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Ethan Katzberg won Canada’s first-ever Olympic hammer throw gold today in Paris, while Wyatt Sanford got the country’s first boxing medal since 1996.
That brings Canada’s tally up to an excellent 17 medals — 5 gold, 4 silver, 8 bronze. At least one Canadian has reached the podium in each of the nine full days of competition, matching the country’s longest medal streak ever.
On the down side, two of Canada’s biggest stars came up short today. Summer McIntosh faded late in her final swim to leave her relay team off the podium, and Andre De Grasse was eliminated in the men’s 100m semifinals.
Meanwhile, some marquee international names captured their first Olympic gold in dramatic fashion. U.S. sprinter Noah Lyles won the men’s 100m final in a spectacular photo finish, Serbian tennis star Novak Djokovic completed the career Golden Slam, and top-ranked American golfer Scottie Scheffler stole the men’s title with a record-tying final round.
Monday looks like a slower day for Canadian contenders, so let’s spend some extra time recapping today’s most interesting stuff before looking at what to watch on Day 10.
Ethan Katzberg made Canadian history on a dramatic day in track and field
On a Paris night that will be remembered for the closest men’s 100m finish in decades, Katzberg went the other way by winning Canada’s first Olympic hammer throw gold by a huge margin. The Canadian heaved the 16-pound implement 84.12 metres with his first throw of the final, giving him the victory by more than four metres after none of his competitors could touch him with their six attempts.
The youngest guy in the competition at 22 years old, Katzberg seemingly came out of nowhere last year to win Canada’s first world title in the hammer throw in his first appearance at the world championships. Now he’s won gold in his Olympic debut too, while becoming the first Canadian to reach a hammer throw podium in 112 years.
WATCH | Katzberg’s historic gold-medal performance on Day 9:
The first ever Canadian to win Olympic gold in the hammer throw, Ethan Katzberg of Nanaimo, B.C. makes history.
Not long after Katzberg’s historic win, Lyles beat Jamaica’s Kishane Thompson by .005 seconds in a thrilling 100m finish. It was so close that no one knew who had won the race for some 30 seconds as the sprinters breathlessly awaited the verdict. Both men were given a time of 9.79 seconds, but the rarely used third decimal place showed Lyles crossed the line in 9.784 and Thompson in 9.789.
It was the closest 100m final since at least 1980, when the top two in Moscow clocked 10.25 at a time when timing didn’t extend to the thousandths of a second.
American Fred Kerley (9.81) was right there too, adding a bronze medal to the silver he won in Tokyo. Fourth-place Akani Simbine of South Africa (9.82) missed the podium by an eyelash, while defending champ Marcell Jacobs of Italy finished fifth in 9.85.
WATCH | Lyles surges to 100m gold in dramatic photo finish:
World champion Noah Lyles edged out Jamaica’s Kishane Thompson by .005 seconds, to win the men’s 100-metre final at Paris 2024. Lyles won with a personal best time of 9.784 seconds.
De Grasse did not qualify for the stacked final after placing fifth in his semifinal heat in a season-best 9.98. That ended his streak of six Olympic medals in six career starts across various events.
Women’s hammer throw world champion Camryn Rogers easily advanced through her qualifying round today. After finishing fifth in Tokyo, she’s favoured to follow Katzberg’s lead and become Canada’s first Olympic women’s gold medallist in the sport on Tuesday.
Canadian 400m phenom Christopher Morales-Williams qualified for the semifinals by finishing second in his heat, while 400m hurdler Savannah Sutherland moved on to her semis with a third-place finish. They’ll both run again on Tuesday.
Canadian women’s 200m record holder Audrey Leduc advanced to Monday’s semis with a third-place finish in her heat. Jamaica’s Shericka Jackson, who was favoured to win gold after taking back-to-back world titles, pulled out after also missing the 100m due to a leg injury.
Summer McIntosh fell short of her record fifth medal
On Saturday, the 17-year-old sensation won her third gold to break the Canadian record for a single Olympic Games. Today, in the final swimming race in Paris, she had a chance to add her fifth medal. It would have moved her past Penny Oleksiak (2016) for the most ever by a Canadian at a single Summer Games and matched speed skater Cindy Klassen (2006) for the Canadian record at any Games.
McIntosh’s teammates in the women’s 4x100m medley relay — backstroke medallist Kylie Masse, Sophie Angus and Maggie Mac Neil — had Canada in the silver-medal position when Summer dove in for the closing freestyle leg. But she faded on the final lap (the 100m distance is not her strength), allowing Australia’s and China’s closers to overtake her for the podium spots below the United States, which won gold in world-record time.
Canada also missed the podium in the men’s 4x100m medley final, placing fifth with individual medal winners Ilya Kharun and Josh Liendo in the lineup.
Thanks largely to McIntosh’s four medals in her four solo events, along with Kharun’s pair of butterfly podiums, Canada finished with eight swimming medals. That ties the Montreal 1976 team for the national record at a non-boycotted Olympics. Read more about Canada’s historic week in the pool here.
WATCH | Canada narrowly misses podium in women’s 4x100m relay:
The Canadian women’s 4x100m medley relay team of Kylie Masse, Sophie Angus, Maggie Mac Neil and Summer McIntosh finished in fourth place, denying McIntosh a Canadian record-tying fifth medal in a single Olympic Games.
Wyatt Sanford picked up Canada’s first Olympic boxing medal in 28 years
The pride of tiny Kennetcook, N.S., lost his men’s welterweight semifinal today to France’s Sofiane Oumiha by a score of 4-1 from the panel of five judges. Four of them scored it 29-28 for the rangier Oumiha, while the other had Sanford by the same score.
