HALIFAX—Alberta athletes added two gold, one silver and three bronze medals to bring their total to 39 (12 gold, 11 silver, 16 bronze). Alberta now sits third in the overall medal count. Quebec leads the way with 68 medals, while British Columbia has reached the podium 40 times.

Alberta’s cross-country skiers picked up where their biathlon teammates left off the first week – on the podium. The Alberta men grabbed a gold and bronze medal in the men’s 10-kilometre individual start skate-ski race. Calgary’s Kevin Sandau, who finished fifth at the Under-23 World Championships earlier this month, captured the first cross-country ski gold. “I was hoping for the gold today coming in so that was a good race today,” said the 22-year-old Sandau. “This is a short distance for me, but this was a challenging course with not many downhills so I really had to push myself.”

Sandau was joined on the podium by Michael Somppi, of Thunder Bay, Ont., who won the silver, and his Alberta-teammate, Jesse Cockney, of Canmore, Alta., who locked up the bronze medal. It was an emotional third-place finish for the 21-year-old Cockney, whose father won two gold medals at the 1975 Canada Winter Games in cross-country skiing. “First Canada Games race and I have my first medal so I’m feeling good,” said Cockney. “It is really cool that I have a Canada Games medal in the same sport as my dad 36 years later. Hopefully by the end of the week I can top his medal count, but either way it is an exciting week for our family.”

Heidi Widmer, of Banff, Alta., captured the bronze medal in the women’s 7.5-kilometre skate-ski race.

Alberta captured the top-two spots on the women’s podium in para-alpine giant slalom. Calgary’s Alex Starker took the top spot. “This is absolutely amazing,” said the 16-year-old Starker. “I was hoping for a medal and I did it. The whole experience here has been awesome and I’m looking forward to my next race tomorrow.” Starkers’ Calgary-based teammate, Alana Ramsay, secured the silver medal. “I had two really clean runs and I am really happy with the race,” said Ramsay. “I didn’t know what to expect. It was a great day and I’m happy to be able to get on the podium.”

The men’s curling team got off to a strong start with a 12-5 victory over Newfoundland. The team of Mackenzie Lenton of Airdrie, Taylor Ardiel of Okotoks, and Calgary’s Geoffrey Nicholson is skipped by Michael Roy, of Airdrie.

Alberta’s women’s hockey squad secured its second-consecutive shut-out victory after blanking Newfoundland 10-0 on Monday morning. The women’s team got off to a fast start in their round-robin play on Sunday with a solid 4-0 win over British Columbia.