Olympic newsletter: De Grasse and friends shock the world, plus who might win Canada’s next gold | CBC Sports

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.

We all loved Saturday nights in Georgia. And now, Friday nights in Paris.

Twenty-eight years after that iconic relay victory in Atlanta, Andre De Grasse and the Canadian men’s 4x100m team sprinted to an astonishing gold medal under the lights at the Stade de France.

Later, at the foot of the Eiffel Tower, beach volleyballers Melissa Humana-Paredes and Brandie Wilkerson pushed top-ranked Brazil to the limit before dropping a three-set nailbiter to take silver. That gave Canada its 24th medal in Paris, tying the national record for a non-boycotted Summer Games.

WATCH | CBC Sports’ Meg Roberts gets you set for Day 15 of Paris 2024:

Canada has also matched its record with seven golds so far. And the closing ceremony is still two days away.

Before we get to Canada’s medal chances on Day 15, we have to talk more about today’s biggest moment.

Canada’s men’s 4x100m relay team shocked the world

De Grasse, Aaron Brown, Jerome Blake and Brendon Rodney pulled off one of the biggest surprises in Canadian Olympic history, winning the men’s 4x100m gold with crisp teamwork as a botched exchange doomed the favoured United States once again.

No one would have predicted this after zero Canadian men reached the individual 100m or 200m finals and the relay team posted the slowest qualifying time among the eight finalists. But, running way out in lane nine, Brown, Blake and Rodney circled the rain-drenched track with determined efficiency to put the baton in their star anchor’s hand with a chance to win.

Like he’s done so many times before, De Grasse found another gear when it mattered most. He outraced South Africa’s Akani Simbine and Great Britain’s Zharnel Hughes to the line for Canada’s first Olympic track relay gold since Donovan Bailey anchored his team to victory in Atlanta in 1996.

WATCH | Canadian men’s quartet races to improbably 4x100m gold:

Canada’s men’s 4×100-metre relay team strikes gold in Paris

Andre De Grasse, Aaron Brown, Jerome Blake and Brendon Rodney claim the Olympic gold medal in the 4×100-metre relay with the winning time of 37.50.

“We had belief in ourselves,” Blake said. “The 4×100 is not about how fast you run individually. It’s about how fast you run as a unit.”

The U.S. learned that the hard way — again. Favoured to win gold despite missing ailing 100m gold medallist Noah Lyles, the Americans crossed the line seventh and were later disqualified after yet another botched exchange — this time between leadoff man Christian Coleman and Kenny Bednarek.

Rodney came close to a lane violation on the final handoff to De Grasse, leading to a protest that was quickly dismissed. But, for Canada, the rest was pretty much textbook.

“They made my job easy,” said De Grasse, who chewed up the final 100m in a blistering 8.89 seconds to capture his seventh Olympic medal, tying Penny Oleksiak for the all-time Canadian record.

WATCH | 4x100m relay team revisits gold-medal winning race:

Canadian men’s gold medal 4×100-metre relay team all smiles after performance in final

Andre De Grasse, Aaron Brown, Jerome Blake and Brendon Rodney revisit the Olympic gold medal in the 4×100-metre relay race.

After reaching six podiums in six starts across the past two Summer Olympics, it seemed like De Grasse would probably finish these Games without a medal when he failed to reach the 100m and 200m finals while bothered by a hamstring injury. With his 30th birthday approaching this fall, there was even talk that this might be his final Olympics. Triumphs like his Olympic 200m gold in Tokyo and his shocking relay world-title victory with these same teammates in Oregon seemed to be in De Grasse’s rearview.

Instead, the most decorated track star in Canadian history helped paint one more Olympic masterpiece.

“We’re in Paris, right? Hang it in the Louvre,” Brown said. “We’re immortalized forever, baby.”

Other key track and field results

While the Canadian men thrived on the rain-slickened ground at the Stade De France, it may have contributed to shot putter Sarah Mitton’s demise. The gold-medal favourite had two disappointing throws before fouling out of the competition on her third and final attempt. Germany’s Yemisi Ogunleye took the gold.

The Canadian women’s 4x100m team of Sade McCreath, Jacqueline Madogo, Marie-Eloise Leclair and Audrey Leduc placed sixth in their final. Sha’Carri Richardson’s blazing anchor leg gave the United States the gold, ahead of Great Britain and Germany.

Kenya’s Beatrice Chebet won the women’s 10,000m, completing the long-distance track double after taking the 5,000m on Monday. The Netherlands’ Sifan Hassan picked up another bronze, keeping her in the running to become the first woman to medal in the 5,000, 10,000 and the marathon at the same Olympics. The women’s marathon is on Sunday.

One more track and field item from today to share: Canadian high jumper Derek Drouin was among 10 past Olympians who received new or upgraded medals at a special ceremony today in Paris. Before he won gold in 2016 in Rio, Drouin took bronze in 2012 in London. But the winner there was stripped of his title for a doping violation, bumping Drouin up to silver.

Marco Arop goes for gold on the final day of track and field

It might be impossible to top what the men’s 4x100m relay team did today. But the men’s 800m world champion has a great chance to win Canada’s first-ever Olympic gold in this event — and first medal in 60 years.

Arop, 25, made a steady climb to the top after flaming out in the semifinals of the 2021 Games in Tokyo. He took bronze at the 2022 world championships, then last summer became the first Canadian to win gold in the 800.

But the Olympic final on Saturday at 1:15 p.m. ET could be one of the most cutthroat races in Paris, with several guys capable of winning. Algeria’s Djamel Sedjati went nuclear last month, clocking the two best times of the year to win back-to-back Diamond League races just five days apart. Kenya’s 20-year-old Emmanuel Wanyonyi took silver at last year’s worlds, then outkicked Arop to win the Diamond League Final. France’s Gabriel Tual and Britain’s Ben Pattison can be dangerous too.

