Area athletes shine at Manitoba Games

Athletes from across the province were in Dauphin last week, to compete in the Manitoba Summer Games.

Several athletes from Team South and Team East are from the region, with many taking home top three finishes for their respective teams.

Charlotte Klassen lapped the field in the U15 mountain bike event, picking up gold medals in both short track and cross country events. In her athlete bio posted on the games’ website, she noted her goals for the games were to, “Do my best and beat as many boys as possible.”

It was a dominant performance for the region in the U15 mountain biking in both genders, with Oakbank’s Nevin Howanyk nabbing a gold in the short track and a silver in the cross country event.

Fellow Oakbank rider Jackson Byers picked up bronze medals in both short track and cross country as well.

Howanyk shared his sporting role model was Jonas Vingegaard, a Danish professional cyclist. Vingegaard wasn’t a standout youth cyclist, but battled to win the 2022 and 2023 editions of the Tour de France.

“He shows that you can overcome obstacles to achieve your goals with hard training and dedication,” Howanyk wrote.

St Malo’s Avery La France also nabbed a gold medal in the 50m breast stroke event in the pool. He also picked up a bronze in the 100m individual medley.

It was a strong showing in the pool for Steinbach’s Ethan Feilberg, nabbing a gold in the 100m breast stroke, in addition to two silvers and a bronze.

Feilberg was the top finisher in his age group at this year’s St Malo Triathlon.

In the team events, the region was strong in volleyball and baseball, with the 14-and-under teams in both sports winning gold.

Team South finished with 45 medals at the event, behind every other team aside from North, which only won a single bronze medal at the event.

Team East was fourth, with 68 medals, although they had more gold medals (24) than all but the two Winnipeg teams.

The 2026 Manitoba Summer Games will take place in Thompson. The Manitoba Winter Games were set to be hosted in Niverville in 2022, before COVID-19 scrapped those plans.

For a full list of medal winners from the region, see the Aug. 22 edition of The Carillon