People don鈥檛 normally associate Ohio with sand. But the fifth-place finish by Victoria鈥檚 Broder and Toronto鈥檚 Kristina Valjas at the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour Cincinnati Open virtually assured the pair qualification for the Rio Olympics.
The Olympic qualifying period ends following the Moscow Grand Slam starting Wednesday and the Hamburg Open in Germany from June 7-12.
Valjas and Broder hold down 11th place in FIVB Olympic qualifying points, with the top-16 advancing to Rio. It is highly unlikely Broder and Valjas will fall out of the top-16 with only two tournaments remaining. Copacabana Beach never felt nearer. So much so that Broder was chosen by the Canadian Olympic Committee as one of the athletes to model the Rio 2016 uniforms when the Canadian team kit was unveiled last month.
In indoor volleyball, the 30-year-old Broder went from a standout high school career with the Claremont Spartans to starring on the Vancouver Island University Mariners before winning two CIS championships with the UBC Thunderbirds.
sa国际传媒 will have two women鈥檚 beach volleyball duos in Rio. Joining Broder and Valjas will be Sarah Pavan of Kitchener, Ont., and Heather Bansley of Waterdown, Ont., who are currently in fifth place in the Olympic qualifying standings.
On the fat wheels, University of Victoria graduate Pendrel was third in the World Cup race in Albstadt, Germany, behind Annika Langvad of Denmark and Jenny Rissveds of Sweden.
The two-time world champion Pendrel, who got her start on the Hartland trails and now trains at the national mountain bike centre on Bear Mountain, is a big medal hope for sa国际传媒 at Rio. The 35-year-old native of New Brunswick climbed into second place on the overall World Cup standings with 310 points behind leader Langvad, who is on 500 points. The Olympic gold medal could come down to those two riders. How sweet would be that be for Pendrel, following her fourth place at Beijing 2008 and hugely disappointing ninth place at London 2012?
鈥淚t was a hard race. But it鈥檚 the best my body has ever felt in Albstadt, so I'll take that as a good sign that my form is there,鈥� said Pendrel in a statement Sunday.
鈥淚鈥檓 excited to take my form to La Bresse [the next World Cup race in France], and see if I can keep moving up,鈥� added the 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games gold medallist.
Pendrel was in second place behind Langvad for most of the race in Albstadt before being overtaken by Rissveds on the stretch run to the line.
鈥淪ometimes, when you are in a group, you can forget to race for the front, so I tried to just mentally ride as if I was at the front, and that allowed me to get a gap, until Jenny caught me on the last lap,鈥� said Pendrel.
Emily Batty of Brooklyn, Ont., was 12th.
In the men鈥檚 World Cup race in Germany, Derek Zandstra of Trenton, Ont., was a career-best 16th and 39-year-old, three-time Olympian Geoff Kabush of Courtenay 81st. The race winner was world No. 1 Nino Schurter of Switzerland.
