It’s an Olympic year — here’s what’s coming up on the road to Paris

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The 2024 Summer Games officially open on July 26 in the French capital. That’s a little more than 200 days away. In the meantime, Canadian athletes will compete in several key events where they can either qualify for the Olympics or boost their hopes of contending for a medal.

Here, in chronological order, are some of the things to look for over the next few months:

Olympic field hockey qualifiers (Jan. 13-21): Canada has never won an Olympic medal in this sport. But the men’s team can clinch its third straight trip to the Games and the women’s squad can earn its first appearance since 1992 by finishing in the top three at their respective eight-team global qualifying tournaments. The Canadian men play in Oman, while the women are in Spain. For both teams, it’s their last chance to qualify for Paris.

World Aquatics Championships (Feb. 2-18): These are not normally held in an Olympic year. But, after a series of pandemic-related cancellations, the world governing body decided to cram the Doha-hosted worlds into a window less than six months from the Games. As a result, most of the world’s top swimmers are staying home, including Canadians Summer McIntosh, Penny Oleksiak, Maggie Mac Neil, Kylie Masse and Josh Liendo. But Canada is still expected to send a strong team of divers, led by world-championship medallists Pamela Ware, Caeli McKay, Mia Vallée, Rylan Wiens and Nathan Zsombor-Murray. Plus, the Canadian women’s water polo team will compete for one of the two remaining Olympic spots in their event.

Olympic women’s basketball qualifiers (Feb 8-11): The 10 remaining spots in Paris are up for grabs at four separate last-chance global qualifying tournaments happening in different parts of the world. Canada’s takes place in Hungary, where the world’s fifth-ranked team will compete with No. 4 Spain, No. 9 Japan and No. 19 Hungary for three Olympic berths. The final men’s qualifiers aren’t until early July, after the NBA season, but the Canadian men already earned their first Olympic berth since 2000 en route to their bronze-medal victory at last year’s World Cup. Canada could end up with three basketball entries in Paris if the women’s 3-on-3 team makes it. The fifth-ranked squad will have a couple of chances to do so via global qualifying tournaments in May.

CONCACAF Women’s Gold Cup (Feb 17-March 10): The Canadian women’s soccer team had a rough World Cup last summer in Australia, failing to get out of the group stage after being shut out in two of their three matches. But the reigning Olympic champs rebounded to defeat a tough Jamaica team in a two-game playoff in September to earn the chance to defend their gold medal this summer in Paris. The Canadians will try to build more momentum at their regional championship in the United States, which will be their first tournament since captain Christine Sinclair retired from national-team duty last month. Canada, ranked 10th in the world, plays its group matches in Houston against No. 43 Costa Rica, No. 50 Paraguay and the winner of a play-in match between No. 80 Guatemala and No. 104 El Salvador. Read more about the tournament here.

World Athletics Indoor Championships (March 1-3): As former 100m world champ Fred Kerley once said, “the real dogs come and play outdoor.” Maybe so, but with no outdoor world championships on the schedule this year, maybe more of the planet’s top track and field athletes will turn up for the indoor worlds in Glasgow. Last year in Belgrade, Canada’s Damian Warner won his first indoor world title, in the heptathlon, before taking silver in the decathlon at the outdoor worlds in Budapest, where fellow Canadian Pierce LePage won gold for the first time. For those who prefer to do their barking outdoors, there’s still the Diamond League series starting in April.