Weekend recap: Track and field records and big basketball wins
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From record-breaking performances in track and field to important victories on the court, here’s a look at the top performances by Canada’s summer Olympic and Paralympic athletes over the weekend:
Track and field world champions Ethan Katzberg and Marco Arop opened their seasons in style.
Katzberg, the men’s hammer throw world champ, kicked off his 2024 season by shattering his own Canadian record to take gold at the Kip Keino Classic in Kenya. His 84.38-metre toss was the best the world has seen in 16 years and easily topped the 81.25m that won him the world title last summer in Hungary.
Katzberg, 22, outclassed Ukraine’s Mykhalo Kokhan (80.76) and Poland’s Wojciech Nowicki (79.14), the reigning Olympic champion and silver medallist at the past two worlds.
WATCH | Katzberg smashes his national hammer throw record:
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Nanaimo B.C’s Ethan Katzberg sets a new mark of 84.38, a new Canadian record in the men’s hammer throw at the Kip Keino Classic in Nairobi Kenya.
Arop, the men’s 800m world champion, held off Kenya’s Wyclife Kinyamal to win Saturday’s Diamond League season opener in Xiamen, China. The Canadian’s time of one minute 43.61 seconds was the best in the world this year, but not for long. Arop’s rival, Emmanuel Wanyonyi, clocked 1:43.57 later in the day at the Kip Keino Classic in his native Kenya.
Canada’s Sarah Mitton placed fourth in a stacked women’s shot put event Saturday in Xiamen. Reigning Olympic champion Gong Lijiao topped New Zealand’s Maddison-Lee Wesche and reigning world champ Chase Jackson of the United States, who finished third. Mitton took silver behind Jackson at both the world championships and the Diamond League Final last year before beating her for the indoor world title last month.
Top international performers in Xiamen included Swedish pole vaulter Mondo Duplantis, who broke his own men’s world record; U.S. sprinter Christian Coleman, who clipped fellow American Fred Kerley to win the men’s 100m; and 19-year-old Australian sprinter Torrie Lewis, who upset U.S. star Sha’Carri Richardson in the women’s 200m. Here’s a full roundup of the Diamond League opener.
Elsewhere in track and field:
* Audrey Leduc broke the long-standing Canadian women’s 100m record on Saturday at a meet in Louisiana. Leduc, 25, finished second in 10.96 seconds — 0.02 of a second faster than the late Angela Bailey’s record, which had stood for 37 years. Leduc also met the Olympic qualifying standard.
* Canadian race walkers Evan Dunfee and Olivia Lundman earned one of the last qualifying spots for the mixed relay at this summer’s Paris Olympics. In the process, they set a new national record in the 42.2km event. Dunfee will also compete in the men’s 20km event in Paris after taking bronze in the now-defunct 50km in 2021 in Tokyo.
Brooke Henderson couldn’t stop Nelly Korda.
These days, no one can. Korda won her record-tying fifth consecutive LPGA Tour event on Sunday, taking the Chevron Championship by two strokes. It’s the second career major title for the 25-year-old American, who joins all-time greats Nancy Lopez and Annika Sorenstam as the only players to win five straight times on the women’s golf tour.
Henderson, who owns a pair of majors herself, finished three shots behind Korda in a tie for third place. Today, the 26-year-old Canadian jumped seven spots to fifth in the world rankings. In terms of average points, the gap between the top-ranked Korda and No. 2 Lilia Vu is equal to the one between Vu and the player ranked 187th.
Speaking of absurdly good golfers, Masters champion Scottie Scheffler won for the fourth time in five starts, wrapping up a three-shot victory this morning at the rain-delayed RBC Heritage event in South Carolina.
WATCH | Korda takes home Chevron Championship:
American Nelly Korda tied an LPGA record by winning her fifth straight tournament, and claimed her second-career major trophy at The Chevron Championship. Brooke Henderson of Smiths Falls, Ont., finished in a tie for third place.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander won his NBA playoff opener and was shortlisted for MVP.
The Canadian men’s national team star scored a game-high 28 points on Sunday night to help Western Conference No. 1 seed Oklahoma City hold off New Orleans 94-92 in Game 1 of their best-of-seven series. Lu Dort, who’s also expected to play for Canada at the Paris Olympics, chipped in six points to help OKC slip past a Pelicans team that was missing star Zion Williamson due to a hamstring injury. Game 2 goes Wednesday night.
Earlier Sunday, Gilgeous-Alexander was named a finalist for NBA MVP, joining league scoring champion Luka Doncic of Dallas and Denver’s Nikola Jokic, who’s expected to win the award for the third time in four years. With Jokic hailing from Serbia and Doncic from Slovenia, this will be the sixth straight year that a non-U.S. player wins the MVP.
Gilgeous-Alexander, who ranked third in scoring this season with 30.1 points per game, is also a finalist for the (kind of silly) Clutch Player of the Year award.
Jokic and Canadian star Jamal Murray will try to lift defending champion Denver to a 2-0 lead in their series against the Los Angeles Lakers tonight. Murray had 22 points and 10 assists in a 114-103 win on Saturday.
The Canadian women’s wheelchair basketball team qualified for the Paralympics.
After going a perfect 3-0 in the preliminary round of their last-chance qualifying tournament in Japan, Canada hammered Algeria 88-30 in Friday night’s playoff to earn a spot in this summer’s Games in Paris. Kady Dandeneau scored 24 points for Canada.
The Canadian men’s wheelchair basketball team qualified for the Paralympics in the same fashion earlier this month.
