Canada didn’t win any medals at the Tokyo Olympics on Sunday night or Monday morning, but is guaranteed either a silver or gold in women’s soccer later this week.
Here’s what you may have missed overnight from the day of competition.
Soccer
Canada faced Team USA in the semifinals of the women’s soccer event. Although the U.S. kept the pressure on, Canada’s Jessie Fleming scored a goal on a penalty kick in the second half, and the Americans were unable to catch up, with Canada winning 1-0.
Canada advances to the gold medal match on Friday, against the winner of today’s other semifinal match: Sweden.
This is a big win for Canada, which memorably was defeated by the U.S. at the London Olympics in 2012, in a match notable for Christine Sinclair’s hat trick, but also some questionable calls by referees.
Beach volleyball
Toronto’s Melissa Humana-Paredes and Sarah Pavan of Kitchener, Ont., remain perfect at the Tokyo Olympics after winning their round-of-16 match on Monday.
The Canadian duo dispatched Spain’s Liliana Fernandez Steiner and Elsa Baquerizo McMillan 2-0, overpowering their opponents 21-13, 21-13.
Humana-Paredes and Pavan, the reigning world champions, have won all four of their pool matches 2-0.
Canada’s other pair, Heather Bansley of Waterdown, Ont., and Toronto’s Brandie Wilkerson, are also still in the running. Canada is the only country with two teams left in the tournament.
Athletics
Two sisters from Toronto are through to the semifinals of the 1,500 metres.
Gabriela Debues-Stafford won her heat in four minutes and 3.70 seconds ahead of Britain’s Laura Muir to qualify for Wednesday’s first semifinal. Her younger sister Lucia Stafford finished seventh with a personal-best time of 4:03.52 and advanced to the second semifinal.
Natalia Hawthorn of North Vancouver, B.C., came in 10th in her heat and was eliminated.
Canoe/Kayak
Andreanne Langlois of Lac Beauport, Que., and Michelle Russell of Fall River, N.S., qualified for the 200-metre kayak single semifinals. Langlois won her quarterfinal in 41.728 seconds. Russell narrowly advanced, beating out Britain’s Emily Lewis by five thousandths of a second.
The men’s team of Roland Varga and Connor Fitzpatrick advanced to the 1,000-metre canoe double semifinal.
But Simon McTavish of Oakville, Ont., was eliminated from the 1,000 kayak singles. The team of Alanna Bray-Lougheed and Madeline Schmidt failed to progress in the 500-metre kayak double.
Basketball
The Canadian women’s team is out of the Olympic basketball tournament, after Australia defeated Puerto Rico 96-69 Monday morning. This gave the Australians a higher points differential than the Canadians, pushing them out of the quarterfinals.
-with files from the Canadian Press
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