debut in 2001 — a bronze in judo at the 2007 Canada Winter Games in Whitehorse.
That changed at Niagara 2022, in wrestling, specifically the Up To 52 kg Male event, thanks to 18-year-old Eekeeluak Avalak.
After beating eventual bronze medalist, and local Niagara-on-the-Lake resident, Zubin Gatta 5-0 in their semifinal match, Avalak moved on to the final, where he would take on Fred Calingay of Alberta. In that bout, Avalak emerged victorious, beating Calingay 4-1 for Nunavut’s first-ever Canada Games gold.
He received a hero’s welcome when he arrived back in Cambridge Bay, as a community of about 2,000 people showed their support for the young wrestler.
Chanell Botsis
British Columbia, Athletics
It’s been a fantastic year for Canadian hammer throwers. Camryn Rogers won Commonwealth Games gold and World Championships silver. Jillian Weir shared the women’s podium at the Commonwealth Games, earning a bronze medal, while in the men’s event in Birmingham, Ethan Katzberg picked up a silver.
Coquitlam, British Columbia’s Chanell Botsis became the latest Canadian to top a hammer throw podium, doing so in Niagara. She shared the podium with her provincial teammate, Chilliwack’s Tasha Willing, who finished ahead of Calgary, Alberta’s Osereme Omosun in third.
Botsis not only won the event, but did so in record-breaking fashion. Her 61.44m toss is a Canada Games record, beating the 61.28m throw from Jennifer Joyce in 2001. That figure is still some way back of Rogers’ national women’s record of 77.67 m set earlier this year — a score that’s inside the top ten of all-time worldwide.
The 24-year-old Botsis also took part in an unofficial competition at the Canada Games — pin collecting, something she has been avidly pursuing at Niagara 2022, and apparently excelling at. Check out this great piece by CBC’s Saira Peesker for more on that.
Michael Yusypchuk
Alberta, Baseball
Sixteen-year-old pitcher Michael Yusypchuk added his name to an exclusive list in the semifinals of the men’s baseball competition, becoming just the third player in Canada Games history to throw a no-hitter.
Yusypchuk threw 83 pitches in a seven-inning complete game in Alberta’s semifinal against British Columbia, striking out seven batters. He walked one, the only thing between him and a perfect game. The Albertan defence was also perfect throughout, not making any errors in a complete performance to send their team to the gold medal match.
The only other players to throw a no-hitter at the Canada Games are David Steffler, who did so for Ontario in 1997, and Ben Onyshko, who threw one in 2013 for Manitoba. Both Steffler and Onyshko were drafted by MLB teams, with Steffler drafted by the Toronto Blue Jays and Onyshko drafted by the Seattle Mariners, where he is still currently pitching in their minor league system.
Alberta would lose the gold medal game, falling 11-1 to Ontario, but a silver medal was just the province’s second time finishing as the runner-up, and showed an improvement on their bronze medal from 2017.
Whether he follows in the footsteps of fellow Albertan Canada Games standout Mike Soroka (in 2013), now an MLB All-Star and World Series winner with the Atlanta Braves, remains to be seen, but Yusypchuk certainly gave a good account of himself in Niagara.
Tina Jiang and Lauren Kim
British Columbia, Golf
The women’s golf tournament at Niagara 2022 was a back-and-forth battle between two British Columbian teenagers, Tina Jiang and Lauren Kim.
Through two rounds it was Kim in the driver’s seat, beating Jiang by five strokes halfway through the competition. Kim set a women’s Canada Games record for the lowest score in a single-round on the opening day of the competition, only needing 67 strokes, but that record would be beaten by Jiang in the third round.
After scores of 69 and 71, compared to Kim’s 67 and 68, Jiang had a fantastic third round, shooting 66 to break the record herself. Kim slipped up a little, needing 71 strokes, so the two were tied heading into the final round.
Jiang’s final round score of 68 was three better than Kim’s 71, and it would be Jiang taking the gold medal after going 14-under-par. Kim finished on 11-under, ahead of Ontario’s Carlee Meilleur in third place with four-over-par.
Not only was Jiang’s third round score of 66 a Canada Games record, but her final score of -14 is the lowest 72-hole score in Canada Games history as well.
Both Kim and Jiang also won the team gold medal with British Columbia, as Cooper Humphreys won the men’s individual gold medal and Ethan Posthumus finished seventh.
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Benedict. What a wonderful yarn! Now I wish that I had made the trek to Niagara - one of my favourite regions in Ontario.