Paris 2024 Olympics Day 5: Ilya Kharun wins Canada's first men's swimming medal since 2012
Canada's streak of days with at least one medal reaches five.
For the first time since London 2012, a Canadian man won a swimming medal at the Olympics on Wednesday, with 19-year-old Ilya Kharun taking bronze medal in the 200m butterfly in a Canadian record time of 1:52.80.
It was the first medal Canada has ever won in that event, and extends Canada’s streak of winning at least one medal to five days to begin the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
France’s Leon Marchand, a friend and university teammate of Kharun, won another gold medal at his home Games in an Olympic record time of 1:51.21. Hungary’s Kristóf Milák, who holds the world record in the event previously held the Olympic record, finished second in 1:51.75.
Summer McIntosh was also in action, qualifying for Thursday’s women’s 200m butterfly final, where she is the favourite to win the gold medal as the back-to-back world champion, and add to the two medals she has already won in Paris. Sydney Pickrem and Kelsey Wog both swam in the women’s 200m breaststroke semifinals but didn’t advance to the final, while Blake Tierney competed in the men’s 200m backstroke heats but didn’t advance to the semifinals.
Despite a six point deduction and a firestorm off the pitch during ‘Dronegate’, the Canadian women’s soccer team advanced to the quarterfinals on Wednesday, beating Colombia 1-0 on a goal from Vanessa Gilles to confirm their spot in the knockout rounds. Click here for a full recap and breakdown of that match.
It was a big day on the tennis courts at Roland Garros as well, with Félix Auger-Aliassime beating fourth-seed Daniil Medvedev 6-3, 7-6(5) to advance to the quarterfinals in men’s singles, the first Canadian to reach a singles quarterfinal since tennis returned to the Olympic program in 1988. Later in the day, Felix teamed up with Gaby Dabrowski in mixed doubles, where they defeated third seeds Coco Gauff and Taylor Fritz of the United States to reach the semifinals and confirm that they will play a medal match of some kind. Dabrowski and Leylah Fernandez were eliminated from the women’s doubles in the second round on Wednesday, though, losing to Mirra Andreeva and Diana Shnaider of the Individual Neutral Athletes team.
Canada’s 3x3 basketball team had another successful day at the office as well, beating China 21-11 to become the first team in pool play to pick up two wins, now sitting at 2-0 with five matches to go in the first round.
Canada got into the win column in Pool A of the women’s water polo competition, beating China 12-7 to improve to a 1-1 record.
In beach volleyball, Melissa Humana-Paredes and Brandie Wilkerson fell to 2-1 in pool play, winning the second set against Switzerland’s Zoe Verge-Depre and Esmee Boebner but dropping the next two. Sam Schachter and Daniel Dearing remain winless in the men’s competition, falling in straight sets to Brazilian duo Evandro Goncalves Oliveira and Arthur Diego Mariano Lanci.
Caeli McKay and Kate Miller came close to reaching the podium in the women’s synchronized 10m platform diving event on Wednesday, finishing fourth — just five points back of third-place Great Britain. China took the gold medal, and North Korea won the silver. It was Miller’s Olympic debut, but for McKay it was the second Olympics in a row in which she finished fourth in the event, agonizingly missing the podium in Tokyo by just half a point with former partner Meaghan Benfeito. Rylan Wiens and Nathan Zsombor-Murray won a bronze medal in the men’s event on Monday.
Canada finished eighth in the men’s team sabre fencing event, losing to South Korea in the table of eight, before falling to Egypt and the United States in the classification matches to decide final positioning.
René Cournoyer and Félix Dolci finished 17th and 20th, respectively, in the men’s individual all-around gymnastics final, a few days after they made history by leading Canada into the men’s team final for the first time ever. Dolci had a rough time on the high bar, with a broken hand grip resulting in him falling and not picking up as many points as he could have.
The men’s and women’s triathlon events finally took place on Wednesday after the men’s event got postponed a couple of times and training sessions were cancelled due to water pollution in the Seine River. Tyler Mislawchuk and Charles Paquet finished ninth and thirteenth in the men’s event, respectively, while Emy Legault finished 35th in the women’s event.
In badminton, two Canadians lost to Japanese opponents in their respective group stage matches. Michelle Li fell 2-1 to Akane Yamaguchi in the women’s singles, while Brian Yang lost in straight sets to Kenta Nishimoto in the men’s event. Neither athlete will advance to the next stage of the competition.
In the lightweight double sculls rowing event, Canada’s duo of Jill Moffatt and Jenny Casson finished fifth in their semifinal heat and failed to advance to the A final. They will compete in the B final to determine final rankings. After the event, the final one ever at the Games before its removed from the Olympic program, Moffatt and Casson did a tearful interview with CBC which got a response from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to let them know how proud Canadians are of them still.
Canada placed 11th in qualification for the Grand Prix Team dressage event, and missed advancing to the team final by one spot. None of the Canadians advanced to the individual finals either.
