Damian Warner is a fine choice for Canadian athlete of the year | CBC Sports

Personally, I would have voted for De Grasse, who won the men’s 200 metres in Tokyo to become Canada’s first Olympic track gold medallist in a quarter century. He also took bronze in the Olympics’ marquee event, the 100m, and lifted a so-so Canadian team to bronze in the 4×100 with a blistering anchor leg. For me, De Grasse’s performances were the most impressive and electrifying of any Canadian individual athlete’s in Tokyo.

But Warner is a fine choice, and truly worthy of the honour. His first Olympic gold medal was the crowning achievement of a brilliant career that also includes Olympic bronze in 2016 and three podium appearances at the world championships.

Warner’s hard-earned, long-awaited climb to the top step at a major event saw him lead the 10-leg decathlon competition wire to wire and shatter the Olympic record for total points. Becoming just the fourth decathlete to break the revered 9,000-point plateau, he delivered one of the greatest performances in the history of his sport and one of the most thrilling moments of Canada’s best Summer Olympics ever. He’s also, by all accounts, a true sportsman and a wonderful person. So, pretty much the ideal Canadian athlete — in this year or any other.

Damian Warner named Canadian Athlete of the year

CBC Sports Scott Russell discusses the why Damian Warner is the perfect candidate as winner of this year’s Lou Marsh Award. 4:05

Quickly…

Canada is joining the United States and other countries in a diplomatic boycott of the Beijing Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made the announcement today, saying his government is “extremely concerned” by the “repeated human rights violations carried out by the Chinese government.” A diplomatic boycott means Canada will not send any federal government officials to the Games in February, though Canadian athletes will still be allowed to compete. Rights groups have called for a full boycott, but it appears the furthest any country is willing to go at the moment is the more-symbolic diplomatic boycott. Lithuania made the first move last Friday, and on Monday the U.S. became the first major power to do so. Today, Australia and Great Britain joined them before Canada followed suit. Trudeau said Canada had been “coordinating and discussing the issue with our allies” for “months.” In a joint statement, the Canadian Olympic Committee and Canadian Paralympic Committee said they “understand and respect the government’s decision.”

Tiger Woods is (sort of) back. Close to 300 days after the car crash that shattered his right leg and put his golf future in jeopardy, Woods announced today he’ll be “competing” in next week’s PNC Championship alongside his son Charlie. The PNC is a 36-hole, unofficial PGA Tour event (an exhibition, basically) in which golfers who have won a major title team up with a family member in a best-ball format. Tiger and Charlie played it last year and finished seventh. Tiger hasn’t played an event since then. He underwent another back surgery soon after the PNC, and while still on the mend in February crashed the SUV he was driving in California, resulting in catastrophic injuries to his leg. It’s still unclear when Woods will be able to play a full professional tournament again, though he has mentioned the British Open in July as a possible target.

Serena Williams is skipping the Australian Open. Two days after Canada’s Bianca Andreescu announced she won’t play in the first major of 2022 in order to “re-set, recover and grow” from a tough year on and off the court, Williams confirmed she’ll also miss the Aussie Open. The 40-year-old hasn’t played since a hamstring injury knocked her out of her first-round match at Wimbledon last summer. She hasn’t won a Grand Slam title since the 2017 Australian Open, leaving her stuck one behind Margaret Court’s all-time singles record of 24.

Canada’s Para skiers are piling up the medals. Three months out from the Paralympic Winter Games in Beijing, Canadians have reached 11 podiums since the World Para Nordic Skiing World Cup event in Canmore, Alta., opened on Saturday. Leading the way are Natalie Wilkie, Brittany Hudak and 17-time Paralympic medallist Brian McKeever, who each won a pair of gold medals in the cross-country competitions (Wilkie and Hudak also added a silver apiece). Action shifts to the biathlon on Thursday, including Wilkie and Hudak going head-to-head in the women’s standing individual event. Watch that during live coverage of all of Thursday’s races, which run from noon-5:45 p.m. ET on CBCSports.ca, the CBC Sports app and CBC Gem. Read more about Canada’s performances in Canmore and at the Para alpine season opener in Austria, where Canadians won five medals on Tuesday, here.

And finally…

You’ve seen hockey players score a “lacrosse goal.” Now meet the lacrosse assist.

Most of us were introduced to the cheeky cross-sport trick in the mid-’90s, when a University of Michigan player named Mike Legg went viral (or whatever we called it back then) by scooping the puck onto the blade of his stick with a flick of the wrists and tucking it into the top corner of the net. It took almost a quarter century for someone in the NHL to score using “the lacrosse move,” but Andrei Svechnikov’s successful try in October 2019 seemed to break the ice. The Carolina forward scored another one a couple of months later, Nashville’s Filip Forsberg one-upped him with an even prettier version, and Toronto star Auston Matthews tried one too (but failed). The lacrosse move seemed like it might go mainstream. But then it just kind of faded away again.

Until last night, that is, when Anaheim rookie Trevor Zegras (who nearly scored his first NHL goal with a lacrosse move last March) introduced what I guess we’ll call the lacrosse assist. Check it out:

Watch a full-quality video of Zegras’ brilliant creation here. Watch a video about the evolution of the lacrosse move here. Learn more about the original by watching this episode of Rob Pizzo’s I was in net for… series, featuring the goalie who let in the Michigan goal.

You’re up to speed. Talk to you tomorrow.