Paris 2024 Olympics Day 8: Swimmers make history, rowers reach the podium again
The pool was the centre of attention once again for Team Canada.
It was another historic day for Team Canada on Saturday, as records were set and medals were won both in and on the water at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
Summer McIntosh continued to steal the headlines at Paris La Défense Arena, winning her her third gold medal and fourth medal overall of Paris 2024 by setting a new Olympic record of 2:06.56 in the women’s 200m individual medley. McIntosh is the first Canadian athlete, winter or summer, to win three gold medals in one Olympic Games, and ties fellow swimmer Penny Oleksiak for the most medals won by a Canadian athlete in a single Summer Olympics.
Earlier in the night, Josh Liendo and Ilya Kharun made history of their own, winning silver and bronze medals, respectively, in the men’s 100m butterfly final. Liendo finished in 49.99 seconds, the first time he has swam this race in under 50 seconds, while Kharun — who won bronze in the 200m butterfly on Wednesday — finished third in 50.45 seconds. Hungary’s Kristof Milak took the gold, finishing just nine hundredths of a second faster than Liendo. It was Canada’s first double podium finish in any Summer Olympic event since Montreal 1976, which also came in swimming.
Kylie Masse, Finlay Knox, Liendo, and Maggie Mac Neil finished fifth in the mixed 4x100m medley relay final, Canada’s best ever finish in the event that debuted at the last Olympics in Tokyo.
Canada also qualified for the finals of both the men’s and women’s 4x100m medley relays, which will take place on Sunday. Ingrid Wilm, Sophie Angus, Mary-Sophie Harvey, and Penny Oleksiak finished in 3:56.10, the second fastest time in the women’s event, while Blake Tierney, Knox, Kharun, and Javier Acevedo finished seventh in the men’s event in 3:32.33.
Taylor Ruck was also in action, finishing 13th in the semifinals of the women’s 50m freestyle, missing out on the final.
For the second Olympics in a row, Canada’s women’s eight rowing team reached the podium, although they weren’t able to repeat as gold medallists.
Canada completed the 2000m course at the Vaires-sur-Marne Nautical Stadium in 5:58.84, four seconds back of Romania, and just in front of the bronze medallists from Great Britain.
Canada’s crew was made up of Jessica Sevick, Caileigh Filmer, Maya Meschkuleit, Kasia Gruchalla-Wesierski, Avalon Wasteneys, Sydney Payne, Kristina Walker, Abby Dent, Kristen Kit — with Gruchalla-Wesierski, Kit, Payne and Wasteneys returning from the gold medal boat in Tokyo.
On a busy day at Stade de France, Canadian athletics stars were left frustrated in several events.
Damian Warner withdrew from the men’s decathlon event and will not retain his title, after he no-heighted in the pole vault, the third-last event of the ten. Failing to clear the bar ended his hopes of winning the event despite sitting second entering the pole fault.
Audrey Leduc missed out on the final of the women’s 100m sprint by three hundredths of a second in her semifinal heat. Julien Alfred of St. Lucia won the final of the event for the nation’s first-ever Olympic gold medal. Andre De Grasse was the only Canadian man to advance out of the first round of the men’s 100m competition, finishing third in his heat in 10.07 seconds. Duan Asemota was fifth in his heat in his Olympic debut and did not advance, while Aaron Brown was disqualified in his heat for a false start.
Charles Philibert-Thiboutot finished second in his repechage heat of the men’s 1500m competition to book his spot in the semifinals, but Kieran Lumb was eliminated after finishing fifth in the other repechage heat. In the repechage for the women’s 800m, Jazz Shukla finished second in her heat but was unable to advance.
A day after winning bronze in the tennis mixed doubles competition with Gaby Dabrowski, Félix Auger-Aliassime was unable to claim the same medal in the men’s singles event, falling in the third place match to Italy’s Lorenzo Musetti. The Canadian won the second set after losing the third, but couldn’t win the third and the bronze medal — losing 6-4, 1-6, 6-3.
The Canadian women’s soccer team will not be repeating as Olympic champions, after losing on penalties to Germany in Saturday’s quarterfinal. After a scoreless match, and no goals in extra time, a shootout was needed to determine who would be moving on to the semifinals and have a chance to play for a medal — but on this occasion the Canadians were defeated 4-2 from the spot. For a full recap of that match, click here.
After three of four rounds in the men’s golf competition, Corey Conners is tied for 17th in the standings while fellow Canadian Nick Taylor is tied for 34th. Conners shot two-under-par on Saturday, and Taylor went three-under to move up in the standings.
Derek Gee and Michael Woods completed a gruelling men’s road race together on what was Gee’s 27th birthday, finishing the 273km course in a time of 6:26:57 to finish 41st and 44th, respectively.