Georgia and Antonia Lewin-Lafrance finished 11th overall in the 49erFX class sailing event, missing out on the women’s medal race by one spot. Will Jones and Justin Barnes finished 17th overall in the men’s 49er class, also missing out on a chance to win a medal.
Tammara Thibeault, who was expected to be a medal threat in the women’s 75kg boxing event, lost her round of 16 match to Cindy Djankeu Ngamba of the Refugee Olympic Team by judge’s decision.
At her fifth Olympic Games in table tennis, Mo Zhang fell to France’s Jia Nan Yuan 4-1 in the women’s singles round of 32. Tye Ikeda finished 42nd in the men’s 50m rifle 3 positions qualification round, missing out on the final.
What’s happening on Day 6?
Canada will have several opportunities to add to their medal tally on Thursday, with their best chance coming in the pool once again.
Below are all of the Canadian athletes competing on Thursday at the Olympic Games. Click here for CBC’s guide on when and where to watch every event.
Summer McIntosh will look to win a third medal of Paris 2024 on Thursday when she competes in the women’s 200m butterfly, which she is favoured to win. Canada’s other opportunity to add a medal in the pool will be in the women’s 200m freestyle relay. The heats take place in the morning, and the final will be in the evening should Canada advance.
The first athletics event of the Olympics takes place on Thursday with the men’s 20km race walk. Canada will be represented by Evan Dunfee, who was the bronze medallist at Tokyo 2020 in the 50km walk, which has since been removed from the Olympic program.
Ellie Black and Ava Stewart will compete in the women’s artistic gymnastics individual all-around final. Black had the eighth-highest score in qualifying, while Stewart qualified 22nd overall.
Shady El Nahas will compete in the men’s judo 100kg weight class, beginning in the round of 16. The quarterfinals, semifinals, and medal matches will also take place on Thursday, if he is able to advance through the competition. He finished second at the world championships earlier this year, losing to Zelym Kotsoiev of Azerbaijan.
In fencing, Canada will take part in the women’s foil team event, taking on hosts France in the quarterfinals. If they advance, the semifinals and final would also be on Thursday. After winning Canada’s first-ever Olympic fencing medal on Sunday, a bronze in the women’s foil individual event, all eyes will be on Eleanor Harvey — the most experienced member of the team — as she competes alongside 18-year-old Jessica Guo and 16-year-old Yunjia Zhang.
Canadian athletes competing in non-medal events on day 6:
Virginie Chénier begins the women’s individual recurve archery event, taking on Indonesia’s Rezza Octavia in the round of 32. If she wins that matchup, she would compete again later in the day in the round of 16.
Molly Simpson will be the lone Canadian competitor in the first round of the women’s BMX bike racing event, competing in the third heat and looking to advance to Friday’s semifinals and final.
Canada’s women’s basketball team takes on Australia in Group B action, looking to get into the win column after losing their opening match against France.
The women’s 3x3 basketball team will also take the court, playing two games in pool play — against Germany and France.
Sophie Bukovec and Heather Bansley wrap up Pool B play in the women’s beach volleyball competition, playing Australian duo Taliqua Clancy and Mariafe Artacho.
Wyatt Sanford steps into the boxing ring again, fighting Ruslan Abdullaev of Uzbekistan with a spot in the semifinals of the men’s 63.5kg event on the line.
Nick Taylor and Corey Conners will play in round one of four in the men’s golf tournament.
Félix Auger-Aliassime takes on Norway’s Casper Ruud in the quarter-finals of the men’s singles tennis competition, before teaming up with Gaby Dabrowski in the mixed doubles semifinals against Czechia’s Katerina Siniakova and Tomas Machac.
Canada’s women’s eight rowing team will compete in the repechage round of the Thursday, a second chance for teams who didn’t win their first round heat to qualify for Saturday’s medal race. Canada is the reigning champion from Tokyo 2020, where they also had to go through the repechage.
Shannon Westlake will be Canada’s lone representative in the women’s 50m Rifle 3 Positions shooting event, hoping to advance to the final on Friday.
Sarah Douglas competes in the first two races of the women’s ILCA 6 sailing event.
After finishing fourth in the final of the 100m backstroke on Tuesday, Kylie Masse will compete in the heats of the 200m event, looking to advance to the semifinals later in the day, and eventually Friday’s final. Canada will also be represented in the women’s 200m backstroke by Regan Rathwell. Joshua Liendo will be Canada’s lone competitor in the men’s 50m freestyle heats, with the semifinals coming on Thursday night and finals on Friday. Finley Knox is in the same situation for the men’s 200m individual medley.
The equestrian team jumping qualification round takes place on Thursday. Canada is represented by Erynn Ballard with horse Nikka vd Bisschop, Mario Deslauriers and Emerson, and Amy Millar with Truman.
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