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Swimmer Ilya Kharun won Canada’s seventh medal today, taking bronze in the men’s 200-metre butterfly on Day 5 of the Paris Games. It’s the first Olympic medal for the teenage son of Cirque du Soleil acrobats, and the first by a Canadian men’s swimmer since 2012.
But the biggest Canadian victory came in women’s soccer, where the embattled Olympic champs beat Colombia to qualify for the quarterfinals after new information emerged in the drone-spying scandal.
More on that first, followed by Canada’s medal opportunities on Thursday — including Summer McIntosh’s shot at her second gold.
Against all odds, the Canadian women’s soccer team advanced
All but counted out after being docked two wins for their coaches’ drone-spying shenanigans, the reigning Olympic champs defeated Colombia 1-0 to earn an improbable spot in the quarterfinals.
Vanessa Gilles played the hero again. After scoring deep in injury time Sunday to upset France in another must-win game, the attack-minded defender headed in captain Jessie Fleming’s pinpoint free kick early in the second half. “It feels incredible,” Gilles said. “When adversity and pressure come, we rely on each other.”
WATCH l Gilles scores game-winning goal as Canada tops Colombia:
After Canada was docked six points for spying with a drone, Vanessa Gilles scored the game-winning goal in Canada’s 1-0 victory over Colombia, as Canada swept their Olympic preliminary round games to advance to the quarterfinals at Paris 2024.
Canada won all three of its games in Group A. But, due to FIFA’s six-point penalty for the spying scandal involving suspended head coach Bev Priestman and two members of her staff, the Canadians placed second behind France. They’ll face Germany, the runner-up to the United States in Group B, on Saturday at 1 p.m. ET.
Canada needed to beat the Colombians to advance after losing an appeal earlier today. Emails released by FIFA indicated that Priestman was aware of spying, which may have been a common practice within Canada’s women’s and men’s national teams for some time.
Canadian medal chances on Thursday
Here they are in chronological order. The best one is last.
Race walk: Evan Dunfee in the men’s 20K at 1:30 a.m. ET
Dunfee took bronze in the 50-kilometre walk at the Tokyo Olympics before his preferred distance was dropped from the Games. But he remains a contender in this shorter race after placing fourth at last year’s world championships.
Dunfee will also compete in the marathon race walk mixed relay next week with Olivia Lundman.
Judo: Shady Elnahas in the men’s 100kg
Elnahas lost one of the bronze-medal matches at the 2021 Olympics in Tokyo. He also came agonizingly close to a world title this year when he had to forfeit the gold-medal bout due to an injury, giving him the silver. The 26-year-old is now ranked third in the world in his weight class.
Elnahas can win Canada’s second judo medal of the Games after Christa Deguchi captured the country’s first-ever Olympic gold on Monday. He has a bye to the round of 16 and will fight in the 16th match of the day on mat 1, where action begins at 4 a.m. ET. The medal rounds start at 10 a.m. ET.
Gymnastics: Ellie Black in the women’s all-around final at 12:15 p.m. ET
Appearing in her fourth Olympic Games, the most ever by a Canadian artistic gymnast, Black led Canada to a fifth-place finish in the women’s team final on Tuesday, matching the country’s best-ever result.
The 28-year-old placed ninth in qualifying for the all-around as she tries to become the first Canadian woman to win an Olympic medal in her sport. Black placed fifth in the all-around in 2016 and was fourth in the balance beam in Tokyo. She lost out on the bronze to Simone Biles, who’s favoured to win her second all-around title and sixth Olympic gold after leading the United States to victory in the team event.
In today’s men’s all-around final, Canada’s René Cournoyer finished 17th and Félix Dolci was 20th. Shinnosuke Oka won Japan’s fourth consecutive Olympic title in this event after helping it win the team gold.
Fencing: Eleanor Harvey et al. in the women’s team foil
This one might be a long shot. But Canadian fencing is pretty hot right now after Harvey won its first-ever Olympic medal (a bronze in the individual foil) and Fares Arfa made a surprising run at the men’s sabre podium.
Plus, there are only eight teams in this event. If Canada beats France in the quarterfinals at 5:50 a.m. ET, it will move into the semis at 8:50 a.m. ET. The medal matches start at 1:10 p.m. ET. Read about Harvey’s long journey to the Olympic podium here.
Swimming: Summer McIntosh in the women’s 200m butterfly final at 2:30 p.m. ET, and maybe the women’s 4x200m freestyle relay final at 4:03 p.m. ET
The back-to-back 200m butterfly world champion is favoured to capture her second Olympic gold medal after winning the 400m individual medley on Monday. McIntosh, 17, also took silver in the 400m freestyle last weekend.
McIntosh swam the fastest time in today’s semifinals, ahead of 2021 silver medallist Regan Smith and defending champion Zhang Yufei of China. Zhang is one of the two-dozen Chinese swimmers who reportedly tested positive for a banned heart medication before the Tokyo Olympics but were still allowed to compete.
Summer could also boost Canada’s medal hopes in the 4x200m freestyle relay. She and Penny Oleksiak helped Canada take bronze at the 2022 world championships, and McIntosh was part of the team that placed fifth in the 2023 final. Relay lineups are typically decided closer to race time.
