Olympic newsletter: Summer doubles, Felix goes for two tennis medals

This is an excerpt from CBC Sports’ daily newsletter, The Buzzer. Subscribe here to get the latest on the Paris Olympics in your inbox every day.

Summer McIntosh swam to her second gold and third medal of the Paris Games today, winning her other best event. And she’s not done yet.

Neither is Felix Auger-Aliassime, who stayed in the hunt for two tennis podiums, while Wyatt Sanford clinched the country’s first Olympic boxing medal in 28 years. Plus, American superstar Simone Biles reclaimed the biggest title in her sport.

More on all that below, plus a look ahead to Canada’s medal chances on Friday and the first day of track and field.

Summer McIntosh came through again

For the second time this week, the 17-year-old swimming sensation went into an event as the heavy favourite and delivered a commanding performance to win gold.

On Monday, McIntosh won the women’s 400m individual medley by almost six seconds. Today, she let defending 200m butterfly champion Zhang Yufei burn herself out before beating American Regan Smith by a body length to break Zhang’s Olympic record. Zhang, one of the Chinese swimmers who reportedly tested positive for a banned drug before the Tokyo Games but was still allowed to compete, limped in for the bronze.

McIntosh became the first Canadian woman to win multiple swimming gold medals at a single Olympic Games. Even sweeter, the 200m butterfly is the same event her mom, Jill, swam in at the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles, placing ninth.

About 90 minutes after her victory, Summer had a chance to add her fourth medal in the women’s 4x200m freestyle relay. She made up ground when it was her turn, but the Canadian team finished fourth. Australia won gold and the United States took silver to give Katie Ledecky her 13th Olympic medal. Read more about today’s swimming here.

WATCH | McIntosh claims her second gold medal of Paris Games:

Wyatt Sanford won a boxing medal*

Well, technically, he didn’t… yet. But the men’s welterweight contender guaranteed himself a spot on the podium by winning his quarterfinal match against Uzbekistan’s Ruslan Abdullaev.

Even if he loses his semifinal bout on Sunday, Wyatt gets a bronze because both semifinal losers are automatically awarded one in boxing. If he wins it, he’ll fight for gold. Either way, the Pan Am Games champ is getting Canada’s first Olympic boxing medal since the late David Defiagbon took heavyweight silver in 1996.

Excluding Sanford’s TBD hardware, Canada is up to an impressive eight medals (three gold, two silver, three bronze) after just six full days of competition in Paris.

There were some close calls today too. Race walker Evan Dunfee placed fifth in the men’s 20km, while fencer Eleanor Harvey fell just short of her second bronze as Canada lost to Japan by one point in the women’s team foil.

Canadian medal chances on Friday

In chronological order:

Tennis: Felix Auger-Aliassime and Gabriela Dabrowski in the mixed doubles bronze match

The Canadians lost their semifinal today to Czechs Tomas Machac and Katerina Siniakova, sending them to the bronze match against the Dutch duo of Wesley Koolhof and Demi Schuurs. It’s the third match of the day on Court Suzanne-Lenglen, probably sometime after 9 a.m. ET.

Auger-Aliassime also earned the chance to play for a singles medal today, defeating sixth-seeded Casper Ruud of Norway in the men’s quarterfinals. Felix, seeded 13th, will try for a much bigger upset when he faces No. 2 Carlos Alcaraz of Spain on Friday at 7:30 a.m. ET. Alcaraz won Wimbledon this year as well as the French Open on these same Roland Garros courts. The winner will face No. 1 Novak Djokovic of Serbia or No. 11 Lorenzo Musetti for gold.

In the women’s semis today, top-ranked Iga Swiatek of Poland suffered a shocking straight-sets loss to China’s Zheng Qinwen. Swiatek was a big favourite for gold after winning four of the last five French Opens. Instead, she’ll face Czech Anna Karolina Schmiedlova for bronze on Friday. Zheng plays for gold Saturday against Croatia’s Donna Vekic. Read more about today’s tennis here.

