Paris 2024 Olympics Day 2: Eleanor Harvey wins Canada's first fencing medal, dramatic women's soccer victory
A historic moment added to Canada's medal tally on Day 2.
Day 2 was another eventful one for Team Canada at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, with a historic fencing medal the focal point of a busy schedule.
Entering Paris 2024, Canada had never won an Olympic medal in the sport of fencing. In fact, no Canadian had ever reached the semifinals. That changed on Sunday as Eleanor Harvey made a magical run through the women’s individual foil event, eventually earning the bronze with a 15-12 victory over Alice Volpi of Italy.
Competing in her third Olympics, the 29-year-old from Hamilton, Ontario started in the table of 32 with a win over Wang Yuting of China. Wins followed against Julia Walczyk of Poland and Italy’s Martina Favaretto, before Harvey’s chance of taking gold was ended by American Lauren Scruggs, the eventual silver medallist, in the semifinals.
Harvey then met Volpi in the bronze medal match, beating her in what is now a historic Canadian moment, and following it up with a priceless reaction.
Jessica Guo and Yunjia Zhang made it to the table of 16 of that competition after winning their first round matches, but were eliminated shortly after. Like Harvey, Guo lost to Scruggs. In the men’s individual epee event, Nicholas Zhang was Canada’s lone competitor and lost in the table of 64.
Reigning Olympic swimming champion Maggie Mac Neil failed to defend her title in the women’s 100m butterfly event on Sunday, finishing fifth in a tight race, 23 hundredths of a second off the podium. Mary-Sophie Harvey will compete for a medal in the women’s 200m freestyle on Monday after finishing eighth in Sunday’s semifinals, earning the last spot in the medal race.
Javier Acevedo and Blake Tierney competed in the men’s 100m backstroke heats on Sunday morning, where Tierney qualified for the semifinals but was unable to advance any further. Sophie Angus competed in the women’s 100m breaststroke, finished 18th in the heats and narrowly missing the top-16 finish required to make it to the semifinals, while Tristan Jankovics was unable to advance to the men’s 400m individual medley final, finishing 16th but needing a spot in the top eight.
For the first time ever, both the Canadian men’s and women’s artistic gymnastics teams will compete in the team finals, as the men qualified for the first time on Saturday and the women booked their ticket for the first time since London 2012 on Sunday. Ellie Black and Ava Stewart also qualified for the individual all-around finals, while Black and Shallon Olsen qualified for the vault final.
The most incredible team result of Day 2 might have come from the women’s soccer team, however, who scored twice in the second half to beat the hosts France 2-1 and keep their chances of qualifying for the knockout rounds alive. After a six point deduction following “Dronegate”, the team needed to win all three of their matches to make it out of the group stage, and so far they are two for two. For a more detailed breakdown of that match, click here.
Trading the grass for a less smooth surface, 19-year-old Isabella Holmgren finished 17th in the women’s cross-country mountain biking race, one day before her brother Gunnar will compete in the men’s event.
Sam Schachter and Daniel Dearing lost 2-0 (21-17, 21-19) to Czechia’s Ondrej Perusic and David Schweiner in their beach volleyball opener at Eiffel Tower Stadium. On the indoor volleyball court, the Canadian men lost to Slovenia in four sets, 25-21, 25-20, 20-25, 25-21.
Félix Auger-Aliassime, Leylah Fernandez, and Bianca Andreescu all won their first round matches in the individual tennis events at Rolland Garros, while Milos Raonic was defeated in three sets.
Over in table tennis, Mo Zhang won her first match of the women’s individual event in the round of 31, while Eugene Wang and Edward Ly lost in the men’s round of 64. On the badminton court, Adam Dong and Nyl Yakura fell in straight sets to Malaysia’s Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik, who are currently ranked fourth in the world.
Canada sits 11th overall in the team standings of the equestrian eventing competition, after two of three tests. Karl Slezak and his horse Hot Bobo are currently sitting in 27th individually, Michael Winter and El Mundo are 38th, while Jessica Phoenix and Freedom GS are 49th.
Canada played two rugby sevens matches on Sunday, beating Fiji 17-14 in their tournament opener, before being blown out 33-7 by world number one New Zealand.
In the water of Tahiti, Sanoa Dempfle-Olin finished third in her first round heat in the women’s surfing competition, qualifying for the second round. That’s where she would be eliminated, losing to Tainá Hinckel of Brazil.
Jennifer Casson and Jill Moffatt finished third in their heat of the women’s lightweight double sculls rowing event, advancing to the repechage race on Monday, where they will have a second chance to book their ticket to the semifinals. Over in sailing, Georgia and Antonia Lewin-LaFrance sit in sixth after the first three races in the women’s 49er FX event, while William Jones and Justin Barnes were 20th after three races in the men’s 49er event.
Lois Betteridge competed in the semifinals of the women’s K-1 kayak slalom event, placing 20th overall in her first event of her Olympic debut.