Melissa Humana-Paredes and Brandie Wilkerson lost their first beach volleyball match on Sunday to Latvian pair Tina Graudina and Anastasjia Samoilova, but got a second chance to advance to the round of 16 in the “lucky loser” round later in the day. In the win-or-go-home match against over Czechia’s Barbora Hermannova and Marie-Sara Stochlova, they won in straight sets to move on in the competition. Sam Schachter and Daniel Dearing had to forfeit their lucky loser match to Chile’s Marco and Esteban Grimalt in the men’s competition, after Dearing suffered a back injury.
Lois Betteridge finished fourth in her heat of the women’s kayak cross event, but in a repechage round finished second to qualify for the next round on Sunday. Alex Baldoni finished second in his heat, and will also be moving on to the elimination round.
Canada’s women’s 3x3 basketball team defeated Azerbaijan 21-19 to finish fourth in pool play, requiring them to compete in an additional play-in game against Australia to determine who makes it to the semifinals. Canada dominated that second game, winning 21-10 to ensure that they will play for a medal of some kind at Paris 2024.
Two Canadians competed in the women’s vault final in artistic gymnastics, with Ellie Black finishing sixth and Shallon Olsen ending in eighth. American superstar Simone Biles won the event for her third gold medal of these Olympics.
Sarah Douglas sailed in races four through six of the women’s ILCA 6 class, and currently sits 11th in the standings with four races to go, needing to be in the top ten to advance to the final medal race. In race four she finished 12th, before finishing 17th in race five — saving her best result for last with an eighth-place finish in race number six.
The Canadian men’s volleyball team was eliminated from their tournament on Saturday, following a frustrating loss to Serbia. After being up two sets, Canada lost three in a row to finish the group winless.
Canada fell 4-0 to Uzbekistan in the mixed team judo elimination round of 16. Canada’s group consisted of Christa Deguchi, who won a gold medal earlier in the week in the women’s -57kg event, along with Arthur Margelidon, Catherine Beauchemin-Pinard, François Gauthier-Drapeau, Ana Laura Portuondo Isasi, and Shady Elnahas.
What’s happening on Day 9?
A historic swimming competition for Canada wraps up on Sunday, as some of Canada’s biggest athletics stars take centre stage and a several sports ramp up the intensity.
Below are all of the Canadian athletes competing on Sunday at the Olympic Games. Click here for CBC’s guide on when and where to watch every event.
Swimming comes to an end on Sunday, with Canada competing in the finals of both the men’s and women’s 4x100m medley relay.
After qualifying in the top two places in the qualifiers, Ethan Katzberg and Rowan Hamilton will compete in the men’s hammer throw final, with Katzberg the reigning world champion world number one. Andre De Grasse looks to reach the men’s 100m sprint podium for the third Olympics in a row, but will need to get through the semifinals earlier on Sunday first.
Wyatt Sanford will box in the semifinals of the men’s 63.5 kg class against Sofiane Oumiha of France. If he wins he will fight for gold, but if he loses he will receive a bronze medal as there is no bronze medal bout in Olympic boxing so both semifinal losers receive a medal.
Olivia Baril and Alison Jackson compete in the women’s cycling road race.
Eric Peters will compete against Mauro Nespoli of Italy in the 1/8 round of the men’s individual recurve archery event. The final of the event will take place later on Sunday, if Peters is able to beat Nespoli and advance through the quarterfinals and semifinals.
Corey Conners and Nick Taylor compete in the final round of the men’s golf competition, entering in ties for 17th and 34th place, respectively.
Canada’s men’s fencing foil team will compete in the table of eight against Japan, looking to advance through the rounds ahead of the night’s medal matches.
Canadian athletes competing in non-medal events on day 9:
It’ll be a busy day in athletics at Stade de France. Reigning women’s hammer throw champion Camryn Rogers takes part in Sunday’s qualification round, looking to advance to the final on August 6. Christopher Morales-Williams will race in the first round of the men’s 400m on Sunday. Jacqueline Madogo and Audrey Leduc will race in the first round of the women’s 200m, Craig Thorne competes in the first round of the men’s 110m hurdles, and Savannah Sutherland races in round one of the women’s 400m hurdles. Regan Yee and Ceili McCabe look to advance from the first round of the women’s 3000m steeplechase. Charles Philibert-Thiboutot will compete in the men’s 1500m semifinal.
Alex Baldoni will race in the men’s kayak cross heats on Sunday, with Lois Betteridge competing in the women’s heats just over an hour later.
Canada’s women’s basketball team takes on Nigeria in their final group stage match, still looking for its first win.
Sarah Douglas competes in races seven and eight of the women’s ILCA 6 sailing preliminary round. Emily Bugeja competes in the first four races of the women’s Formula Kite competition.
Canada’s women’s water polo team will play the Netherlands in their final Group A match. Canada has already secured fourth place in the group and will play Group B winners Spain in the quarterfinals.
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