What to watch in Olympic sports this weekend
Paris spots up for grabs in aquatics, women's basketball
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Super Bowl Sunday is almost upon us, but in the meantime there's plenty going on in Olympic sports. Tickets to the Paris Summer Games are on the line at women's basketball qualifiers and the World Aquatics Championships, the women's hockey Rivalry Series will be decided, and Canadians are competing in a variety of winter World Cup events:
Here's what to watch before the big football game:
World Aquatics Championships
Today in Doha, Canada clinched an Olympic spot in artistic swimming's duet and team events. The sport formerly known as synchronized swimming has produced Canada's only two medals of the world championships so far: Jacqueline Simoneau's gold in the women's solo free event and her silver in the solo technical. There are no solo events in the Olympics.
Diving competition wraps up on Saturday. Canada's last chance for a medal is in the men's 10-metre platform, where Rylan Wiens and Nathan Zsombor-Murray will try to qualify for the final. Zsombor-Murray clinched an Olympic spot for Canada last year, and Wiens can add another.
The Canadian women's water polo team's Olympic hopes are at stake Saturday at 11 a.m. ET vs. New Zealand. Canada must win the playoff game to advance to Monday's quarterfinals, and it must advance to the quarterfinals to have a chance to qualify for the Olympics.
Swimming begins Sunday. With the Olympics less than six months away, most of the world's best elected to skip the world championships, including Canadians Summer McIntosh, Maggie Mac Neil, Kylie Masse, Josh Liendo and Penny Oleksiak.
McIntosh is instead competing at a meet in Orlando, Fla., close to her training base in Sarasota. Last night, the 17-year-old phenom handed American star Katie Ledecky her first loss in a women's 800m freestyle final in more than 13 years. McIntosh also shattered my CBC Sports colleague Brittany MacLean's decade-old Canadian record by more than eight seconds (Brittany, always gracious, seems genuinely happy for her).
Canada's Olympic women's basketball qualifier
Four tournaments are taking place around the world to decide the final 10 entries for the Paris Olympics. To get in, all Canada needs to do is not finish last in its four-team round-robin qualifying tournament in Hungary.
The Canadians, ranked fifth in the world, opened with an easy win over the 19th-ranked host team yesterday. But they missed a chance to clinch an Olympic spot today, losing 60-55 to No. 4 Spain. All four teams head into their final game with a 1-1 record after Hungary beat ninth-ranked Japan.
The Olympic spots will be decided Sunday. Canada faces Japan at 9 a.m. ET, followed by Spain vs. Hungary.
Women's hockey Rivalry Series
The final two games in the Canadian and U.S. national teams' 2023-24 tour take place tonight in Regina and Sunday afternoon in Minnesota. Last season, the Canadians lost the first three games before storming back to take the seven-game series. They hope to repeat that feat after beating the Americans 4-2 on Wednesday in Regina to cut their series deficit to 3-2.
This is the first Rivalry Series since the birth of the Professional Women's Hockey League, which features all of the pros on the Canadian and U.S. national teams. Read Karissa Donkin's catchup on how things are going after the PWHL's first month.
Other stuff to watch:
* The short track speed skating World Cup season resumes in Germany. Heading into the second-last stop, Canada's Steven Dubois leads the men's overall standings while William Dandjinou ranks third. Four-time Olympic medallist Kim Boutin will make her season debut after skipping the first four meets to focus on her studies.
* Canada's top ski cross racers look to keep their momentum going in the country of Georgia. Reece Howden took the lead in the men's World Cup standings with his win in Italy last week, while Marielle Thompson and Brittany Phelan are neck and neck in the women's chase after their 1-2 finish.
* Liam Gill, who found an escape from his school struggles on the slopes, is among the Canadian snowboarders competing in Calgary's "snow rodeo" World Cup competitions.
* The cross-country skiing World Cup tour makes a rare Canadian stop in Canmore, Alta.
* Lac Beauport, Que., hosts this week's aerials events. Alexandre Duchaine won his first World Cup gold last week in Utah.
How to watch:
You can stream the World Aquatics Championships and many of the other events mentioned above on CBCSports.ca, the CBC Sports app and CBC Gem. The CBC TV network is showing a variety of sports on Saturday from 1-6 p.m. ET. See the full broadcast and streaming schedules for details.
The women's basketball qualifier is on Sportsnet. The Rivalry Series is on TSN.
