Day 6: What Team Canada did at Paris 2024
Another gold medal was added to Team Canada’s medal total on Day 6 at Paris 2024, but there was plenty more to be excited about if you are a Team Canada fan.
Paris 2024 Competition Schedule
Swimming
It was another golden day in the pool for Summer McIntosh. The 17-year-old won her second gold medal of Paris 2024, winning the women’s 200m butterfly to become the first Canadian to ever capture a medal in the event. Her time of 2:03.03 set an Olympic record.
READ: McIntosh wins third medal of Paris 2024 — gold in women’s 200m butterfly
McIntosh also suited up for Team Canada in the women’s 4 x 200m freestyle relay final, joining Mary-Sophie Harvey, Ella Jansen and Julie Brousseau. The Canadians fought their way to a fourth-place finish with a time of 7:46.05. In the morning heats, Emma O’Croinin took McIntosh’s spot.
Three Canadians will swim in Friday finals after securing spots on Thursday. Kylie Masse qualified for the women’s 200m backstroke final while Finlay Knox will race for a medal in the men’s 200m individual medley. Josh Liendo initially missed qualifying for the 50m freestyle final by just 0.05 seconds, but got advanced into it when another swimmer scratched.
Also in action on Thursday was Regan Rathwell, who swam the women’s 200m backstroke morning heats.
Boxing
Wyatt Sanford emerged victorious from his quarterfinal match against Uzbekistan’s Ruslan Abdullaev, winning 4-1. He is now guaranteed a medal as he advances to the semifinals on Sunday.
“I’m on top of the world,” exclaimed an ecstatic Sanford. “We’re finally after 28 years of a drought, we’re bringing a medal home to Canada. But I know Canada wants the gold and I want to give it to them. So two more wins and we can do it.”
READ: Sanford off to semis, will be Canada’s first Olympic boxing medallist in 28 years
Fencing
Eleanor Harvey, Jessica Guo, and Yunjia Zhang finished fourth in the women’s team foil event. They made it to the bronze medal match, but lost a close battle with Japan, 33-32. This ties Canada’s best ever Olympic result in any team fencing event.
The Canadians opened the day with a 38-36 win over France in the Table of 8. The team had been trailing by one when Harvey took to the piste for her final relay in which she outscored her opponent 6-3. Zhang had won two of her three relays during the match.
Canada ended up in the bronze medal match after dropping their semifinal to the United States 45-31. The American team included the gold and silver medallists in the individual foil event.
Athletics
Team Canada racewalker Evan Dunfee got things rolling in athletics, racing to a fifth-place finish in the men’s 20km race walk, crossing the line just five seconds after the bronze medallist. He will next compete alongside Olivia Lundman, whom he also coaches, in the marathon mixed relay on August 7. This will be the first time the event is contested at the Olympic Games.
Artistic Gymnastics
Ellie Black placed sixth in the women’s individual all-around final, Canada’s second best Olympic result all-time in the event, behind only her fifth-place finish at Rio 2016. She had a total score of 54.799, which left her 1.666 back of a podium position. After opening with a near-flawless routine on the uneven bars, Black had an unfortunate fall off the balance beam, just as she had in the qualification round. But she bounced back with an outstanding floor exercise routine that had the crowd enthralled and closed out with an excellent vault.
Ava Stewart, who was competing in her first Olympic all-around final, placed 19th.
Rowing
Team Canada’s women’s eight finished second in their repechage heat to advance on to the A Final, which will take place on August 3 at 10:50 a.m. local / 5:50 a.m. ET. The Canadians are the defending Olympic champions in the event.
“We really stuck to our rhythm, we didn’t do anything different from what we had planned. In an Olympic year you don’t really get many races, so every race is another opportunity to fine-tune,” said crew member Abby Dent post-race.
Paris 2024 Olympic Games Information Hub
3×3 Basketball
Canada’s 3×3 squad split their two games on Thursday, losing against Germany early in the morning, and responding with a win against France in the late evening.
