Paris 2024 Olympics Day 14: 4x100m gold headlines another historic day for Team Canada
The Canadian men's 4x100m team are golden again after 28 years!
It was another historic day for Team Canada at the Paris 2024 Olympics, as three medals were won and Andre De Grasse became the most decorated Canadian male Olympic athlete ever.
Aaron Brown, Jerome Blake, Brendon Rodney and De Grasse shocked the world to charge to the top of the men’s 4x100m relay podium, winning the race in 37.50 seconds to win the gold medal.
The 2022 world champions Canada finished ahead of South Africa and Great Britain on the podium, while the boisterous American team that came into Paris expecting to win the gold raced poorly and ended up getting disqualified for passing the baton outside the takeover zone.
It is the second gold medal in this event for Canada, 28 years after Donovan Bailey, Bruny Surin, Glenroy Gilbert, Robert Esmie, and Carlton Chambers struck gold at Atlanta 1996. Surin is Canada’s chef de mission in Paris, while Gilbert is the current head coach of the national team.
As for Bailey? He was part of CBC’s track coverage on Friday, and had some words for American star Noah Lyles, who had previously disrespected Canada when talking about this event.
For Brown, De Grasse, and Rodney, this is their third straight Olympic podium in the 4x100 after winning bronze at Rio 2016 and silver at Tokyo 2020, while Blake was also part of the team in Tokyo.
De Grasse is now Canada’s most decorated male Olympian ever with seven medals, typing swimmer Penny Oleksiak atop the all-time Canadian list.
In the women’s 4x100m final, Canada’s group of Sade McCreath, Jacqueline Madogo, Marie-Eloise Leclair, and Audrey Leduc raced to sixth place, finishing in 42.69 seconds.
Canada’s women’s 4x400m relay team, made up of Zoe Sherar, Aiyanna Stiverne, Lauren Gale, and Kyra Constantine, punched their ticket to Saturday’s final, finishing fourth in their heat in a time of 3:25.77.
Reigning world champion Marco Arop won his semifinal heat in the men’s 800m, advancing to Saturday’s final after running 1:45.05. Mariam Abdul-Rashid wasn’t able to advance from her semifinal in the women’s 100m hurdles, but did set a personal best time of 12.60 seconds.
Sarah Mitton, who entered the women’s shot put final as the favourite, had a disappointing night and was unable to advance past the first three throws. She finished 12th, and said in an interview with CBC after that she will be back at Los Angeles 2028 for redemption.
Melissa Humana-Paredes and Brandie Wilkerson won Canada’s first-ever medal in women’s beach volleyball on Friday, falling in three sets to world number one pair Ana Patrícia and Duda of Brazil to pick up the silver medal.
Canada got off to a good start in the first set, but Brazil charged back to win it 26-24 and take a 1-0 advantage. Canada dominated the second set, winning it 21-12 to force a decider for the Olympic gold, which Brazil took 15-10 to secure the victory.
It was a back-and-forth final, but also a chippy one. At one point an official had to step between the two teams as they traded words at the net, before the person controlling the sound system played Imagine by John Lennon to the amusement of the crowd and players.
The silver medal is Canada’s best-ever result in beach volleyball at the Olympics, with the nation’s other medal in the sport coming at Atlanta 1996, a bronze won in the men’s event by John Child and Mark Heese.
Canada’s first medal of the day came from Katie Vincent and Sloan Mackenzie in the women’s C-2 500m canoe sprint final.
They reached the finish line in 1:54.36, just six hundredths of a second behind the silver medallists from Ukraine in a photo finish. The gold medal was won by China, who took gold in an Olympic record time of 1:52.81. Canada set the Olympic record in the first round before China claimed it on Friday in a thrilling final.
For Vincent, it’s her second consecutive bronze in this event, after finishing third with Laurence Vincent Lapointe at Tokyo 2020. It is the first Olympic medal of Mackenzie’s career in her Olympic debut.
Courtney Stott and Natalie Davison finished seventh in the B final of the women’s kayak sprint K-2 500m to finish 15th overall. In the men’s K-2 B final, Pierre Luc Poulin and Simon McTavish finished second, good for tenth overall. Connor Fitzpatrick finished 14th overall in the men’s C-1 1000m event, finishing sixth in the B final.
Swapping the open water for the pool, Rylan Wiens and Nathan Zsombor-Murray both qualified for the men’s 10m platform diving semifinals. Wiens had the third-highest score in qualifying, while Zsombor-Murray was tenth-best. They’ll both compete in the 18-man semifinals on Saturday, looking to advance to the evening’s final. The pair won a bronze medal together in the 10m synchro event earlier at Paris 2024.
Reigning Olympic champion Kelsey Mitchell booked her spot in the 1/8 finals of the women’s sprint track cycling event after winning a race in the repechage round. Lauriane Genest lost in her repechage heat of the 1/16 finals, and was eliminated from the competition. Maggie Coles-Lyster and Ariane Bonhomme finished 15th in the women’s madison race.