French star Leon Marchand won two more gold medals today. He electrified the crowd at La Defense Arena by surging past defending champ Kristof Milak of Hungary in the men’s 200m butterfly, then won the 200m breaststroke a couple hours later.
American Katie Ledecky dominated the women’s 1,500m freestyle to capture her seventh solo Olympic gold. And China’s Pan Zhanle won the men’s 100m freestyle with the first world-record swim of these Games. The shallower-than-normal Paris pool has led to slower times. Here’s more on today’s swimming.
Some other things to know
Canada’s Felix Auger-Aliassime has a shot at two tennis medals.
The 13th seed in the men’s draw upset No. 4 Daniil Medvedev in straight sets today to advance to the final eight. It was Auger-Aliassime’s first win in eight career matches against Medvedev, one of 15 Russians competing as “neutral” athletes in Paris. Felix will face sixth-seeded Casper Ruud of Norway on Thursday, likely sometime after 8 a.m. ET.
A few hours after taking out Medvedev, Auger-Aliassime teamed with Gabriela Dabrowski to upset third-seeded Americans Coco Gauff and Taylor Fritz and reach the mixed doubles semifinals. They’ll face Czechs Tomas Machac and Katerina Siniakova on Thursday.
Dabrowski and Leylah Fernandez were eliminated in the second round in women’s doubles today.
Elsewhere on the Roland Garros clay, 14-time French Open champion Rafael Nadal’s final Games ended when he and Spanish teammate Carlos Alcaraz were eliminated in men’s doubles. Nadal had already lost in singles to top seed Novak Djokovic of Serbia, who advanced to the quarterfinals. Women’s No. 1 Iga Swiatek of Poland moved into the semis. Read more about today’s tennis here.
Canada’s top boxing contender got knocked out of her event.
Tammara Thibeault was one of the favourites in the women’s middleweight division after winning gold at both the world championships and the Commonwealth Games in 2022 and adding the Pan Am Games title last year. But she was ousted in the first round today by Cindy Ngamba, a Cameroonian fighter competing for the Refugee Olympic Team. The score was 3-2 from the panel of five judges.
That leaves Canada with just one boxer: men’s welterweight Wyatt Sanford, who won gold at the Pan Ams last year. He fights in the quarterfinals Thursday at 6:52 a.m. ET after winning his opener by unanimous decision.
Golf tees off Thursday.
The men’s event begins at 3 a.m. ET at Le Golf National, which hosted the 2018 Ryder Cup. It’s a four-round, stroke-play competition with no cut.
The two Canadians in the tournament are Nick Taylor and Corey Conners. Taylor authored one of the greatest moments in Canadian golf history when he won the Canadian Open last year, but Conners looks like the stronger medal contender right now.
The United States boasts the top two players in the world in Masters winner Scottie Scheffler and reigning Olympic champion Xander Schauffele, who won the British Open this month for his second major title of the year. The Americans also have 2023 U.S. Open champ Wyndham Clark and two-time major winner Collin Morikawa, ranked fifth and sixth, respectively.
Ireland is strong too with world No. 3 Rory McIlroy and former British Open champ Shane Lowry. Young Swede Ludvig Aberg, ranked fourth, is also among the top contenders.
For more on the men’s tournament, read my colleague Myles Dichter’s excellent golf newsletter.
The Canadian women’s eight rowing team can advance to its final.
The defending Olympic champions are Canada’s only hope for a rowing medal after the women’s lightweight double sculls team of Jenny Casson and Jill Moffatt were eliminated from contention today. Needing a top-three finish in their semifinal heat, Casson and Moffatt finished fifth.
The women’s eight crew just needs to not finish last in the five-boat repechage round to advance to Saturday’s final.
And finally…
The Seine got clean (enough).
After water-quality concerns forced the postponement of the men’s triathlon on Tuesday, organizers (not to mention athletes) breathed a sigh of relief when the river was deemed safe for swimming today. Canada’s Tyler Mislawchuk placed ninth and Charles Paquet was 13th in the men’s event, won by Britain’s Alex Yee, while Canadian Emy Legault finished 35th in the women’s, won by France’s Cassandre Beaugrand.
Assuming pollution levels remain below the acceptable limit, the Seine will host the open-water marathon swimming events next week.
How to watch the Olympics
Live events are televised on the CBC TV network, TSN and Sportsnet. Or choose exactly what you want to watch by live streaming on CBC Gem or CBC Sports’ Paris 2024 website and app.
Highlights of CBC Sports’ digital coverage include Paris Tonight with host Ariel Helwani, live every night at 11 p.m. ET from Canada Olympic House in Paris; Rise and Stream with host Meg Roberts, identifying the key events to watch each day; Hot Takes with host Dale Manucdoc, highlighting must-see moments; and Paris Pulse with Meg and Dale, discussing trending stories from the Games.
You can also test your Olympic knowledge and win prizes on The Game, a nightly trivia contest with host Craig McMorris. Read more about CBC’s multi-platform Olympics coverage here.