Day 12 Highlights
While many Canadians enjoyed the last few hours of sleep Wednesday morning, Adam van Koeverden and Mark Oldershaw were winning Olympic medals. Day 12 started with a silver medal in the men’s K-1 1,000m from Oakville’s van Koeverden and moments later was complemented by a bronze from Burlington ON’s Oldershaw in the men’s C-1 1,000m.
But Wednesday’s medal haul didn’t stop there.
On the wrestling mats, defending gold medallist Carol Huynh also fought her way to a bronze medal in the 48kg class, bringing Canada’s total medal count to 14.
Athletics
At the track Wednesday Black Creek, B.C.’s Cameron Levins doubled back after an 11th place finish in the 10,000m to advance into the 5,000m final in eighth spot in a time of 13:18.29, a personal best. “All the heats are tough. No matter what, these guys are all fast.” Levins will race in the final Saturday. In men’s decathlon, Damian Warner (London, ON) sits in third place after Day 1 (five of 10 events) of the two-day competition. The women’s 800m saw North Vancouver’s Jessica Smith advance to the Thursday’s semifinals after running a 2:07.75 in her heat. In the women’s 1,500m Hilary Stellingwerff (London, ON) ran to a 4:05.57 to finish 16 in the semifinal, while teammate Nicole Sifuentes (Winnipeg) finished in 19 with a time of 4:06.33.
In men’s 200m action, Aaron Brown of Toronto ran to ninth place in the semifinal in a personal best time of 20.42. Teammate Jared Connaughton (Charlottetown, PEI) raced to a 17th place semifinal finish with a time of 20.64.
Diving
Bronze medallists in the 10m synchronized platform, Meaghan Benfeito of Montreal, QC, and Roseline Filion of Laval, QC, competed the individual event Wednesday in preliminary action. Both divers moved on to the semifinal Thursday. The women start diving this afternoon at 2pm EST.
Equestrian
Ten-time Olympian Ian Millar (Perth, ON) finished ninth in the individual jumping event Wednesday while teammate and Olympic champ Eric Lamaze Eric Lamaze (Schomberg, ON) finished 29.
Wrestling
Also fighting for bronze in her class was Martine Dugrenier. With consecutive World Cup medals in the 63kg class the Montreal native lost out to Battsetseg Soronzonbold of Mongolia in a score of 2-0.
Kayak
Also at Eton Dorney Wednesday, Hugues Fournel (Dorval, QC) and Ryan Cochrane (Windsor, ON) finished up in 12th in the K-2 1,000m final. The pair will compete again at the 200m distance Friday morning.
BMX
In his first Olympic appearance, Tory Nyhaug-Heinonen solidified himself 20th seed in the men’s BMX cycling event, 1.736 seconds off the pace following preliminary action Wednesday. The Coquitlam, BC native will move into competition rounds Thursday at 10:27 a.m. EST.