Hannah Taylor advanced to the bronze medal match of the women’s freestyle wrestling 57kg event after winning her repechage round match following a last 16 defeat. She was up against American Helen Maroulis for the bronze medal, but lost after less than 30 seconds.
Alex Moore was defeated by Javrail Shapiev of Uzbekistan in the men’s freestyle wrestling 86kg repechage. Ana Godinez Gonzalez and Amar Dhesi will have second chances in the women’s 62kg and men’s 125kg repechages on Saturday, respectively, after winning their opening matches but both losing in the quarterfinals.
Brooke Henderson had a big day on the golf course, shooting five-under-par to climb up to a tie for 13th in the standings, seven strokes back of the leaders. It was a tough day for Alena Sharp, who finished five-over-par to finish the third round in a tie for 44th place.
Audrey Lamothe and Jacqueline Simoneau finished 15th in the technical routine of the duet artistic swimming competition, with the second and final routine set to take place on Saturday.
Boady Santavy wasn’t able to finish the men’s 89kg weightlifting event, dealing with an injury and failing to register a lift in the clean and jerk portion of the event. Santavy was in ninth position after the snatch portion of the event, lifting 163kg on his second attempt.
It was also a day of celebration for Canadian high jumper Derek Drouin, who received an upgraded silver medal from the London 2012 Olympics at a ceremony in front of the Eiffel Tower.
Drouin finished third in that event 12 years ago, but in November 2021 his bronze medal was upgraded to silver following the disqualification of the initial gold medal winner — Russia’s Ivan Ukhov — for a doping violation. Robert Grabarz of Great Britain and Mutaz Essa Barshim of Qatar also had their medals upgraded to silver after tying with Drouin with a best score of 2.29 metres.
The Canadian went on to win the gold medal in high jump at the Rio 2016 Games four years later. Barsham won the silver in Rio, and later the gold at Tokyo 2020.
What’s happening on Day 15?
Below are all of the Canadian athletes competing on Saturday at the Olympic Games. Click here for CBC’s guide on when and where to watch every event.
Reigning men’s 800m world champion Marco Arop will go for gold on Saturday after winning his semifinal heat on Friday. Thomas Fafard will be the lone Canadian in the men’s 5000m final shortly after, before Canada’s women’s 4x400m relay team compete in their final. Cameron Levins and Rory Linkletter compete in the men’s marathon early on Saturday morning, with Levins currently holding the North American record of 2:05.36.
Rylan Wiens and Nathan Zsombor-Murray will compete in the men’s 10m platform diving semifinal, looking to advance to the final a few hours later. They won a bronze medal together in the synchro event earlier in the Olympics, and now try to add individual titles to their collections. They had the third- and tenth-best scores respectively in the qualifying rounds.
In the Olympic debut of breaking, Philip Kim, also known as Phil Wizard, will represent Canada in the men’s event. He will compete in Group B with Ukraine’s Kuzya, Australia’s J Attack, and Dany from the host nation France. The battles for the medal will take place later on Saturday.
Sophia Jensen and Katie Vincent will compete in the semifinals of the women’s canoe sprint C-1 200m semifinals, with the finals scheduled for a few hours later. Vincent already has a medal in Paris, winning bronze on Friday in the women’s C-2 500m alongside Sloan Mackenzie. Riley Melanson and Michelle Russell will compete in the women’s kayak sprint K-1 500m semifinals, with those finals also set for later in the day.
In track cycling, Kelsey Mitchell races in the 1/8 finals of the women’s sprint event in which she is the reigning champion, taking on New Zealand’s Ellesse Andrews and looking to advance to the medal races. Michael Foley and Mathias Guillemette compete together in the men’s madison race.
Ana Godinez Gonzalez takes on Kristzta Incze of Romania in the women’s freestyle 62kg repechage, looking to advance to the bronze medal bout. Amar Dhesi will do the same against Aiaal Lazarev of Kyrgyzstan in the men’s freestyle 125kg repechage.
Audrey Lamothe and Jacqueline Simoneau take part in the second and final stage of the women’s artistic swimming duet competition — the duet free routine.
Brooke Henderson and Alena Sharp will both compete in the final round in the women’s golf competition. Henderson currently sits in a tie for 13th place, while Sharp is in a tie for 44th.
Canadian athletes competing in non-medal events on day 15:
James Hedgcock and Nick Wammes race in separate first round heats of the men’s sprint track cycling event.
Justina Di Stasio competes in the women’s freestyle wrestling 76kg 1/8 finals, up against Yasemin Adar Yigit of Turkey. The medal matches take place on Sunday, but athletes can compete all the way through the semifinals on Saturday if they keep advancing.
Canada takes on Greece in women’s water polo, with the winning team finishing seventh in the Olympic tournament and the loses ending the competition in eighth.
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