Swimming: Josh Liendo in the men’s 50m freestyle at 2:30 p.m. ET, Kylie Masse in the women’s 200m backstroke final at 2:36 p.m. ET and Finlay Knox in the men’s 200m IM final at 2:43 p.m. ET

Masse is a three-time backstroke world champion who won Olympic silver in this event in 2021. She had the fifth-best time in today’s semifinals. Australia’s Kaylee McKeown is heavily favoured to repeat as champion after winning her third career solo Olympic gold in the 100m backstroke on Tuesday.

Knox is the reigning world champion in his event, but the title came with a big asterisk as hardly any of the top swimmers bothered showing up in an Olympic year. He snuck into the final with the eighth-fastest time in today’s semis. Leon Marchand, who’s being called the French Michael Phelps, is favoured to win his fourth solo gold of the Games.

Liendo also got the lost spot in his frantic event, known as the “splash ‘n’ dash.”

Summer McIntosh is back in the pool Friday for her final individual event. She’ll swim the women’s 200m IM heats in the morning heats and, presumably, the semifinals in the afternoon. The final is Saturday. The betting markets see this one as pretty much a three-way toss-up between McIntosh, McKeown and Kate Douglass.

Track and field: Moh Ahmed in the men’s 10,000m final at 3:20 p.m. ET

The 33-year-old distance runner is a long shot for the podium in this event. But he finished a solid sixth in Tokyo three years ago before taking silver in the 5,000m, which he’ll also run in Paris.

Canada’s Damian Warner and Ethan Katzberg begin their gold-medal quests on the first day of track and field

A full slate of events is on tap Friday at the Stade de France, including Warner in the first half of the decathlon and Katzberg in men’s hammer throw qualifying before Ahmed’s 10,000m final.

Warner, 34, won Canada’s first Olympic decathlon gold in Tokyo after taking bronze in 2016 in Rio. He was favoured to add an elusive world title last year but settled for silver as fellow Canadian Pierce LePage grabbed the gold. Hopes for another 1-2 Canadian finish in Paris were quashed last month when LePage withdrew due to a back injury.

Warner’s path to a second straight Olympic title got even clearer today when France’s Kevin Mayer pulled out. The world-record holder and two-time Olympic silver medallist suffered a leg injury during a recent hurdles race. However, Germany’s 24-year-old Leo Neugebauer, the back-to-back NCAA champion, remains the betting favourite.

The first day of decathlon, starting at 4:05 a.m. ET, includes the 100m, long jump, shot put, high jump and 400m events. The final five legs take place Saturday.

Katzberg, 22, came out of nowhere to win Canada’s first-ever men’s hammer throw world title last summer in Budapest, defeating reigning Olympic champion Wojciech Nowicki (silver) and five-time world champ Pawel Fajdek (fourth), both of Poland. It was no fluke. Katzberg is undefeated in 2024, owns the four best throws of the year and is favoured to win Olympic gold. His qualifying group goes at 5:35 a.m. ET. The final round is Sunday.

Canada hasn’t won an Olympic hammer throw medal in 112 years, but it might capture both golds in Paris. Women’s world champion Camryn Rogers is favoured to win her event, starting Sunday.

The women’s 100m begins with the preliminary heats (a sort of play-in round for fringe qualifiers) at 4:35 a.m. ET. Breakthrough Canadian Audrey Leduc will be in the first round proper at 5:50 a.m. ET. The 25-year-old broke the national 100m and 200m records this year, but her time of 10.96 seconds in the 100 puts her outside the top 20.

World champion Sha’Carri Richardson’s gold-medal odds improved when Jamaica’s Shericka Jackson bowed out to nurse an injury ahead of her favoured 200m event. The American star’s challengers include Saint Lucia’s Julien Alfred and 37-year-old Jamaican Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, a two-time Olympic 100m champ who took silver in Tokyo. Back-to-back Olympic 100m and 200m gold medallist Elaine Thompson-Herah is out with an Achilles injury.

The women’s 100m semis and final are on Saturday, the same day the men’s 100 begins.

Other international stars to watch Friday include men’s 1,500m rivals Jakob Ingebrigtsen of Norway and Josh Kerr of Great Britain in the first round of what should be one of the Games’ best showdowns; and incredibly versatile Netherlands runner Sifan Hassan in the opening round of the women’s 5,000m.

