PARIS – With gold medal hopes in the pool and on the mat, here are five things to look out for at the Paris Olympics on Monday, July 29:
POOL PODIUM HOPES
Summer McIntosh picked up her first Olympic medal Saturday with a silver in the women’s 400-metre freestyle. On Monday, the 17-year-old swimming star from Toronto looks to pick up more hardware when she swims in her signature event. McIntosh will be the favourite when she swims in the 400 individual medley as part of another packed swimming schedule at Paris La Defense Arena. She is a two-time world champion in the event and set a world record with a time of four minutes 24.38 in May at the Olympic and Paralympic Trials in Toronto.
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DEGUCHI’S DEBUT
Canada’s Christa Deguchi has long been one of the world’s top-ranked judokas, but on Monday she will finally get the chance to show why on the world’s biggest sporting stage. Deguchi, who lives and trains in Japan but represents her father’s country of birth internationally, makes her Olympic debut in the women’s under-57 kilogram event. As the world’s top-ranked athlete in the discipline, she has a bye in the first round. Deguchi is a two-time world champion, but three years ago she was edged by eventual bronze medallist Jessica Klimkait of Whitby, Ont., for a spot at the Tokyo Games. Klimkait is currently ranked No. 2 in the under-57 weight class, but countries are only allowed to send one athlete in each class to the Games.
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HOOPIN’ AGAINST THE HOSTS
Canada’s women’s basketball team plays its first match of the Games when it takes on host France at the Pierre Mauroy Stadium near Lille. Canada entered the Olympics after a shaky run of exhibition matches with two losses against Spain and a defeat to Belgium, but did post a win over No. 3 Australia. Canada is ranked fifth in Paris, while France is seventh. The last time these teams met was at the 2022 World Cup, with Canada coming away with a 59-45 victory.
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THE GREAT EIGHT
Canada’s women’s eight rowing team kicks off its Olympic title defence when it competes in heats early Monday at Vaires-sur-Marne Nautical Stadium. Coxswain Kristen Kit of St. Catharines, Ont., Calgary’s Kasia Gruchalla-Wesierski, Toronto’s Sydney Payne and Avalon Wasteneys of Campbell River, B.C., are returning athletes from the victorious eights team at the Tokyo Olympics. They are joined by Abby Dent of Kenora, Ont., Victoria’s Caileigh Filmer, Maya Meschkuleit of Mississauga, Ont., Jessica Sevick of Strathmore, Alta., and Kristina Walker of Wolfe Island, Ont. Canada has just two boats rowing in Paris after qualifying 10 for Tokyo. Jenny Casson of Kingston, Ont., and Jill Moffatt of Bethany, Ont., are competing Monday in the women’s lightweight double sculls repechage round after finishing third in their heat on Sunday.
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PUNCHING IN PARIS
Wyatt Sanford of Kennetcook, N.S., steps into the boxing ring Monday in the men’s 63.5-kilogram event. He is coming off a gold medal in the weight class at the 2023 Santiago Pan American Games. Sanford’s first opponent will be Radoslav Rosenov of Bulgaria in the Round of 16. Canada’s only other boxer in Paris, 2022 world champion Tamarra Thibeault, fights on Wednesday.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 28, 2024.