Olympic newsletter: A Summer hat trick, and who to watch on Sunday
Swim sensation wins her third gold; Katzberg goes for historic hammer title
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Four more medals. And a hat trick for Summer McIntosh.
The 17-year-old swimming sensation won her third gold medal — the most ever by a Canadian at a single Olympics — to lead her country's most productive day of the Paris Games so far.
Just before McIntosh grabbed her fourth overall medal in her fourth and final individual race, winning the women's 200m medley, Josh Liendo and Ilya Kharun captured silver and bronze in the men's 100m butterfly, giving Kharun his second bronze of the Games. The defending-champion Canadian women's eight rowing team earned a silver to start the day.
Saturday's haul brings Canada's medal count to 15 (four gold, four silver, seven bronze) through eight full days of competition. That's good for ninth place in the total-medal standings at the halfway point of the Games.
But it wasn't a super Saturday for everyone. Defending Olympic champion Damian Warner withdrew from the decathlon after failing to clear the bar in the pole vault. Felix Auger-Aliassime fell short of his second tennis medal, losing the men's bronze match. And the Canadian women's soccer team's spirited rally from the depths of the Dronegate scandal ended with a penalty-shootout loss to Germany.
Some of the United States' brightest stars came out to shine again on Day 8. Simone Biles won her seventh Olympic gymnastics gold, Katie Ledecky swam to her eighth solo Olympic title by winning the 800m for the fourth straight time, while Ryan Crouser became the first man to three-peat in the Olympic shot put.
In the biggest track event of the day, Saint Lucian sprinter Julien Alfred upset American Sha'Carri Richardson to win the women's 100m gold — her country's first-ever Olympic medal.
Sunday looks like another eventful day. McIntosh is expected to try for her Canadian-record-tying fifth medal of the Games in the closing relay race, hammer throw world champion Ethan Katzberg goes for an historic gold, track star Andre De Grasse attempts to reach the men's 100m final, and boxer Wyatt Sanford tries to punch his way to a title shot.
More on all that below in our daily viewing guide. Plus, an update on Canada's basketball playoff opponents, an exciting final round shaping up in men's golf, and Novak Djokovic's likely last shot at the only big tennis title he's never won.
WATCH | Summer McIntosh completes golden hat trick with 3rd Olympic win:
A stellar Sunday is on tap
Here are the top Canadian contenders to watch:
Swimming: Summer McIntosh (we think) in the women's 4x100m medley final
Relay lineups typically aren't decided until race day. But you have to figure McIntosh will take a shot at a record-tying fifth medal on a day where she has no other events and there's no tomorrow — this is the very last swimming race of the Games.
If McIntosh reaches the podium here, she'll match speed skater Cindy Klassen (2006) for the most medals by a Canadian at a single Olympics. She'd also break a tie with Penny Oleksiak (2016) for the Summer Games record — with an assist from her. Oleksiak helped Canada place second overall in today's heats as McIntosh sat out, giving Penny a chance to pad her all-time Canadian record of seven Olympic medals.
And Saturday night Oleksiak posted on social media hinting that the semifinal was her final Olympic race. The final is at 1:32 p.m. ET.
WATCH | CBC's Meg Roberts previews what to watch on Day 9:
Canada also qualified for the men's 4x100m medley final at 1:10 p.m. ET. So that's two chances to add to the eight medals Canadian swimmers have won in Paris — tied with the Montreal 1976 team for the country's most ever at a non-boycotted Olympics.
Read more about Summer's golden Games in this story by CBC Sports' Karissa Donkin. And watch Summer's inspiring message for Canadian kids.
Track and field: Ethan Katzberg in the men's hammer throw final
It's been 112 years since Canada's last Olympic hammer throw medal. But Katzberg, 22, is heavily favoured to win its first gold after topping the podium in his world-championship debut last year. He's unbeaten in 2024, owns the top four throws of the year and looked sharp in qualifying with the best toss there too.
The second-best throw in qualifying went to Canada's Rowan Hamilton, who bears a striking resemblance to Katzberg (just so you don't get confused). Katzberg's top challengers include defending Olympic champion Wojciech Nowicki and five-time world champ Pawel Fajdek, both of Poland. The final starts at 2:30 p.m. ET.
Women's hammer throw world champion Camryn Rogers gets started with her qualifying round at 4:20 a.m. ET.
Track and field: Andre De Grasse in the men's 100m semifinals (and maybe the final)
Canada's biggest track star has never failed to win a medal at the Olympics, reaching the podium six times in six starts over the past two Games. The streak could be in jeopardy here as De Grasse drew a tough semifinal heat after slipping through with a third-place finish in his opening-round group.
De Grasse is in the third heat of the semifinals, which begin at 2:05 p.m. ET. He'll race against the likes of Kishane Thompson, who emerged as the betting favourite for gold after running a world-leading 9.77 seconds to win the Jamaican trials; Kenya's Ferdinand Omanyala, who owns the second-fastest time of the year; American Fred Kerley, the 2022 world champion and 2021 Olympic silver medallist; and Britain's Zharnel Hughes, the bronze medallist at last year's worlds. The top two finishers in each semi advance to the final, plus the next two fastest overall times.
Reigning 100m and 200m world champion Noah Lyles of the U.S., who's gunning for the Olympic double, and defending Olympic champ Marcell Jacobs of Italy are in separate semifinal heats. The final goes at 3:50 p.m. ET.
