Day 4: What Team Canada did at Paris 2024
It was a stellar day of competition for Team Canada on Day 4 of Paris 2024. Here’s what happened:
Paris 2024 Competition Schedule
Rugby Sevens
A young Canadian women’s team shocked the rugby world with a semifinal win over Australia. Then, in the gold medal final, they pushed the defending Olympic champions from New Zealand to the limit.
Though New Zealand would narrowly win the final, the silver medal represents Canada’s best-ever Olympic result in rugby sevens.
Charity Williams, the only remaining player from Canada’s bronze medal team at Rio 2016, scored 25 points (five tries) throughout the tournament. Chloe Daniels, 21, scored 20 points (two tries, five conversions) in Paris, including seven (one try, one conversion) in the final. Piper Logan also scored 20 points (four tries) over Canada’s six matches at these Games.
Swimming
It was another busy day in the pool for Team Canada and it was highlighted by first-time Olympian Ilya Kharun qualifying for Wednesday’s men’s 200m butterfly final. The 19-year-old’s time of 1:54.01 was the third fastest in Tuesday’s semifinals.
Canada’s Kylie Masse and Ingrid Wilm both swam in the women’s 100m backstroke final. Masse had a strong start to the race, leading at the 50m mark but couldn’t maintain her lead, finishing fourth in a stacked field with a time of 58.29. Wilm, in her first Olympic Games, finished sixth with a time of 59.25.
Josh Liendo, meanwhile, swam in the men’s 100m freestyle semifinals where he finished 11th overall with a time of 48.06. Yuri Kisil took part in the morning heats but did not qualify for the semis.
Maggie Mac Neil was also in action on Tuesday morning, grabbing the 16th and final spot in the women’s 100m freestyle semifinals. She opted not to take part in order to turn her focus to upcoming relay events.
Patrick Hussey, Alex Axon, Jeremy Bagshaw and Lorne Wigginton all raced in the men’s 4 x 200m freestyle relay heats where they finished seventh and did not qualify for the evening final.
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3×3 Basketball
Canada secured their first ever 3×3 win in the Olympics with a 22-14 win over Australia.
It was a dominant victory for Canada, as they got out to a 6-0 start and led 15-2 after five minutes. Teams in 3×3 play to 21 points, or the winner is determined by the team that has the highest point total after 10 minutes. Canada needed 8 minutes and 39 seconds to hit the target score.
Katherine and Michelle Plouffe led the way for Canada, scoring 10 and eight points respectively. The 3×3 squad will be back in action on Wednesday in a highly anticipated matchup against No. 1-ranked China. The game will start at noon EST, 6 p.m. PT.
Basketball
Two days after securing their first win at the Olympics in 24 years, Canada’s men’s basketball team is firmly in control of Group A after beating Australia, 93-83.
The 2020 Olympic bronze medallists posed a challenge with their speed and scoring, as they took a four-point lead into halftime. Canada’s second-half adjustments on defence and timely baskets in the fourth quarter gave them the win.
RJ Barrett led the team in scoring for the second straight game with 23 points. He added seven rebounds, five assists, and two steals.
Canada now sits atop Group A with a 2-0 record. Wins from Spain, France, and Germany on Tuesday mean that Canada has now clinched a spot in the quarterfinals. They will play for the top spot in Group A against Spain on Friday.
Archery
Eric Peters earned two wins on Day 4, which gets him into the 1/8 elimination round of the men’s individual recurve event. He defeated Kazakhstan’s Ilfat Abdullin 6-4 in the 1/32 elimination and then got past India’s Dhiraj Bommadevara in the 1/16 elimination round. The latter match went to a 10 arrow shootout after both archers were tied 5-5 after five sets. Peters commented that the crowd at Les Invalides was the biggest he had ever seen for archery.
Artistic Gymnastics
The Canadian women’s team matched the country’s best ever Olympic result in the women’s team event, placing fifth in the final.
READ: Team Canada matches best ever Olympic result in women’s team artistic gymnastics
Judo
Both Canadian judokas in action made it to the repechage round but no further. Catherine Beauchemin-Pinard was eliminated from the women’s 63kg event in golden score time on a waza-ari by Kosovo’s Laura Fazliu. That wasn’t long after François Gauthier-Drapeau lost in the men’s 81kg event to Belgium’s Matthias Casse, also in golden score time.
Tennis
Félix Auger-Aliassime made quick work of Germany’s Maximilian Marterer, winning in straight sets, 6-0, 6-1 in the second round of the men’s singles tournament.
A few hours later, Auger-Aliassime was serving up winners again, this time with Gaby Dabrowski in the first round of mixed doubles. They defeated Great Britain’s Heather Watson and Joe Salisbury 7-5, 4-6, (10-3).
Leylah Annie Fernandez was defeated in the third round of women’s singles 6-4, 6-3 by Germany’s Angelique Kerber.
Sailing
Another full day of racing saw Team Canada’s 49erFX team of Georgia and Antonia Lewin-LaFrance sitting in 11th place overall after nine races. In the 49er class, Will Jones and Justin Barnes sit in 16th after nine races.
Canoe Slalom
Both of Canada’s slalom paddlers missed out on advancing to the semifinals in their respective events on Day 4 by one spot. Lois Betteridge placed 19th in the heats of the women’s C-1 event, while Alex Baldoni placed 21st in the men’s K-1 heats. Both have one more event to come in the Games, the Olympic debut of kayak cross.
Cycling – BMX
Jeffrey Whaley became Canada’s first ever Olympian in BMX freestyle when he competed in the men’s park event at La Concorde. He finished 10th in the qualification round, missing out on advancing to the final by one spot.
Volleyball
Canada went down in men’s volleyball to France on Tuesday in front of their home fans at South Paris Arena 1.
For the second straight game, the Canadians were competitive in each set, but ultimately could not pull a run together. They were beaten in straights sets, 25-20, 25-21, 25-17.
The loss puts Canada at 0-2 in the tournament. They share the same record as their next opponent, Serbia, but are behind them based on sets won. The Canadians will be looking for a win and some other results to go in their favour to advance to the quarterfinal round. They play Serbia on August 3.
Equestrian
After the first day of dressage competition, Team Canada consisting of Naïma Moreira Laliberté (Statesman), Chris von Martels (Eclips), and Camille Carier Bergeron (Finnländerin) sit in fifth place in the team ranking. Only Moreira Laliberté and von Martels competed today, as Carier Bergeron will compete on the second day of Grand Prix competition. The Canadians were among seven teams that had two riders in action for Grand Prix Day 1. Eight other teams only had one rider compete on Day 4.