Canada also has a team in the women’s 4x400m relay final at 3:14 p.m. ET — the very last track race of the Games. They’ve been on the cusp of the podium with fourth-place finishes in each of the last three major championships, and they took bronze at the World Athletics Relays in May. But the Canadians finished fourth in their heat today to duck into the final as the slowest qualifier. Of course, look what the Canadian men’s 4×100 team did from that spot.

Moh Ahmed didn’t make it to the men’s 5,000m final at 1:50 p.m. ET after his unfortunate fall in qualifying. But Canada will be represented by Thomas Fafard, who placed eighth in his heat. Back-to-back world champion Jakob Ingebrigtsen of Norway will be out for redemption after finishing off the podium in the 1,500.

Out on the streets of Paris, Canada’s Cam Levins and Rory Linkletter will compete in the men’s marathon at 2 a.m. ET. Levins placed fourth at the 2022 world championships and ran a North American record 2:05:36 to place fifth at the Tokyo Marathon last year. This is his third Olympic appearance, while Linkletter is making his debut.

Kenya’s Eliud Kipchoge will try for an unprecedented third Olympic marathon gold after winning in Rio and Tokyo. Sadly, the greatest marathoner of all time will not be running alongside his countryman Kelvin Kiptum, who died in a car crash at the age of 24 in February, just a few months after breaking Kipchoge’s world record in Chicago with a time of 2:00:35.

On Saturday night, 20,024 recreational athletes will get to run the same course as the Olympians in the Marathon Pour Tous. Read about the 100-odd Canadians participating here.

Other Canadians to watch on Saturday

Breaking: Philip Kim in the B-Boys event

Better known by his stage name, Phil Wizard, the 27-year-old Kim is one of the top men’s gold-medal contenders in the competitive version of the hip-hop-infused art form birthed in the Bronx. Breaking is making its Olympic debut in Paris, but its future in the Summer Games is uncertain after Los Angeles 2028 organizers decided not to include it on their program.

Kim won the men’s world title in 2022 and took silver in 2023, when he also won gold at the Pan Am Games. He’s expected to battle American reigning world champ Victor Montalvo, who goes by just his first name, for the Olympic gold.

Like many more-traditional Olympic sports, the 16-person breaking competition begins with a group stage. Four athletes match up in one-on-one battles, each divided into best-of-three rounds called throwdowns. Breakers get 60 seconds to complete their routine before their opponent tries to one-up them. A panel of nine judges scores each breaker in a variety of categories measuring their skill, style and originality. The top two breakers from each group advance to the quarterfinals for one-on-one knockout battles, which continue through the semifinals and the medal round.

Kim’s round-robin battles take place at 10:11 a.m. ET, 11:01 a.m. ET and 11:50 a.m. ET. The quarterfinals start at 2 p.m. ET, the semis at 2:47 p.m. ET and the medal battles at 3:19 p.m. ET. Today, Japanese b-girl Ami won the women’s gold.

Read more about Kim and breaking’s (perhaps brief) moment in the Olympic spotlight in this story by CBC Sports’ Karissa Donkin.

Canoe: Katie Vincent and Sophia Jensen in the women’s single

Vincent will try for her second medal in as many days after taking bronze in the women’s double today with Sloan MacKenzie. Vincent also won bronze in the double in 2021 with the now-retired Laurence Vincent Lapointe, who took silver in the single in Tokyo.

Vincent, 28, is now Canada’s top canoeist. She paddled to three gold medals at last year’s world championships, including a pair of solo titles. However, those came in the 500m and 5,000m distances, and the Olympic race is only 200m. Vincent won the 200m world title in 2021 but finished fifth in 2022 and didn’t compete last year. She looked good in Thursday’s opening round, though, winning her heat to advance straight to the semifinals on Saturday.

Jensen also looks like a medal contender after winning her heat. She took silver in the 500m single at the 2022 world championships and placed sixth in the 200m distance at last year’s worlds.

The semifinals start at 5:40 a.m. ET, with Vincent and Jensen in separate heats. The top four in each advance to the final at 7:50 a.m. ET.

Canada also has a pair of athletes in Saturday’s kayak single semifinals, which start at 4:30 a.m. ET. Michelle Russell and Riley Melanson will try to qualify for the final at 6:40 a.m. ET.

Diving: Rylan Wiens and Nathan Zsombor-Murray in the men’s 10m platform

In the final diving event of the Games, the Canadians will try to add to the bronze they won together in the 10m synchronized event. Neither finished in the top six in the solo event at the past two world championships, but Wiens placed third in today’s qualifying round.

China is looking to complete an unprecedented sweep of all eight diving gold medals after winning seven at each of the past two Summer Olympics. They’ll probably do it: China’s Yang Hao is favoured to win gold while defending champion Cao Yuan had the top score in qualifying.

The top 12 divers in the semifinal at 4 a.m. ET qualify for the final at 9 a.m. ET.

Wrestling: Amar Dhesi and Ana Godinez Gonzalez in the bronze-medal brackets

Dhesi (men’s freestyle 125kg weight class) and Godinez Gonzalez (women’s 62kg) both lost in the quarterfinals today. But the athletes who beat them went on to advance to the final, putting the Canadians into the repechage bracket for a shot at a bronze.

They’ll have to win two straight matches. Both wrestlers hit the mat around 5 a.m. ET.

Also Saturday, Justina Di Stasio wrestles in the opening round of the women’s 76kg division. The medal rounds are Sunday.

Today, Canada’s Hannah Fay Taylor reached the bronze bout in the women’s 57kg weight class. But her American opponent pinned her in just 24 seconds.

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.