In the Olympics, the losers of both semifinal bouts are automatically awarded a bronze. It’s Canada’s first Olympic boxing medal since the late David Defiagbon took heavyweight silver at the 1996 Atlanta Games.
Hundreds of Sanford’s neighbours watched the fight on a large screen set up at a baseball field in their rural hometown. “This means the world to our small community,” said a local resident. That kid gave everything he had.” Read more about Sanford’s run here.
WATCH | Canada’s Sanford loses split decision, winning boxing bronze:
After claiming bronze in the men’s 63.5-kilogram weight class, Nova Scotia boxer Wyatt Sanford says he’s “super happy” to give something back to his community of Kennetcook.
What to watch on Monday
3×3 basketball: Canada will play for a medal
The top-ranked Canadian women’s team finished a pedestrian 4-3 in the round robin before crushing Australia 21-10 in a play-in game Saturday to reach the semifinals. They’ll face top-seeded Germany (6-1) at 12:30 p.m. ET.
The winner will meet Spain or the United States in the gold-medal game at 4 p.m. ET. The semifinal losers play for bronze at 3 p.m. ET.
The Canadian 5-on-5 women’s team lost to Nigeria today to finish 0-3 and will not advance. The Canadian men’s team faces France in the quarterfinals on Tuesday.
Track and field: De Grasse and Leduc try to qualify in the 200m
After failing to reach the 100m final, De Grasse turns the page to the opening round of the men’s 200m, starting at 1:55 p.m. ET. The Canadian star is defending his Olympic title against the likes of Lyles (the reigning world champion) and 100m finalists Kenny Bednarek of the U.S. and Letsile Tebogo of Botswana. Canada’s Aaron Brown and Brendon Rodney are also competing. The semifinals are on Wednesday and the final on Thursday.
Leduc will race in the women’s 200m semis, starting at 2:45 p.m. ET. Canada’s Jacqueline Madogo will try to join her via the newly created repechage round at 6:50 a.m. ET. The final is Tuesday.
No Canadians qualified for any of Monday’s track and field finals. But the women’s 5,000m should be a banger. Reigning world champion Faith Kipyegon of Kenya takes on Olympic champ Sifan Hassan of the Netherlands, who’s also planning to run the 10,000m and the marathon (!) in Paris. Kenya’s Beatrice Chebet and Gudaf Tsegay will try to play spoiler.
Beach volleyball: Canada’s top team plays another elimination match
Melissa Humana-Paredes and Brandie Wilkerson took the long road to the knockout stage. The No. 4 team in the Olympic women’s rankings went just 1-2 in group play, forcing them to win a “lucky loser” playoff on Saturday night at Eiffel Tower Stadium to reach the round of 16.
The Canadians will face the American duo of Kristen Nuss and Taryn Kloth, who took bronze at the last year’s world championships. The match is at noon ET.
Gymnastics: Simone Biles goes for two more golds on the final day of competition
The American superstar has already won the women’s individual all-around and vault events and led the U.S. to the team title, giving her seven career Olympic gold medals.
On Monday, she’ll go for gold in the balance beam final at 6:38 a.m. ET and the floor exercise at 8:23 a.m. ET. No Canadians qualified for either event.
Some other things to know
Novak Djokovic completed his Golden Slam.
The 24-time Grand Slam champion finally captured the only big tennis title that had eluded him, defeating Carlos Alcaraz in a thrilling men’s singles final at Roland Garros that left both men in tears.
Each set between the two best players in the world required a tiebreaker. But Djokovic, 37, won more of the big points against his 21-year-old Spanish foe to prevail 7-6 (3), 7-6 (2) in what may have been his last good chance to win an Olympic gold medal for his beloved Serbia.
With the victory, Djokovic joined Germany’s Steffi Graf, Americans Andre Agassi and Serena Williams and his longtime rival Rafael Nadal of Spain as the only players to win all four Grand Slam singles titles and an Olympic singles gold in their careers.
Djokovic took bronze in his Olympic debut in 2008 before losing the bronze match in 2012 and 2021, with a first-round defeat in 2016 sandwiched in between. He made no secret of how much an Olympic gold would mean to him, but it looked like he might be denied once again when he underwent knee surgery two months ago. Djokovic then lost to Alcaraz in the Wimbledon final last month.
After hitting the gold-medal winner past Alcaraz, Djokovic showed just how much this title meant to him. He fell to his knees and sobbed for a long time in the red clay before taking a Serbian flag up into the stands for a tearful celebration with his family. “I put my heart, my soul, my body, my family — my everything — on the line to win Olympic gold,” Djokovic said. Read more about one of the most emotional victories of the Games here.
Scottie Scheffler won the men’s golf tournament with an incredible final round.
The world’s No. 1 player tied the course record at Le Golf National with a 9-under-par 62 today to rally from four shots down and win the gold for the United States in his Olympic debut. It’s the seventh victory of the year for Scheffler, who won the Masters, the Players’ Championship and four more of the PGA Tour’s lucrative “signature events.”
Great Britain’s Tommy Fleetwood had a chance to force a playoff with a birdie on the tough par-4 18th. But he missed the island-like green with his approach and sent his long chip shot just past the hole to give Scheffler the gold. Fleetwood made his putt to take the silver at -18, while Japan’s Hideki Matsuyama (-17) earned the bronze three years after losing a seven-way playoff for third in Tokyo.
Defending champion Xander Schauffele of the United States, the co-leader heading into today with Spain’s Jon Rahm, shot 2 over par to fall to a tie for ninth. Rahm, one under today, tied for fifth.
Canada’s Corey Conners tied for ninth, five shots off the podium. Nick Taylor tied for 30th in the 60-man field.
The women’s tournament starts Wednesday, with two-time major winner Brooke Henderson and Alena Sharp each representing Canada for the third time.
How to watch the Olympic
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.
