Olympic wake-up call: Canadian women top Olympic podium
Here's what you may have missed on Day 14 of the Tokyo Olympic Games
As the closing ceremony nears, Canadian athletes are continuing to make an impression and push for their golden moments at the Tokyo Olympic Games.
Canada's Laurence Vincent Lapointe already has one cherished Olympic medal from Tokyo — and now she's going for a second with teammate Katie Vincent.
The women are into the semifinals of the canoe double 500-metre race. The pair didn't automatically qualify because they placed third in their heat, but ended up winning their quarter-final to advance.
And they're not the only canoeists moving on up after the morning's races.
Here's more of what you may have missed in Tokyo on Friday:
A Canadian race-walking bronze
Depending on where you are across the country — or your sleeping schedule — you may have missed Canadian race-walker Evan Dunfee launch the day with a roaring result.
Dunfee, a 30-year-old from Richmond, B.C., claimed the bronze in the 50-kilometre event.
After a roller-coaster of emotions in Rio 2016, he captured the first Olympic medal in 29 years by a Canadian in race-walking.
Canada's golden soccer team
It may have been a quieter overnight in Canada, but it was only building to an action-packed and guaranteed thriller of a morning in Tokyo.
As Canada woke up, the country's women's soccer team took the field in the long-awaited gold-medal match against Sweden.
The teams ended regulation time 1-1 and remained tied after two periods of extra time. The Canadians finally secured the gold 3-2 in penalty kicks.
Cyclists, diver moving on in competition
Canadian cyclists Kelsey Mitchell and Lauriane Genest made it through to the 1/8 finals in the women's sprint event at the Izu Velodrome.
Genest was coming off her bronze-medal achievement in the women's keirin on Thursday.
Mitchell holds the world record for the 200m flying start at 10.154 seconds.
Meanwhile, Canadian diver Nathan Zsombor-Murray is into the semifinal of the men's 10-metre platform event after placing fifth in the preliminary round.
His second dive, a forward 4½-somersault tuck, earned a score of 96.20.
Fellow Canadian Rylan Wiens finished 19th, just outside the top 18 men who move on to the semifinals.
Long-distance, middle-distance and relay — Oh my!
If you were hoping for even more adrenaline to carry you through the morning, you were in luck. Here's what happened on the track.
First: Moh Ahmed and Justyn Knight raced in the men's 5,000-metre final.
Ahmed, 30, from St. Catharines, Ont., improved upon his fourth-place finish in Rio in 2016 by running to silver in Tokyo, becoming the first Canadian to earn an Olympic medal in the event.
Knight finished in seventh.
Then: Canada's Gabriela DeBues-Stafford took to the track in the women's 1,500-metre final and finished fifth.
Finally: Andre De Grasse anchored the men's 4x100-metre relay team to a bronze medal.
Including De Grasse, the team of Aaron Brown, Brendon Rodney and Jerome Blake finished second in its heat to make the final.
De Grasse won medals in the relay, as well as the men's 100-metre and 200-metre races, in Rio 2016. After winning medals in the other two events in Tokyo, he completed the trifecta Friday.
Three of the men were on that Olympic bronze medal relay team in 2016, with the exception of Jerome Blake.
Golf races a storm
Golfers in the women's tournament will get an early start on Saturday in hopes of avoiding a tropical storm. Organizers are hoping to beat the bad weather and warned players that if the storm interferes, it could mean reducing the tournament from 72 holes to 54.
Canada's Brooke Henderson and Alena Sharp are in 40th and 44th place, respectively, after three of four rounds. Henderson is even at par, while Sharp is one-over.
American Nelly Korda is in the lead at 15-under.
Rhythmic gymnastics begins
In impressive displays of artistry and athleticism, rhythmic gymnastics started its qualification rounds for the individual all-around event on Friday.
Athletes showcased immense control and flexibility, performing leaps and spins behind the blur of a multi-coloured ribbon — as well as working with other apparatus — before tossing it impossibly high into the air.
Twins are at the top of the leader board, Dina and Arina Averina of the Russian Olympic Committee. Dina has won the gold at the past three world championships and finished the qualifier narrowly ahead of her sister.
No Canadians are in the running: Gymnastics Canada did not send gymnasts to the 2021 Senior Pan American Championships, which was a last-chance Tokyo qualifier, because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
