Team Yukon prepares to wrap up Canada Summer Games

Team Yukon’s two weeks of competition against other provinces and territories at the 2025 Canada Summer Games will wrap up on Aug. 24, without surpassing their best performance at the 2009 Games, where they won four gold medals.

Although the team assembled its largest roster of athletes, Yukon has yet to secure a medal at the event being held in St. John’s, Newfoundland.

Parts of the second week were fraught with poor weather conditions, marked by drizzle and fog that obscured visibility, typical of the host maritime province.

From Aug. 16 to 23, Team Yukon had athletes lined up to compete in athletics, volleyball, cycling, golf, soccer and wrestling. 

According to an update circulated by Team Yukon, the women’s volleyball squad opened strong against Newfoundland on Wednesday, taking the first set. Despite close margins in the remaining sets, the host province secured a 3-1 win.

Wrestler Michael O’Brien outmanoeuvred his P.E.I. counterpart on the mat during team competition on Aug. 20. His performance, along with that of other Yukon athletes, will help determine Saturday’s individual matchups, the update said. There was another strong bit of action from a Yukon wrestler on Thursday, Aug. 21 as Leah McLean threw her opponent from Saskatchewan, good for four points, but couldn’t keep momentum, losing the match. The men’s wrstlers faced tough competition losing all their matches against Quebec and Saskatchewan. 

In track and filed competition, Kara McLean surpassed eight metres in shot put, while Dominic Lefebvre cleared 1.74 metres in high jump. Steeplechase and relay events stretched into the evening under clearing skies on Aug. 20.

The most recent golf rounds on Aug. 21 saw Yukon golfer Braylen Tessier put up his best round of the tournament, shooting a 93 while his brother sawyer shot an 86. Their scores through three rounds are 289 and 248 respectively going into Friday’s final rounds. In the women’s tournament Alayna May Mortimer matched her second-round score with another 106 and Sloane Tarapanski carded a 127. Overall they have scored a 309 and a 360 heading into their last rounds.   

On the track for Tuesday, athletes contested with persistent drizzle and fog. Lefebvre clocked 1:00.90 in the 400m hurdle, while Isabelle Paquette and Jean-Paul Lefebvre posted the fastest 100m times for Yukon.

Yukon’s women’s soccer team fell 7-0 to Nova Scotia under wet skies on Tuesday and on Wednesday lost to New Brunswick, 8-0.

The week’s volleyball matchups, saw both the Yukon’s men’s and women’s squads losing to Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland, but securing wins over the Northwest Territories and Nunavut. The Yukon men won their Aug. 21 matches over both other territories in straight sets. The women beat N.W.T. three sets to one and Nunavut in straight sets. 

With just two days left in the 2025 Canada Summer Games, Team Yukon is expected to compete in mountain biking, softball and volleyball before the event wraps up with the closing ceremony on Aug. 24. 

Contact Jake Howarth at jake.howarth@yukon-news.com