Canada’s Wyatt Sanford guaranteed a boxing medal at Paris Olympics
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Wyatt Sanford will be bringing home a medal from the Paris Olympics – it’s just a matter of which colour it will be.
The Canadian boxer won his quarterfinal against Uzbekistan’s Ruslan Abdullaev in the men’s 63.5-kilogram weight class on Thursday, sending Sanford to the semifinals and guaranteeing him a medal result.
Semifinal bout losers both receive bronze.
“It feels amazing. I am sure it will kick in when I meet my parents soon,” Sanford said of being assured a medal.
“I’m super excited and super thrilled that we were able to bring home a medal for Canada in boxing. It hasn’t been done for 28 years.”
Sanford, of Kennetcook, N.S., will face Sofiane Oumiha of France on Sunday (6:30 a.m. ET on CBC Gem, CBC Olympics app). If he wins, he will fight for gold on Aug. 7.
“It was a great fight. Never count me out after the first round,” said Sanford, who was trailing his opponent at that time. “I’m used to losing the first round, but it’s my heart, my cardio that will push through, so I could win the second and the third.”
WATCH | Sanford punches his way to an Olympic medal:
Wyatt Sanford of Kennetcook, N.S., beat Ruslan Abdullaev of Uzbekistan in the men’s 63.5 kilogram quarterfinals, to advance to the semifinals where he’s guaranteed at least a bronze medal at Paris 2024.
Mayer joins LePage on decathlon sideline
World record holder Kevin Mayer of France has been ruled out of the Olympic decathlon due to a thigh injury, the French Olympic Committee said Thursday.
The two-time Olympic silver medallist picked up the injury as he fell heavily during the 110-metre hurdles leg of a triathlon at the Paris Diamond League earlier this month.
Mayer, whose record of 9,126 points has stood since 2018, explained he had not fully recovered from the injury.
“Unfortunately, the tests weren’t conclusive, and they don’t give us any hope of being competitive tomorrow. That’s the law of sport and it’s tough. I won’t be at the start of the decathlon,” the 32-year-old wrote on Instagram.
On Tuesday, Mayer said he was giving himself a 10 per cent chance of taking part in the Olympics.
The decathlon gets underway on Friday with the 100 at 4:05 a.m. ET.
Pierce LePage of Whitby, Ont., will also be absent from the event due to a herniated disc suffered in April. The reigning world champion needs back surgery.
Damian Warner of London, Ont., is the defending Olympic champion in the decathlon and will compete in Paris after capturing an historic eighth Hypo Meeting title in May.
Dunfee places 5th in 20 km race walk
Canada’s Evan Dunfee walked his way to fifth place in the 20-kilometre men’s race walk Thursday as athletics got underway at the Paris Olympics.
The Richmond, B.C. athlete finished the race in a time of one hour 19 minutes 16 seconds, 21 seconds behind gold medallist Brian Daniel Pintado of Ecuador.
Pintado won in a time of 1:18:55, followed by Caio Bonfim of Brazil and Alvaro Martin of Spain.
Dunfee was trying to capture his second Olympic medal to follow up the bronze he won in the 50-kilometre event at the 2021 Tokyo Games.
WATCH | Dunfee finishes 5th in men’s 20km race walk at Paris 2024:
Evan Dunfee of Richmond, B.C., places fifth in the men’s 20-kilometre race walk at the Olympic Games Paris 2024 with a time of 1:19:16.
After the race, a visibly exhausted Dunfee congratulated his fellow athletes before sinking into a crouch in a corner, pouring sweat and taking deep breaths. As he leaned on a metal barricade for support, he told reporters he’d given it his all.
“I just kept telling myself, ‘just leave nothing out there,”‘ he said. “Make sure you cross that finish line proud of yourself, and I did that. I did that. I can’t ask for anything more than that.”
That bronze was Canada’s first-ever Olympic medal in the longest athletics event, which is no longer on the program.
Dunfee will also compete alongside his student and fellow B.C. athlete Olivia Lundman in the mixed race walk event that’s making its debut in Paris.
Bansley, Bukovec eliminated in beach volleyball
First-year beach volleyball partners Heather Bansley and Sophie Bukovec lost 21-10, 21-16 to Australia’s Taliqua Clancy and Mariafe Artacho del Soler and will not advance to the Round of 16.
The Canadians exit the women’s Olympic without a victory in three matches and dropped each of their six sets at Eiffel Tower Stadium in Paris.
They qualified for these Games in June by claiming top spot in the NORCECA tournament in Tlaxcala, Mexico.
WATCH | Full coverage of Bansley and Bukovec’s final match in Paris:
Watch women’s beach volleyball action as Canada’s Heather Bansley and Sophie Bukovec take on Australia’s Mariafe Artacho del Solar and Taliqua Clancy at Paris 2024
Canada qualifies for final in women’s 8 rowing
Canada’s defending-champion women’s eight rowing team has qualified for Saturday’s finals after finishing second in Thursday’s repechage.
The Canadians finished with a time of six minutes 4.81 seconds, slightly behind the American team that finished less than a second earlier.
“We really stuck to our rhythm, we didn’t do anything different from what we had planned,” said Abby Dent, 22, from Kenora, Ont. “In an Olympic year you don’t really get many races, so every race is another opportunity to fine-tune.
“I’m excited to show the world what we’ve got on Saturday.”
Australia and Italy finished third and fourth respectively in the repechage and have also qualified for the finals, joining Great Britain and Romania who won their heats on Monday.
Denmark, finishing fifth in the repechage with a time of six minutes 22.21 seconds, was eliminated.
The Canadians are in Paris as the defending gold medallists in the event after winning at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021.
The team returned four members from the Tokyo games: Coxswain Kristen Kit of St. Catharines, Ont., Calgary’s Kasia Gruchalla-Wesierski, Toronto’s Sydney Payne and Avalon Wasteneys of Campbell River, B.C.
Five others — Abby Dent of Kenora, Ont., Victoria’s Caileigh Filmer, Maya Meschkuleit of Mississauga, Ont., Jessica Sevick of Strathmore, Alta., and Kristina Walker of Wolfe Island, Ont. — joined the returning members on this year’s team.
Canada suffers 1st loss in women’s 3×3 basketball
Canada fell to 2-1 in the Olympic women’s 3×3 basketball tournament after dropping a 19-15 decision against Germany.
The Canadians were chasing from behind for most of the game after Germany got out to leads of 6-0 and 7-1 in the opening minutes and later held a 15-10 advantage.
Canada would then go on a run to tie the game at 7-7 capped by a shot by Kacie Bosch, and the teams would exchange leads as the score was 10-10 with 3:44 left in the game.
That was when the Germans would pull away again, going on a 9-2 run in the final minutes to push the score to 19-12 with 31 seconds left, putting the game out of reach for the Canadians.
Canada did not shoot as well as Germany did in the matchup, with the Canadians hitting 53 per cent of their 1-point shots and 25 per cent of their 2-pointers. Meanwhile, Germany shot 67 per cent on 1-point shots and 57 per cent on their 2-point attempts.
The Canadian side was led by twin sisters Michelle and Katherine Plouffe of Edmonton, who scored five points each. Germany was paced by Sonja Greinacher with eight points and Elisa Mevius with seven.
Canada will next face France (0-2) at 4 p.m. ET.
