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Sprint canoeist Katie Vincent and breaker Philip Kim won gold while track star Marco Arop took silver to give Canada nine gold and 27 overall medals after the final full day of competition in Paris. Both are national records for a non-boycotted Summer Olympics, surpassing the seven gold and 24 medals from three years ago in Tokyo. Canada also won seven gold in 1992.
Vincent, who captured her second consecutive Olympic doubles bronze on Friday, won her first singles title this morning in a photo finish to give Canada its medals records and set a world record for herself. The race was so close between Vincent and American Nevin Harrison that the judges needed several minutes to call it.
Later, Kim was crowned the first-ever Olympic men’s champion in breaking. The Canadian b-boy, known on the stage as Phil Wizard, won all three rounds of his final battle with France’s Dany Dann.
WATCH | Canada’s Phil Kim wins historic Olympic men’s breaking gold:
Canadian Phil Kim, aka ‘b-boy Phil Wizard’, takes home the gold in men’s breaking. The 27-year-old from Vancouver captured the first men’s Olympic gold in the sport.
In between, Arop came oh so close to making it 10 gold medals, which would have matched Canada’s total at the Eastern Bloc-boycotted 1984 Games in Los Angeles. The men’s 800m world champion crossed the line just one hundredth of a second behind Kenya’s Emmanuel Wanyonyi to take the silver as his rally from the back of the pack fell just short.
Elsewhere, Ana Godinez Gonzalez had a chance for Canada’s first wrestling medal of the Games, but she lost her bronze bout. Divers Rylan Wiens and Nathan Zsombor-Murray finished off the podium in the men’s 10m platform final, where Cao Yuan gave China an unprecedented sweep of the eight diving gold medals. The Canadian women’s 4x400m relay team placed sixth in the final track race of the Games as the U.S. blew away the competition in near world-record time.
WATCH | CBC Sports’ Meg Roberts takes you Paris 2024:
Canada won 3 medals on the penultimate day of Paris 2024, with Phil ‘Wizard’ Kim becoming the first man to ever win an Olympic breaking medal. Malindi Elmore has the final medal opportunity for Canada in the marathon, and then all eyes will be on the closing ceremony on Day 16.
Also on the track, Kenya’s Faith Kipyegon became the first athlete to win three consecutive Olympic 1,500m titles, taking the women’s final in an Olympic-record 3:51.29. Norwegian star Jakob Ingebrigtsen rebounded from his shocking fourth-place finish in the men’s 1,500 to capture his first 5,000m gold.
Canada is not expected to win any more medals on Sunday as the Games wrap up with a limited slate of competition. So, barring any surprises, the final tally should be 27 — nine gold, seven silver and 11 bronze. That currently puts Canada 11th in the standings, whether you sort by gold or total medals.
Now let’s take our final look at what’s coming up tomorrow.
Who will be Canada’s flag-bearer for the closing ceremony?
Paris will officially put a bow on these Olympics on Sunday at 3 p.m. ET at the Stade de France. Details about the show, expected to last about two and a half hours, are being kept mostly under wraps. But it will reportedly include performances by Billie Eilish, Snoop Dogg and the Red Hot Chili Peppers — all natives of Los Angeles, where the 2028 Olympics will be staged. Tom Cruise, another super-famous L.A. resident, will reportedly perform a Mission: Impossible-type stunt as part of the symbolic passing of the torch to the next Summer Games host city.
For Canadians, the big question is who will get the honour of carrying the Canadian flag. Assuming everyone is available, the obvious pick is Summer McIntosh, who won a national-record three gold medals and a silver in four individual swimming events. But there are many other champions to choose from, including hammer throwers Camryn Rogers and Ethan Katzberg (that would be a neat pair) and of course the men’s 4x100m relay team — though the fact that Andre De Grasse was a flag-bearer for the opening ceremony might rule them out.
An announcement from the Canadian Olympic Committee is expected Sunday morning.
What to watch on Sunday
Canadians are competing in just two sports:
Track cycling
Maggie Coles-Lyster races in the women’s omnium (starting at 5 a.m. ET) while James Hedgcock and Nick Wammes will try to advance in the men’s keirin quarterfinals at 5:29 a.m. ET.
