2024 True North Awards: Honouring some of Canada's top sports figures
Picking the top Canadian athletes, coach, moment, and more from the past year.
It has been another remarkable year in the world of sports. Canadians were front and centre during a packed sports calendar, highlighted of course by the Olympics and Paralympics in Paris in the summer.
The 2024 True North Awards will highlight and honour across several categories some of the Canadian athletes and coaches that demonstrated their excellence on the biggest stages of all.
Here are the recipients.
Male Rising Star
Macklin Celebrini, Ice Hockey
The sky is the limit for one of Canada’s rising hockey stars, 18-year-old San Jose Sharks forward Macklin Celebrini.
After recording 32 goals and 32 assists in 38 games with Boston University, Celebrini became the first 17-year-old, and fourth freshman, to win the Hobey Baker Award — awarded to the best player in the NCAA. He was then drafted first overall by the Sharks in June after being considered the top prospect and consensus first pick for quite some time.
His transition to the NHL has been strong, with Celebrini picking up a goal and an assist in his NHL debut. He has 12 goals and 15 assists for 27 points in 27 NHL games at the time of writing, and he could very well play himself onto Team Canada for the 2026 Winter Olympics at the level he’s playing in his rookie campaign.
Honourable Mentions: Kwasi Poku (Soccer), Sebastian Massabie (Para Swimming)
Female Rising Star
Olivia Smith, Soccer
An honourable mention for this award last year, Olivia Smith took another leap forward in 2024 on her road to becoming one of this country’s soccer superstars.
The 20-year-old turned heads at the Concacaf W Gold Cup in February, scoring her first two senior international goals and being named the best young player of the tournament as Canada advanced to the semi-finals. Smith was considered a snub from the Canadian Olympic team in the summer, but got back into the squad and scored against South Korea in a friendly in December before being named the Canada Soccer Young Player of the Year for the second time in her career.
At the club level, she won the Young Player of the Season award in the Portuguese top flight before making the move from Sporting CP to English giant Liverpool for a club-record fee, and won over her new fans by becoming the first woman to score for Liverpool at the city’s famous stadium Anfield.
Honourable Mentions: Piper Logan (Rugby Sevens), Sloan MacKenzie (Canoe Sprint)
Team Of The Year
Men’s 4x100m relay team
Andre De Grasse, Brendon Rodney, Jerome Blake and Aaron Brown take home the Team Of The Year award after winning Olympic gold in the men’s 4x100 metre relay event at the Paris 2024 Olympics.
To the surprise of many, the Canadian team — which won bronze in this event at Rio 2016 and silver at Tokyo 2020 — ran a near-perfect race, including an outstanding bend on the third leg from Rodney and De Grasse running the home stretch in 8.89 seconds to charge from third up to first.
For De Grasse, it was a Canadian record-tying seventh Olympic medal, and the second gold of his career. For Brown and Rodney it was the third Olympic medal after also being with De Grasse on the 2016 and 2020 relay teams, and it was a second for Blake adding to the silver in Tokyo.
There’s more on this team coming up with the next award…
Honourable Mentions: Team Rachel Homan (Curling), Edmonton Oilers (Ice Hockey)
Moment Of The Year
Men’s 4x100m relay team wins gold in Paris
Sticking with the men’s 4x100m relay team, their gold medal in Paris also takes home the Moment of the Year award.
As happens every four years, the United States’ team of superstars was crowned champions by many before the competition even began, even with 100m Olympic champion Noah Lyles held out of the relays after contracting COVID-19 in Paris. As also happens every four years, the Americans botched it in the final, this time struggling with the passing of the baton at the first exchange and getting disqualified.
Canada’s squad didn’t let their noisy neighbours faze them, and ran the race of their lives to reach the top of the Olympic podium in the event for the first time since Atlanta 1996. What made the gold medal even sweeter was that it came after a difficult week for the Canadians, with all of them failing to reach the final of any individual events despite high expectations — especially for De Grasse.
This wasn’t just the top Canadian sports moment from 2024, but arguably one of the most memorable moments from the Paris 2024 Olympic Games as a whole.
Honourable Mentions: Phil Wizard wins inaugural breaking Olympic gold, Broadcasting legend Scott Russell signs off for the final time before retiring
Coach Of The Year
Jesse Marsch (Men’s National Soccer Team)
The Canadian men’s national soccer team needed to get their new head coaching hire right with a program on the rise and the nation set to co-host games at the 2026 World Cup in Vancouver and Toronto. With the hiring of Jesse Marsch, they have smashed it out of the park.
The 51-year-old American took over in May, and immediately exceeded expectations with a 0-0 draw against a powerhouse France side and a fourth-place finish in Canada’s first entry into the prestigious Copa America tournament. Since then he has led Canada to a win over the United States south of the border, as well as qualification into the 2025 Concacaf Nations League Finals, where he will be looking to deliver the team’s first trophy in 25 years.
Away from the pitch, Marsch has won over Canadians with a commitment to grassroots soccer and the entire pathway that his predecessors lacked at times, getting involved at the youth and amateur levels, integrating players and coaches from the Canadian Premier League, and beyond up the professional ranks.
Honourable Mentions: Paul Maurice (Florida Panthers), Brent Arckey (Summer McIntosh)
Male Athlete Of The Year
Ethan Katzberg, Athletics
After a dominant performance in Paris to claim Canada’s first Olympic gold medal in hammer throw, Ethan Katzberg is the Male Athlete Of The Year.
Katzberg locked up the gold medal with his first attempt at Stade de France, throwing 84.12 metres to jump to an early lead. Nobody else for the rest of the competition would touch 80 metres, and Katzberg had the second-best throw as well at 82.28. He just missed out on his personal and North American record of 84.38, set earlier in 2024, and the Olympic record of 84.80m.
Katzberg was named one of Canada’s closing ceremony flag bearers, helping to lead the country into the same stadium where he was crowned an Olympic champion.
The 22-year-old is the youngest Olympic champion in the event and holds the world championship and Pan American Games titles as well. He has an incredibly bright future, and the longstanding world record of 86.74m could be within reach in the near future as well.
Honourable Mentions: Connor McDavid (Ice Hockey), Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (Basketball)
Female Athlete Of The Year
Summer McIntosh, Swimming
For the second year in a row, swimming superstar Summer McIntosh wins the Female Athlete Of The Year.
Alongside Katzberg, McIntosh was named a flag bearer for the closing ceremony in Paris after a record-setting week. She became the first Canadian to win three gold medals at a single Olympics, and added a silver medal as well — setting a pair of Olympic records in the progress. She also set a world record in the 400-metre individual medley at the Canadian Olympic trials earlier in the year.
In December, she also picked up five medals (three gold, one silver, one bronze) at the short course world championships in Budapest, setting three more world records. There she was also named World Aquatics’ female swimmer of the year.
She was voted the winner of the Northern Star Award by the media on December 10, recognized as Canada’s best athlete — and there was really never any doubt. She also appeared on Time magazine’s 100 Next list as a rising star in her field, and was on Forbes’ 30 under 30 list as well.
It was an outstanding year for one of the best athletes Canada has ever produced, and still just 18 years old, she could only be scratching the surface.
Honourable Mentions: Christa Deguchi (Judo), Gabriela Dabrowski (Tennis)
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