Other Canadians to watch on the track Sunday include Christopher Morales-Williams in the first round of the men's 400m and Audrey Leduc in the women's 200m opener. Both sprinters broke the Canadian record this year, and Morales-Williams set an unofficial indoor world record too.
Leduc lowered her own Canadian 100m record in Friday's heats, but she was eliminated after finishing fifth in her semifinal heat today. Jamaican star Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce was a surprise scratch from the 100 semis due to an injury suffered in warmups.
Boxing: Wyatt Sanford in the men's 63.5kg semifinals
The 25-year-old welterweight from tiny Kennetcook, N.S., is already guaranteed to win Canada's first Olympic boxing medal since 1996 because both semifinal losers are awarded a bronze. If he beats Frenchman Sofiane Oumiha at 6:36 a.m. ET, Sanford will fight for Canada's first Olympic boxing gold since Lennox Lewis won the super-heavyweight title in 1988.
In the ring today, Algeria's Imane Khelif clinched a medal by winning her women's 66kg quarterfinal. Khelif is the fighter whose Italian first-round opponent quit their match in tears, leading some to point out that Khelif was kicked out of last year's world championships, supposedly due to gender-eligibility rules. But there's a lot more to the story than certain culture warriors care to know, as CBC Sports contributor Morgan Campbell writes.
Some other things to know
The Canadian men's basketball team will face France in the quarterfinals.
After completing a perfect 3-0 group stage on Friday, Canada ended up with the No. 3 seed behind the gold-medal favourite United States and Basketball World Cup champion Germany. Partly because teams from the same group aren't allowed to meet again in the quarters, Canada will not face No. 6 Australia in the eight-team bracket but rather No. 5 France.
The host team was touted pretty highly because of its twin-tower combo of NBA rookie of the year Victor Wembanyama and defensive player of the year Rudy Gobert. That's a tough matchup for Canada's undersized frontcourt. But France went a lacklustre 2-1 in its group, getting trounced by Germany and needing overtime to beat Japan.
All of the quarterfinals are on Tuesday. The other matchups are the U.S. vs. Brazil, Germany vs. Greece and Serbia vs. Australia. The winner of Canada vs. France meets Germany or Greece in the semis on Thursday. Read how Canada's chemistry will be tested in the playoffs in this story by CBC Sports' Myles Dichter.
The Canadian women's team is on the brink of elimination at 0-2 heading into its group finale on Sunday at 7:30 a.m. ET vs. Nigeria.
The Canadian women's 3x3 team reached their semifinals today by clipping Azerbaijan 21-19 to finish 4-3 in the round robin before pounding Australia 21-10 in a play-in game. Canada will face top-seeded Germany (6-1) on Monday, then play for either gold or bronze later in the day.
Some of golf's biggest stars are gunning for gold.
Former Masters and U.S. Open champion Jon Rahm of Spain and American Xander Schauffele, winner of two majors this year, head into Sunday's final round tied at 14 under par. England's Tommy Fleetwood, one of the better players to have never won a major, is alone in third at 13 under.
Former Masters champ Hideki Matsuyama is 11 under — tied with Danish youngster Nicolai Hojgaard, who fired a course-record-tying 9-under 62 today at Le Golf National. Four-time major winner Rory McIlroy of Ireland and world No. 1 Scottie Scheuffler are among a group at 10 under.
Canada's Corey Conners is tied for 17th at 7 under, making him a longshot for the podium. Nick Taylor is tied for 34th in the 60-man field at 2 under. Here's the full leaderboard.
Novak Djokovic can complete the career Golden Slam.
Only four tennis players in history have won all four Grand Slam singles titles along with an Olympic singles gold. Germany's Steffi Graf did it in the same calendar year in 1988 before Americans Andre Agassi and Serena Williams and Spain's Rafael Nadal matched the feat.
Djokovic has captured a record 24 men's Slam titles, including at least three of each major, but the Olympic gold has eluded him. He took bronze in his Olympic debut in 2008 before losing the bronze match in 2012 and 2021. In 2016, the Serbian star was upset in the first round by Argentina's Juan Martín del Potro — the same guy who beat him for the bronze four years earlier.
The top-seeded Djokovic, 37, will appear in his first Olympic final Sunday at Roland Garros against No. 2 Carlos Alcaraz of Spain. They'll be playing on the same clay court where the 21-year-old Alcaraz won the French Open in June before beating Djokovic in the Wimbledon final last month for his fourth major title. The match should get started sometime around 7:30 a.m. ET.
How to watch the Olympics
Live events are televised on the CBC TV network, TSN and Sportsnet. Or choose exactly what you want to watch by live streaming on CBC Gem or CBC Sports' Paris 2024 website and app.
Highlights of CBC Sports' digital coverage include Paris Tonight with host Ariel Helwani, live every night at 11 p.m. ET from Canada Olympic House in Paris; Rise and Stream with host Meg Roberts, identifying the key events to watch each day; Hot Takes with host Dale Manucdoc, highlighting must-see moments; and Paris Pulse with Meg and Dale, discussing trending stories from the Games.
You can also test your Olympic knowledge and win prizes on The Game, a nightly trivia contest with host Craig McMorris. Read more about CBC's multi-platform Olympics coverage here.
