Paris 2024 Olympics Day 4: Canada reach rugby sevens podium to continue medal streak
Canada has won a medal every day in Paris so far.
Canadian athletes made more history at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games on Tuesday, and extended the country’s medal streak to four days in a row to begin the Olympics in the process.
Rugby sevens made its debut at the Rio 2016 Olympics, where the Canadian women’s team finished third to take home the bronze medal. After a disappointing ninth-place finish at the Tokyo 2020 Games, Canada entered Paris 2024 looking to get back onto the podium, and that is exactly what happened on Tuesday.
After upsetting the hosts France on Monday, Canada’s first game of Tuesday was against the 2016 champions Australia. The Canadians stunned a strong Australian side 21-12 to book their spot in the final, guaranteeing its best-ever Olympic result. Later in the day they took on reigning Olympic champions New Zealand in the gold medal match and put up a valiant effort but would fall just short of the gold medal. Canada took the lead into halftime after Alysha Corrigan scored a try with the final play of the half, but New Zealand scored twice after the break and hung on for a 19-12 victory and the gold medals.
Canada’s best-ever Olympic result in rugby sevens resulted in Canada’s lone medal of Day 4 of the Games, extending Canada’s streak of consecutive days with a medal to four. The nation now has two of each colour heading into Day 5 on Wednesday.
Rugby sevens wasn’t the only sport Canada and Australia played each other in on Tuesday, also meeting in men’s basketball and women’s 3x3 basketball.
In the men’s game, Canada were down by four at halftime against the Tokyo 2020 bronze medallists, but a surge after halftime flipped the game on its head. For the second game in a row RJ Barrett led the team in scoring, dropping 23 points to continue his strong tournament and push Canada to a 93-83 victory. Canada is now 2-0 in Group A and has booked a spot in the quarterfinals ahead of a match against Spain on Friday to decide who takes top spot in the group.
In women’s 3x3 basketball action, Canada picked up its first-ever Olympic win in the sport with a 22-14 win over the Aussies. Twin sisters Katherine and Michelle Plouffe scored 10 and eight points respectively to lead Canada to give Canada an important 1-0 record ahead of their match against China, the highest ranked team, on Wednesday.
Canada’s men’s volleyball team was less successful on Tuesday, losing in straight sets in a tight game with the hosts France — 25-20, 25-21, 25-17. If they are to advance to the knockout rounds they’ll to beat Serbia in their next match and hope results elsewhere go their way.
Canada competed in the women’s artistic gymnastics team final for the first time in 12 years on Tuesday. They matched their best-ever result in the event, finishing fifth as Simone Biles and the United States came away with the gold medal.
On another busy day in the pool, the biggest Canadian story of the day was Maggie Mac Neil qualifying in the 16th and final spot for the women’s 100m freestyle semifinals, and her subsequent withdrawal from the event to focus on being at her best for the relay events later in the week. Josh Liendo missed out on the final of the men’s 100m freestyle with an eleventh-place finish in the semis, needing to be in the top eight. Yuri Kisil took part in the morning heats but was unable to qualify for the semifinals.
Kylie Masse and Ingrid Wilm competed in the final of the women’s 100m backstroke — an event in which Masse had medalled at both the 2016 and 2020 Olympics. Masse narrowly missed the podium in fourth, while Wilm finished two spots back in sixth. Nineteen-year-old Ilya Kharun qualified for Wednesday’s men’s 200m butterfly final after advancing from the heats and posting the third-fastest time in the semifinals on Tuesday night.
Patrick Hussey, Alex Axon, Jeremy Bagshaw and Lorne Wigginton raced in the men’s 4x200m relay heats in the morning, but were unable to advance with a seventh-place finish in their heat.
Félix Auger-Aliassime dominated his second round match in the men’s singles tennis competition, beating Germany’s Maximilian Marterer 6-0, 6-1 in straight sets. Later in the day he teamed up with Gaby Dabrowski to win their first round match in mixed doubles, 7-5, 4-6, (10-3) over British duo Heather Watson and Joe Salisbury. Leylah Fernandez was defeated in the third round of the women’s singles on Tuesday, falling 6-4, 6-3 to Germany’s Angelique Kerber.
Eric Peters advanced twice in the men’s individual recurve archery event. He beat Kazakhstan’s Ilfat Abdullin 6-4 in the round of 32 before taking on India’s Dhiraj Bommadevara in the round of 16, beating him by a couple of centimetres in a winner-takes-all shootout after tying 5-5.
Jeffrey Whaley became Canada’s first ever Olympian in BMX freestyle, finishing tenth in the men’s park qualification round, missing out on the final by one spot.
A day after Christa Deguchi won Canada’s first-ever judo medal, both Canadian judokas on Tuesday advanced to the repechage round but were unable to reach the podium. François Gauthier-Drapeau lost in the men’s 81kg event to Belgium’s Matthias Casse in golden score time, before Catherine Beauchemin-Pinard was knocked out of the women’s 63kg event in golden score time by Kosovo’s Laura Fazliu.
Lois Betteridge and Alex Baldoni almost missed out on qualification for the next round in their events, with a 19th-place finish in the women’s C-1 canoe slalom and a 21st-place finish in the men’s K-1 kayak slalom, respectively.
Sisters Georgia and Antonia Lewin-Lafrance competed in races seven through nine of the women’s 49erFX sailing event, sitting in 11th place with three races to go. They need to be in the top ten after Wednesday’s final races in order to compete for a medal. In the men’s 49er event, Will Jones and Justin Barnes are currently 16th after nine races, also needing a top ten spot after the next three.
