National Sports

VUOKATTI, Finland — Canada's Natalie Wilkie closed out a successful season-opening Para-Nordic World Cup with her fifth medal of the week. She was one of four Canadians to earn a medal on Sunday.

CALGARY — Ivanie Blondin returned to the podium in her signature race, while Connor Howe and Hayden Mayeur took advantage of chaos on the final day of a speedskating World Cup in Calgary. The Canadians produced three mass start medals Sunday.

LUSAIL, Qatar (AP) — Lionel Messi, wearing a black Qatari robe over his blue-and-white Argentina shirt, kissed the World Cup, shuffled toward his teammates and hoisted the golden trophy high in the air.

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Kirill Kaprizov came to the rink dressed like an elf at the request of teammate Ryan Reaves, with a fuzzy green-and-red hat that stayed on his head for the Christmas-themed warmups .

LAKE PLACID, N.Y. (AP) — Kaillie Humphries learned to drive at Mount Van Hoevenberg. And she clearly hasn’t forgotten how. Humphries teamed with fellow U.S. Olympian Kaysha Love on Sunday to win a women’s World Cup bobsled race.

TORONTO — Canadian soccer fans stood in chilly pre-dawn lineups, painted their faces and ultimately wound up on a wild ride on Sunday as they packed bars to take in a particularly tense World Cup final.

ALMATY, Kazakhstan — The national men's relay team won gold for the third straight competition to lead Canada to a three-medal performance Sunday at a short-track speedskating World Cup. Jordan Pierre-Gilles of Sherbrooke, Que.

ST. MORITZ, Switzerland (AP) — Mikaela Shiffrin's first speed race weekend of the women's World Cup season went so well, she believes it might make her even faster in her core technical events, too.

LA VILLA, Italy (AP) — Lucas Braathen might be just the type of personality that skiing needs to join Marco Odermatt among the younger generation taking over the sport.

MELBOURNE, Australia — Canada's Maggie Mac Neil closed out the FINA World Swimming Championships in style on Sunday by setting a world record in the women's 100-metre butterfly. Mac Neil, from London, Ont., finished in 54.