Weekend Roundup: Gold medals for Warner & Masse highlight eventful weekend for Team Canada
There was plenty of action featuring Team Canada athletes this weekend, many of whom are coming home with hardware to show for their efforts.
Let’s dive into the biggest news and results from your favourite Canadian athletes all around the world:
Canadian women swim to 21 medals at Mare Nostrum Tour 🏊♀️
It was a great week for the Canadian women at the Mare Nostrum Tour as Team Canada earned 21 medals across three stages and 10 days of competition.
Kyle Masse led the way for Canada with first-place finishes in the 50m, 100m and 200m backstroke events in France after earning gold in the 50m and 100m backstroke races in Spain. Masse ended the Mare Nostrum Tour with a total of five gold medals to lead all Canadian swimmers.
READ: Canadians cap off Mare Nostrum Tour with five more medals
READ: Canadians swim to six medals at Mare Nostrum Tour in France
READ: Three more medals for Team Canada at the Mare Nostrum in Barcelona
READ: Five Canadian swimmers found the podium in Spain
Ingrid Wilm had a standout performance as well, winning gold in the 100m and 50m backstroke events in Monaco before adding three more backstroke medals throughout the week.
READ: Ingrid Wilm swims to two backstroke golds
Tokyo 2020 medallists Penny Oleksiak (100m freestyle silver, 200m freestyle bronze, 200m freestyle bronze), Maggie Mac Neil (100m butterfly silver, 50m butterfly silver, 100m butterly bronze) and Kayla Sanchez (100m butterfly silver, 100m freestyle bronze) each finished with multiple podiums while 15-year-old Summer McIntosh impressed with a gold medal in the 200m individual medley. Last but certainly not least, Marie-Sophie Harvey took home bronze in the 200m freestyle.
Warner wins seventh Hypo Meeting title 👑
Damian Warner broke his own record by winning his seventh title in the men’s decathlon at the Hypo Meeting in Götzis, Austria on Sunday. The victory marked the sixth consecutive gold medal for Warner at the event, which was his first decathlon of the season.
READ: Warner wins seventh Hypo Meeting title in men’s decathlon
The Tokyo 2020 gold medallist finished with 8797 points. Grenada’s Lindon Victor took silver with 8447 points while Switzerland’s Simon Ehammer won bronze with 8377.
Warner came into Sunday in second place behind Ehammer but earned first-place finishes in the 400m and 110m hurdles to move into the top spot for yet another Hypo Meeting title.
DeBues-Stafford shines bright at Diamond League 💎
Gabriela DeBues-Stafford was the lone Canadian to set foot on the podium at the Diamond League stop in Eugene, Oregon this weekend as she ran to a bronze medal in the women’s 1500m at the Prefontaine Classic.
READ: Gabriela DeBues-Stafford wins bronze at Diamond League in Oregon
The Canadian finished in 3:58.62 behind Kenya’s Faith Kipyegon (3:52.59) and Ethiopia’s Gudaf Tsegay (3:54.21). DeBues-Stafford’s medal comes on the heels of a standout performance at Tokyo 2020 where she finished fifth in the 1500m, tying for Canada’s second-best Olympic result ever in the event.
Rogers hammers new Canadian record 🔨
Camryn Rogers took the collegiate athletics world by storm with a 76.46m hammer throw at the NCAA Division I West Preliminary Round in Fayetteville, Arkansas.
Not only was Rogers’ throw a collegiate record, but it also established a new best ever mark by a Canadian woman.
Paddling to the podium in Poznan
Katie Vincent won her second straight World Cup medal in the women’s C-1 200m, taking silver in Poznan, Poland just as she did a week earlier in Racice, Czech Republic. She shared the podium with teammate Sophia Jensen who won the bronze. Vincent just missed a medal in the C-2 500m, finishing fourth with partner Sloan Mackenzie, but contributed to three medals in non-Olympic events: gold in C-4 500m, silver in mixed C-2 500m, silver in C-1 5000m.
There were several near podium placements in a few other Olympic program events. Pierre-Luc Poulin and Simon McTavish placed fourth in the men’s K-2 500m. They were also part of a fourth-place finish in the men’s K-4 500m while Connor Fitzpatrick was fourth in the men’s C-1 1000m.
Fernandez off to the French Open quarterfinal 🎾
Leylah Fernandez defeated American Amanda Anisimova 6-3, 4-6, 6-3 on Sunday in the Round of 16 to advance to the quarterfinals of the French Open.
READ: Fernandez advances to quarterfinal at French Open
The Canadian earned her first-ever quarterfinal berth at the French Open and just her second quarterfinal appearance at any Grand Slam, following her memorable journey to the US Open final in 2021. Fernandez is set to play against No. 59 Martina Trevisan of Italy on Tuesday.
READ: Fernandez’s fairytale run ends in US Open final
In men’s singles Félix Auger-Aliassime became just the third man to ever push Rafael Nadal to five sets at Roland Garros, but came up just short in his Round of 16 match against the King of Clay (6-3, 3-6, 2-6, 6-3, 3-6).
Team Canada skates to silver at IIHF World Championship 🏒
It wasn’t the medal that Team Canada wanted at the IIHF World Championship, but it’s hard to be disappointed with the effort.
READ: Team Canada takes silver at IIHF World Championship
After falling behind 3-1 to host Finland, the Canadians got late goals from Zach Whitecloud and Max Comtois to tie the game with just 1:24 remaining in regulation to send the contest to overtime.
In the extra frame, Canada ran into penalty trouble and the Finns capitalized as Sakari Manninen potted the game winner to give Finland the gold medal on home ice.
Despite the heartbreaking defeat, Team Canada has now claimed six medals (three gold, three silver) in the past seven men’s IIHF World Championships dating to 2015.
Mathew Barzal, who assisted on all three of Canada’s goals, was named the team’s player of the game. Mikael Granlund scored two goals to earn the same honour for Finland.