Canada went down early in their loss against Germany, and although they took the lead with four minutes remaining, Canada’s offence halted from that point as the Germans took back control and won 19-15.
Nearly 12 hours passed before their second matchup of the day with France, but Canada was ready for the challenge as they jumped out to a 5-0 lead in front of opposing fans. Despite some close moments, France never led and Canada left the court with a 13-9 victory.
Canada is one of three teams with three wins in pool play. They currently sit in second place behind Australia due to point differential.
They will play twice tomorrow as well, with the first matchup coming against a struggling U.S. squad at noon ET, and the second coming at 3 p.m. ET against Spain.
Cycling BMX Racing
Molly Simpson has advanced to the semifinals of the women’s BMX racing after finishing fourth overall in the quarterfinals. Simpson placed second in all three runs of her quarterfinal heat. The three semifinal runs and then the final will take place on Friday.
Basketball
Canada’s women’s basketball is on the brink of elimination after falling to Australia in their second game in Paris 2024. Despite a hot shooting day from beyond the arc for Canada, they shot just 31% from two, and committed 16 turnovers.
In the fourth quarter, Canada was held without a point for the first 3:22 of game time, allowing Australia to grow the lead to 11 and not look back, winning by a final score of 70-65.
Bridget Carleton had 19 points and drained five triples, tying her for the most by a Canadian at the Olympics in senior women’s national team history. Natalia Achonwa also made some history, becoming the all-time assist leader for Canada at the Olympic Games with 37, passing Shona Thornburn.
With Nigeria’s loss to France on Thursday, Canada’s hopes of advancing to the knockout stage are still alive. They will need a win against Nigeria on Sunday, and some very favourable results to advance on point differential. Canada will take on Nigeria in the final game of group play on Sunday at 7:30 a.m. ET / 1:30 p.m. local.
Golf
Corey Conners and Nick Taylor were the first Team Canada golfers in action at Le Golf National for the first round of the men’s individual stroke play event. Conners shot a 3-under-par 68 to hold a share of 14th place, five shots back of the leading Hideki Matsuyama of Japan.
Taylor carded a 1-under-par 70 to sit in a tie for 29th. Second round action gets underway on Friday at 9 a.m. local / 3 a.m. ET
Tennis
Félix Auger-Aliassime is off to the semifinals of the men’s singles tournament after defeating sixth-seed Casper Ruud in three sets 6-4, 6-7 (8), 6-3 in the quarterfinals. The Canadian is now assured of getting to play in a medal match. He will face this year’s French Open champion, second seed Carlos Alcarez of Spain, in the semifinals at Roland-Garros on Friday.
Not long after he finished that 2 hour 47 minute match, Auger-Aliassime was back on the court for a mixed doubles semifinal with Gaby Dabrowski. He couldn’t make it a two-win day though as they dropped it in straight sets, 6-3, 6-3 to Czechia’s Katerina Siniakova and Tomas Machac. Auger-Aliassime and Dabrowski will play for the bronze medal on Friday.
Sailing
Only one of the two scheduled races got off for the ILCA 6 class. Team Canada’s Sarah Douglas currently sits in 23rd place after her first race of the regatta.
Archery
Virginie Chénier fell 6-2 to Octavia Rezza of Indonesia in the women’s individual 1/32 elimination round.
Beach Volleyball
Heather Bansley and Sophie Bukovec lost their final preliminary round match to Australia’s Mariafe Artacho del Solar and Taliqua Clancy, 2-0 (21-10, 21-16). They finished fourth in their pool and will not advance.
Judo
Shady Elnahas lost to Switzerland’s Daniel Eich in the men’s -100 kg elimination round of 16 and will not advance in the tournament.
Equestrian – Jumping
Team Canada’s equestrian jumping team of Mario Deslauriers (Emerson), Erynn Ballard (Nikka Vd Bisschop) and Amy Millar (Truman) placed 14th in the team jumping qualification round and will not advance to the final.
Shooting
Shannon Westlake finished 32nd in the qualification round of the women’s 50m rifle three positions and did not advance to the final.