The Ethiopian-born Hassan won gold in both the 5,000 and 10,000 and bronze in the 1,500 at the Tokyo Olympics, becoming the first athlete to medal in all three at one Games. Then she decided to try the marathon for the first time last year. All she did was win her debut in London (one of the world majors), then take Chicago (another major) with the second-fastest women’s time in history.

Hassan, 31, originally planned to run all four of her events in Paris. She dropped the 1,500, which concludes the night before the marathon, but she’s still going to attempt the others. If she wins a medal in all three, she’d be the first woman ever to do it in a single Olympic Games.

Some other things to know

Simone Biles reclaimed her throne.

Two days after helping the United States recapture the women’s team title, the gymnastics queen continued her “redemption tour” by winning her second individual all-around crown and sixth Olympic gold of her career.

Biles won her sport’s biggest title and three other golds in 2016 before a debilitating mental block forced her out of most of her solo events and the team final in 2021.

Biles wasn’t perfect today, but the 27-year-old did enough to edge Brazil’s Rebeca Andrade by just over a point to become the oldest Olympic women’s all-around champion in 72 years. Defending champ Sunisa Lee of the U.S. took bronze.

Canada’s Ellie Black, 28, finished sixth, while Ava Stewart was 19th.

Gymnasts get Friday off before the individual apparatus finals begin Saturday.

The Canadian men’s basketball team can clinch the top spot in its group.

Already assured a spot in the quarterfinals, Canada (2-0) can win Group A and improve its seeding for the knockout round when it faces Spain (1-1) on Friday at 11:15 a.m. ET. Host France, world champion Germany and the gold-medal-favourite United States have also clinched quarterfinals berths heading into the penultimate day of group play.

Canada’s women’s team is hanging on by a thread after losing 70-65 to Australia today to fall to 0-2. The Canadians are last in their four-team group heading into Sunday’s game against Nigeria (1-1). The top two in each group and the two best third-place teams advanced to the quarterfinals. 

The top-ranked Canadian women’s 3×3 team split its two games today, losing to Germany before defeating France to improve to 3-1 in group play. They’ll face the U.S. and Spain on Friday before wrapping up Saturday vs. Azerbaijan.

Canada’s women’s eight rowing team qualified for the final.

The defending Olympic champions finished second in today’s repechage round to comfortable advance to Saturday’s medal race. They’re the only Canadian crew left after the women’s lightweight double sculls team of Jenny Casson and Jill Moffatt was eliminated in their semifinal on Wednesday.

Japan’s Hideki Matsuyama took the early lead in men’s golf.

The 2021 Masters champion shot an 8-under-par opening round today at Le Golf National for a two-shot lead over American Xander Schauffele, this year’s British Open and PGA Championship winner. World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler of the United States and Spain star Jon Rahm were part of a big group tied for sixth at 4 under.

Canada’s Corey Conners was tied for 14th at 3 under while Nick Taylor was tied for 29th in the 60-man field at 1 under. Here’s the full leaderboard.

And finally…

The Olympics’ coolest new event is about to drop.

Kayak cross, a sort of whitewater version of BMX racing or snowboard cross, makes its Olympic debut Friday with the opening rounds of the men’s and women’s competitions.

If you’ve never seen kayak cross, it’s pretty wild. Four athletes race each other at the same time, starting from a ramp above the water. Once they drop in, the kayakers battle rapids (and each other — contact is allowed) to get through a series of gates en route to the finish line. In the elimination rounds, only the top two in each heat advance.

Oh, almost forgot: during each race, every athlete is required to complete a full 360-degree roll where their head goes completely under water.

Competition begins at 9:30 a.m. ET with the men’s time trial round, followed by the women’s at 10:40 a.m. ET. These determine the seedings for the elimination brackets, starting Saturday.

Lois Betteridge (women’s) and Alex Baldoni (men’s) are the Canadians competing. Read more about them and see what a kayak cross race looks like in this story by CBC Sports’ Ben Steiner.

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.