Kelly Deguchi’s time in the women’s 52kg judo event didn’t last long, losing in the round of 32 when her opponent, reigning world and Olympic champion Uta Abe of Japan, won their bout by scoring ippon just 57 seconds into the match.
Tye Ikeda competed in the qualification round of the men’s 10m air rifle shooting event, finishing 48th and failing to advance to the eight-man final.
What’s happening on Day 3?
After Canada won silver and bronze medals across the first two days of the Olympics, Day 3 provides one of Canada’s best chances to add a gold to its tally.
Below are all of the Canadian athletes competing on Monday at the Olympic Games. Click here for CBC’s guide on when and where to watch every event.
Summer McIntosh is heavily favoured to win her first Olympic gold medal on Monday, when she competes in the women’s 400m individual medley event that she currently holds the world record in. Fellow Canadian Ella Jansen will take part in the other heat than McIntosh, with the fastest eight swimmers moving on to Monday night’s final. Mary-Sophie Harvey will compete in the women’s 200m freestyle final as well after claiming the eighth and final spot.
Also in the pool, Rylan Wiens and Nathan Zsombor-Murray will compete together in the men’s 10m platform synchro diving final.
For the first time ever, Canada will compete in the final of the men’s team artistic gymnastics event, after claiming the eigth and final qualifying spot on Saturday.
The day after Gunnar Holmgren’s sister Isabella finished 17th in the women’s mountain bike cross country race, he will be Canada’s lone representative in the men’s race.
Matt Berger, Cordano Russell, and Ryan Decenzo will all compete in the preliminary rounds of the men’s skateboarding street event, which was moved to Monday after inclement weather pushed it back from Saturday. The athletes with the top eight scores according to a panel of judges moving onto the final, which is later on Monday.
Pamela Brind'Amour will compete in the women’s individual sabre fencing event, beginning in the round of 32 against Greece’s Theodora Gkountoura. In the men’s individual foil event, Blake Broszus and Daniel Gu begin in the round of 64, where if they win their respective matches they will join Maximilien Van Haaster in the round of 32. The finals of both events take place on Monday night.
Two Canadian judokas hit the mat, with Arthur Margelidon taking on Behruzi Khojazoda of Tajikistan in the round of 32 in the men’s 73kg event, while Christa Deguchi will enter at the round of 16 in the women’s 57kg competition.
In canoe slalom, Alex Baldoni competes in the semifinals of the men’s C1 event, and the final takes place later on Monday if he is able to advance to that stage.
The equestrian eventing competitions will conclude on Monday with the jumping portion of the event taking place. The scores after that event will decide the final results for both the individual and team events.
Canadian athletes competing in non-medal events on day 3:
The women’s 100m backstroke begins in the pool on Monday, with Kylie Masse looking to reach the podium in the event for the third Olympics in a row. She will compete in a heat with fellow Canadian Ingrid Wilm during the morning session in Paris, before the semifinal races in the evening. The finals are the next day, part of the Tuesday swimming schedule.
Milos Raonic and Félix Auger-Aliassime compete in the first round of the men’s doubles tennis event, taking on American duo Taylor Fritz and Tommy Paul. Leylah Fernandez and Bianca Andreescu will also play their second round matches of the women’s singles competition, and Fernandez will have a busy day, also playing women’s doubles with Gabriela Dabrowski.
The Canadian women’s basketball team opens its group stage on Monday, taking on the hosts France in Group B action.
Both Canadian beach volleyball pairs will hit the sand at the base of the Eiffel Tower, with preliminary round action continuing. Sophie Bukovec and Heather Bansley take on Chinese duo Xue Chen and Xia Xinyi in Pool B, while in Pool D Melissa Humana-Paredes and Brandie Wilkerson face off against Giuliana Poletti and Michelle Valiente of Paraguay.
Canada is the reigning women’s eight rowing Olympic champion, and will begin to try and defend their crown on Monday in the first heats of that competition. Jill Moffatt and Jennifer Casson will also compete in the repechage round of the women’s lightweight double sculls, looking to advance to the semifinals later in the week.
Pool A continues in women’s rugby sevens, with Canada taking on China in group stage action. If they win that match, they will book their spot in the knockout stage.
In women’s water polo action, Canada take on Hungary — the bronze medallists from Tokyo 2020 — in Group A preliminary round play.
The badminton men’s doubles group stage continues, with Adam Dong and Nyl Yakura taking on British duo Ben Lane and Sean Vendy. In the men’s singles event, Brian Yang takes on Kazakhstan’s Dmitriy Panarin in a group stage match, while Michelle Li takes on Myanmar’s Thet Htar Thuzar in a women’s singles group game.
Wyatt Sanford steps into the ring for the round of 16 in the men’s 63.5kg boxing competition, up against Radoslav Simeonov Rosenov of Bulgaria.
Sisters Georgia and Antonia Lewin-Lafrance will continue their women’s 49erFX sailing event. Justin Barnes and Will Jones compete together in the men’s 49er event, which like the women’s 49erFX continues on Monday after beginning on Sunday.
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