After a medal-free first day at the Olympics, Canada once again heard its national anthem on Tuesday.
Camryn Rogers won the gold medal in the women’s hammer throw, two days after her compatriot Ethan Katzberg won the same event on the men’s side.
On her fifth attempt, Rogers saw her throw fly 76.97 metres to take first place from American Annette Nneka Echikunwoke.
Rogers made history in her Olympic debut three years ago at the Tokyo Games, becoming the first Canadian woman to advance to the Olympic hammer throw final. She finished fifth.
The 25-year-old British Columbian is the reigning world champion, having thrown a winning throw of 77.22 metres in Budapest, Hungary, in August 2023.
Canada came within a few points of securing a bronze medal early in the day. Diver Caeli McKay, however, had to settle for fourth place for the second time in Paris.
McKay held on to her hopes of winning bronze in the women’s individual 10-metre platform event but was edged out on the final dive by North Korea’s Mi Rae Kim.
McKay, of Calgary, had a combined score of 364.50 points for her five jumps in the final at the Olympic Aquatics Centre, while Kim had 372.10 points.
McKay and Ottawa’s Kate Miller finished fourth in the 10-metre platform synchronized event last week, finishing just over five points off the podium.
McKay and Quebecer Meaghan Benfeito also finished fourth in this discipline at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021.
The quest for a medal also came to an end for the Canadian men’s basketball team.
Canada lost 82-73 to France and was eliminated in the quarterfinals of the tournament. It was its first loss in Paris, after finishing the preliminary round with a perfect 3-0 record.
At the Vaires-sur-Marne nautical stadium, Canada took another step towards possible medals by reaching five semi-finals in canoeing.
The men’s and women’s four-man kayak (K4) teams over a distance of 500 metres, as well as the two-man kayak (K2) teams over the same distance, moved on to the next round.
In the 500-metre canoe double (C2), Katie Vincent and Sloan MacKenzie were even more impressive, setting an Olympic record to finish first in their heat.
Elsewhere, athletics competitions continued at the Stade de France, with preliminary, repechage and semi-final races.
In the men’s 200-metre repechage, Canadians Aaron Brown and Brendon Rodney posted the same time, 20.42 seconds, to join their compatriot Andre De Grasse in the semi-finals.
In the men’s 110m hurdles, Craig Thorne finished 12th and his race is over. Zoe Sherar (13e) and Lauren Gale (24e) suffered the same fate in the women’s 400-meter repechage.
In the first round of the women’s 1500 metres, Lucia Stafford clocked her best time of the season in 4:02.22. She will still have to go through the repechage to hope to reach the semi-finals. Her compatriots Simone Plourde and Kate Current will have to follow the same path as her.
In the men’s 400 meters, 20-year-old Christopher Morales Williams finished last in his heat and will not compete in the final. Savannah Sutherland, however, qualified for hers in the women’s 400 meters hurdles.
On the other hand, Canada lost 18-8 to the Spanish in the quarterfinals of the women’s water polo tournament. In artistic swimming, the Maple Leaf finished sixth after the free program in the women’s team event.
Finally, in the women’s skateboarding event, 14-year-old athlete Fay De Fazio Ebert, the youngest of the Canadian delegation, took 20e rank in the preliminaries. The top eight snowboarders advanced to the final.