After the first day of dressage competition Canada sits fifth in the team event. Naïma Moreira Laliberté and horse Statesman and Chris von Martels with horse Eclips both competed on Tuesday, with the third member of the team — Camille Carier Bergeron with horse Finnländerin — scheduled to compete on Wednesday.
What’s happening on Day 5?
After winning medals on each of the first four days of competition, Canada has several opportunities to extend that streak on Wednesday.
Below are all of the Canadian athletes competing on Wednesday at the Olympic Games. Click here for CBC’s guide on when and where to watch every event.
Ilya Kharun will be the only Canadian taking part in a swimming final on Wednesday night, competing in the men’s 200m butterfly. Kharun had the third-fastest time in the semifinals, bettered by only French superstar (and his former university teammate) Léon Marchand and the reigning Olympic champion and world record holder, Hungarian Kristóf Milák.
After helping Canada reach the final of the men’s team artistic gymnastics event for the first time earlier in the week, Félix Dolci and Rene Cournoyer will compete in the men’s individual all-around final on Wednesday.
Caeli McKay and Kate Miller will compete in the women’s 10m platform synchro diving event on Wednesday, looking to follow Canadian pair Rylan Wiens and Nathan Zsombor-Murray onto the podium after they won a bronze medal in the men’s event on Monday. McKay and Miller won a bronze medal in the event at the Santiago 2023 Pan American Games.
Jill Moffatt and Jennifer Casson compete in Semifinal A of the women’s lightweight double sculls event, looking to reach the final later on Wednesday.
In fencing, the men’s sabre team will be in action, starting in the quarterfinals against South Korea. Canada is represented by Francois Cauchon, Shaul Gordon, and Fares Arfa. Arfa made history earlier this week, becoming the first Canadian man to reach the quarterfinals of the individual sabre event, including knocking out three-time defending champion Aron Szilagyi of Hungary in the first round. As a team, they won this event at the Pan Am Games last year.
After the men’s triathlon was postponed on Tuesday due to water quality issues in the Seine River, event organizers said they will try to hold the event on Wednesday. The women's competition is also scheduled for Wednesday, but both will depend on successful water tests. Friday is also planned as a backup date if they can’t go ahead on Wednesday. Tyler Mislawchuk and Charles Paquet will compete in the men’s event, while Emy Legault will compete in the women’s event.
Canadian athletes competing in non-medal events on day 5:
The group stage of the singles badminton events continues on Wednesday with a couple of Canada vs Japan matchups. Michelle Li takes on Akane Yamaguchi in the women’s singles, while Brian Yang is up against Kenta Nishimoto in the men’s event.
3x3 basketball continues, with Canada facing China in pool round action.
Two Canadian beach volleyball teams hit the sand on Wednesday, with Daniel Dearing and Samuel Schachter taking on Brazilian duo Evandro and Arthur in men’s Pool E. Melissa Humana-Paredes and Brandie Wilkerson will look to stay unbeaten when they face Swiss duo Esmée Böbner and Zoé Vergé-Dépré in women’s Pool D.
Tammara Thibeault steps into the ring for the round of 16 in the women’s 75kg boxing competition, up against Cindy Djankeu Ngamba from the Refugee Olympic Team.
The dressage Grand Prix event continues on Wednesday with the second day of the competition. Canada are represented by Naïma Moreira Laliberté and horse Statesman, Chris von Martels and Eclips, and Camille Carier Bergeron ad Finnländerin, and sit in fifth place in the team ranking after Day 1. Only Bergeron will be competing on Wednesday after the other two Canadians had their runs on Tuesday.
The Canadian women’s soccer team faces Colombia in their third and final group stage match, needing a win to confirm their spot in the quarterfinals. For my full preview of that match, click here.
Three Canadians will be in action across multiple tennis events. Félix Auger-Aliassime will compete in the third round of the men’s tennis event against Russian Daniil Medvedev, before teaming up with Gabriela Dabrowski in the quarterfinal of the mixed doubles event against American pair Coco Gauff and Taylor Fritz. Dabrowski will also be competing in the second round of the women’s doubles event, teaming up with Leylah Fernandez to take on Russian pair Mirra Andreeva and Diana Shnaider.
Swapping tennis for table tennis, Mo Zhang will be competing in the round of 32 of the women’s singles event, against France’s Jia Nan Yuan.
In the pool, Summer McIntosh begins the journey toward what she hopes will result in a third medal in Paris, competing in the heats for the women’s 200m butterfly ahead of that night’s semifinals and Thursday’s final if she is able to advance. Kelsey Wog and Sydney Pickrem compete in the heats for the women’s 200m breaststroke, looking to advance to that night’s semifinals. If they are able to advance past the semis, the final goes on Thursday night. Blake Tierney will compete in the men’s 200m backstroke heats, with the semis on Wednesday night and finals on Thursday should he advance.
Sister duo Georgia and Antonia Lewin-Lafrance complete the first round of the women’s 49erFX sailing competition with races 10 through 12 of the competition, sitting in 11th place. Justin Barnes and Will Jones are in the same situation, sitting 16th in the men’s 49er class event. Medal races will take place on Thursday featuring the top 10 teams in each event.
Tye Ikeda will be Canada’s lone representative in the men’s 50m Rifle 3 Positions shooting event, hoping to advance to Thursday’s final.
Canada’s women’s water polo team continues Group A action on Wednesday, playing against China.
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