Wyatt Sanford will be bringing home a medal from the Paris Olympics – it’s just a matter of which colour it will be.
The Canadian boxer won his quarterfinal against Uzbekistan’s Ruslan Abdullaev in the men’s 63.5-kilogram weight class on Thursday, sending Sanford to the semifinals and guaranteeing him a medal result.
Semifinal bout losers both receive bronze medals.
Sanford, of Kennetcook, N.S., is still waiting to learn who his opponent will be on Sunday (6:30 a.m. ET on CBC Gem, CBC Olympics app). If he wins, he will fight for gold on Aug. 7.
WATCH | Sanford punches his way to an Olympic medal:
Wyatt Sanford of Kennetcook, N.S., beat Ruslan Abdullaev of Uzbekistan in the men’s 63.5 kilogram quarterfinals, to advance to the semifinals where he’s guaranteed at least a bronze medal at Paris 2024.
Dunfee places 5th in 20 km race walk
Canada’s Evan Dunfee walked his way to fifth place in the 20-kilometre men’s race walk Thursday as athletics got underway at the Paris Olympics.
The Richmond, B.C. athlete finished the race in a time of one hour 19 minutes 16 seconds, 21 seconds behind gold medallist Brian Daniel Pintado of Ecuador.
Pintado won in a time of 1:18:55, followed by Caio Bonfim of Brazil and Alvaro Martin of Spain.
Dunfee was trying to capture his second Olympic medal to follow up the bronze he won in the 50-kilometre event at the 2021 Tokyo Games.
WATCH | Dunfee finishes 5th in men’s 20km race walk at Paris 2024:
Evan Dunfee of Richmond, B.C., places fifth in the men’s 20-kilometre race walk at the Olympic Games Paris 2024 with a time of 1:19:16.
After the race, a visibly exhausted Dunfee congratulated his fellow athletes before sinking into a crouch in a corner, pouring sweat and taking deep breaths. As he leaned on a metal barricade for support, he told reporters he’d given it his all.
“I just kept telling myself, ‘just leave nothing out there,”‘ he said. “Make sure you cross that finish line proud of yourself, and I did that. I did that. I can’t ask for anything more than that.”
That bronze was Canada’s first-ever Olympic medal in the longest athletics event, which is no longer on the program.
Dunfee will also compete alongside his student and fellow B.C. athlete Olivia Lundman in the mixed race walk event that’s making its debut in Paris.
Canada qualifies for final in women’s 8 rowing
Canada’s defending-champion women’s eight rowing team has qualified for Saturday’s finals after finishing second in Thursday’s repechage.
The Canadians finished with a time of six minutes 4.81 seconds, slightly behind the American team that finished less than a second earlier.
“We really stuck to our rhythm, we didn’t do anything different from what we had planned,” said Abby Dent, 22, from Kenora, Ont. “In an Olympic year you don’t really get many races, so every race is another opportunity to fine-tune.
“I’m excited to show the world what we’ve got on Saturday.”
Australia and Italy finished third and fourth respectively in the repechage and have also qualified for the finals, joining Great Britain and Romania who won their heats on Monday.
Denmark, finishing fifth in the repechage with a time of six minutes 22.21 seconds, was eliminated.
The Canadians are in Paris as the defending gold medallists in the event after winning at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021.
The team returned four members from the Tokyo games: Coxswain Kristen Kit of St. Catharines, Ont., Calgary’s Kasia Gruchalla-Wesierski, Toronto’s Sydney Payne and Avalon Wasteneys of Campbell River, B.C.
Five others — Abby Dent of Kenora, Ont., Victoria’s Caileigh Filmer, Maya Meschkuleit of Mississauga, Ont., Jessica Sevick of Strathmore, Alta., and Kristina Walker of Wolfe Island, Ont. — joined the returning members on this year’s team.
Canada suffers 1st loss in women’s 3×3 basketball
Canada fell to 2-1 in the Olympic women’s 3×3 basketball tournament after dropping a 19-15 decision against Germany.
The Canadians were chasing from behind for most of the game after Germany got out to leads of 6-0 and 7-1 in the opening minutes and later held a 15-10 advantage.
Canada would then go on a run to tie the game at 7-7 capped by a shot by Kacie Bosch, and the teams would exchange leads as the score was 10-10 with 3:44 left in the game.
That was when the Germans would pull away again, going on a 9-2 run in the final minutes to push the score to 19-12 with 31 seconds left, putting the game out of reach for the Canadians.
Canada did not shoot as well as Germany did in the matchup, with the Canadians hitting 53 per cent of their 1-point shots and 25 per cent of their 2-pointers. Meanwhile, Germany shot 67 per cent on 1-point shots and 57 per cent on their 2-point attempts.
The Canadian side was led by twin sisters Michelle and Katherine Plouffe of Edmonton, who scored five points each. Germany was paced by Sonja Greinacher with eight points and Elisa Mevius with seven.
Canada will next face France (0-2) at 4 p.m. ET.