Paris 2024 Olympics Day 15: Canada picks up two golds on penultimate day of the Games
Paris 2024 is the most successful Summer Olympics ever for Team Canada!
Paris 2024 is officially Canada’s most successful non-boycotted Summer Olympics ever in terms of total medals, after the nation picked up three medals — two of them gold — on the penultimate day of competition to raise the total to 27.
Philip Kim — known by his stage name Phil Wizard — became the first-ever men’s Olympic champion in the sport of breaking in its Olympic debut on Saturday.
The 27-year-old Canadian won all of his round robin battles before sweeping his way through the knockout stages. In the final he won 23-4 over France's hometown favourite Dany Dann, making the crowd at La Concorde rise to their feet as he put on a show as he always does. What made it even more special for Kim is that it was the first time his parents had seen him compete live.
Kim is not only the first men’s champion in the event, but he will also be the only one for the foreseeable future. Breaking will not return for the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics, and its inclusion beyond that remains to be determined. It was largely a hit with fans despite initial skepticism, with many new fans of the sport clamouring for it to come back in the future on social media.
Katie Vincent won her second medal in as many days on Saturday, taking gold in the women’s C-1 200m canoe sprint event. Vincent won the race in a world best time of 44.12 seconds for Canada’s first-ever Olympic gold medal in a women’s canoe or kayak sprint event — beating American Nevin Harrison by just one hundredth of a second. Fellow Canadian Sophia Jensen placed sixth in her Olympic debut.
Vincent also claimed a bronze medal alongside Sloan MacKenzie in the women’s C-2 500m event on Friday. She now has three career Olympic medals, having also took C-2 500m bronze at Tokyo 2020 alongside then-partner Laurence Vincent Lapointe. Vincent Lapointe had held the C-1 200m world record since 2018 before today, and was the silver medallist in the event’s Olympic debut at Tokyo 2020.
In the women’s kayak sprint K-1 500m, Michelle Russell finished eighth in the final, while Riley Melanson finished sixth in the C final for a final placing of 22nd.
Marco Arop won his first Olympic medal on Saturday, winning the silver medal in the men’s 800m event.
Arop ran the race strategically, sitting in the pack of athletes before making a move toward the front on the second and final lap of the track. He charged toward the finish line but ran out of track, crossing the line in second place in a time of 1:41.20 — just one hundredth of a second back of Emmanuel Wanyoni of Kenya. Djamel Sedjati of Algeria finished third in 1:41.50.
Wanyoni and Arop had the third- and fourth-fastest times in history, in what many are calling one of the best 800m races ever. Arop’s time is also a Canadian and North American record, and he can now add this silver medal to the World Championships gold he picked up in Budapest a year ago.
Also in athletics, Canada’s women’s 4x400m relay team of Zoe Sherar, Savannah Sutherland, Kyra Constantine and Lauren Gale finished sixth in the final, in a time of 3:22.01. Thomas Fafard finished 22nd in the men’s 5000m final in 13:49.69.
Cameron Levins was Canada’s best finisher in the men’s marathon, placing 36th, while Rory Linkletter finished 47th.
Rylan Wiens finished seventh overall in the men’s 10m platform diving event, a few spots ahead of Canadian teammate Nathan Zsombor-Murray in tenth. Chinese legend Cao Yuan repeated as champion as the country swept all eight diving gold medals in Paris for the first time.
Also in the water, Audrey Lamothe and Jacqueline Simoneau finished ninth overall in the women’s duet artistic swimming event, with Saturday’s third-place finish in the free routine. They finished 15th in the technical routine on Friday.
Canada’s women’s water polo team lost 19-10 to Greece in the women’s 7th-8th classification game, finishing the competition ranked eighth overall.
In track cycling, Mathias Guillemette and Michael Foley placed 13th in the men’s madison event. Nick Wammes and James Hedgcock advanced to the quarterfinals of the men’s keirin event after advancing from their respective repechage rounds, while reigning Olympic champion Kelsey Mitchell was defeated in the quarterfinals of the women’s sprint event.
Ana Godinez Gonzalez made it to the bronze medal match in the women’s freestyle wrestling 62kg event, but lost to Norway’s Grace Bullen. Justina Di Stasio lost to Yasemin Adar Yigit of Turkey in the women’s 76kg 1/8 final, while Amar Dhesi lost to Aiaal Lazarev of Kyrgyzstan in the men’s 125kg repechage.
In the final round of the women’s golf tournament, Brooke Henderson was closing in on the medal places at one point, but ended up finishing tied for 13th at three-under-par. Alena Sharp finished in a tie for 42nd, at at nine-over-par.
What’s happening on Day 16?
The final day of the Paris 2024 Olympics has arrived.
On Sunday, the Games will come to an end with the closing ceremony at Stade de France. That goes at 3 p.m. ET/12 p.m. PT here in Canada, and can be watched on CBC’s television and digital channels, as well as TSN.
There will be a handful of Canadians in action before the closing ceremony, as the sporting competitions come to an end across several sports. Below are all of the Canadian athletes competing on Sunday, and click here for CBC’s guide on when and where to watch every event, as well as the closing ceremony.
Malindi Elmore will be the lone Canadian competing in the women’s marathon, the final athletics event of the Olympics. She finished ninth at the Tokyo 2020 Games.
Maggie Coles-Lyster competes in the women’s omnium event on Sunday at the velodrome. Omnium consists of four different races where athletes look to pick up points to determine final overall rankings and the medals.
Also in track cycling, Nick Wammes and James Hedgcock compete in the quarterfinals of the men’s keirin, aiming to advance to the semifinals and final later in the day. Kelsey Mitchell will be the lone Canadian competing on Sunday in a non-medal event, racing in the 5th-8th classification for the women’s sprint event. Mitchell was the Tokyo 2020 champion in the event, but was unable to repeat her gold medal-winning performance.
Thank you for reading this post on True North. To be the first person to read future posts, and listen to new podcast episodes, subscribe for free using the button below, or share the article with someone you know.