Reigning women’s sprint champion Kelsey Mitchell is out of medal contention but will race for fifth place at 6:25 a.m. ET.
Women’s marathon
Kenya’s Hellen Obiri is favoured to win the final foot race of the Games, starting at 2 a.m. ET. The two-time Olympic 5,000m silver medallist has evolved into a premier marathoner, winning back-to-back Boston titles along with a New York City victory last year. Obiri’s Boston success bodes well for her chances on the Paris course, which also features multiple steep climbs as it traces the path of the historic Women’s March on Versailles during the French Revolution.
But all eyes are on the Netherlands’ Sifan Hassan, who’s attempting to become the first woman to medal in the 5,000m, 10,000m and the marathon at the same Olympics after taking bronze in both of her track events. Hassan’s versatility is already legendary: she won gold in both the 5,000 and 10,000 and bronze in the 1,500 at the Tokyo Olympics, making her the first athlete to medal in all three at one Games. Then she picked up the marathon last year and promptly won London (one of the world majors) in her first attempt at the distance before taking Chicago (another major) with the second-fastest women’s time in history.
Canada’s lone runner is pretty incredible too. Malindi Elmore is a 44-year-old mother of two who ran the 1,500m at the 2004 (!) Olympics in Athens. She retired from the track in 2012 before reinventing herself as a marathoner and qualifying for the 2021 Olympics in Tokyo, where she placed ninth. Read more about Elmore here.
If today’s men’s marathon was any indication, a brutal race could be in store for the women. The great Eliud Kipchoge was reduced to walking up the heartbreaking hill at mile 18 of the 26.2-mile course before bowing out with a back injury, ending the Kenyan’s quest for a record third Olympic marathon title. Ethiopia’s Tamirat Tola, the 2022 world champion, showed tremendous grit to win in an Olympic-record 2:06:26 — almost six minutes slower than the late Kelvin Kiptum’s world record. Canada’s Cam Levins, the North American record holder, finished 36th while Rory Linkletter was 47th.
Sunday also features the medal games in women’s basketball, men’s handball and men’s water polo, and the gold-medal match in women’s volleyball. Plus, modern pentathlon, weightlifting and wrestling.
Some other things to know
The United States held off France to win its fifth straight men’s basketball gold.
The home team made it a game as Victor Wembanyama cut the French deficit to three with three minutes left. But Steph Curry answered with a three-pointer, then iced it with 35 seconds left by draining his eighth triple of the game over two France players. The U.S. won 98-87.
Curry, who poured in a tournament-high 36 points in the semifinals against Serbia, led the Americans again with 24 while Wembanyama had 26 for France. Kevin Durant scored 15 and collected his fourth Olympic gold — a men’s basketball record. LeBron James was named tournament MVP after winning his third gold.
The women’s final is Sunday at 9:30 a.m. ET. The United States is a 15-point favourite to beat France and win its eighth consecutive Olympic title, so the potential for a snoozer is high. But that means 42-year-old American Diana Taurasi will likely collect her record-breaking sixth gold to overtake Sue Bird for the all-time basketball record.
The U.S. reclaimed the women’s soccer title.
Mallory Swanson scored early in the second half to give the American women a 1-0 win over Brazil and their first Olympic gold since 2012. It was likely the final international match for Brazilian star Marta, who has never won an Olympic or Women’s World Cup title despite capturing six world player of the year awards.
Spain won the men’s gold on Friday, beating France 5-3 in extra time to add an Olympic title to the European championship it captured last month.
Lydia Ko won the women’s golf gold to complete her Olympic medal set.
The 2016 silver medallist and 2021 bronze medallist from New Zealand shot a 1-under 71 today at Le Golf National to hold off hard-charging German Esther Henseleit by two shots for the gold. China’s Xiyu Lin took the bronze.
Canada’s Brooke Henderson tied for 13th, seven shots off the lead and four from the podium, while Alena Sharp tied for 42nd.
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.