5 Team Canada sports to watch this weekend: May 24-26
There’s lots to watch this weekend as Team Canada’s triathletes, mountain bikers and boxers make their final pushes towards qualification for Paris 2024. Team Canada rowers will take on World Rowing Cup II, while some of Canada’s top track and field athletes compete at the Prefontaine Classic, and Canadian tennis players are in action at the French Open.
Here’s what you don’t want to miss:
Rowing
World Rowing Cup II takes place this weekend in Lucerne, Switzerland. Both Canadian boats that have qualified for Paris 2024 will be competing–the women’s lightweight double sculls and the women’s eight.
Team Canada is represented by Jill Moffatt and Jenny Casson in the women’s lightweight double sculls. Paris 2024 marks the final time that the lightweight events will be featured on the Olympic programme. They finished fourth at last year’s world championships and fifth at World Rowing Cup I in mid April.
The Canadian women’s eight crew in Lucerne consists of Jessica Sevick, Caileigh Filmer, Maya Meschkuleit, Kasia Gruchalla-Wesierski, Abby Dent, Sydney Payne, Kristina Walker, Avalon Wasteneys, and coxswain Kristen Kit. Team Canada are the reigning Olympic champions in the event. Gruchalla-Wesierski, Payne, Wasteneys and Kit were part of the gold medal-winning crew at Tokyo 2020.
READ: A tale of two eights: Team Canada rowers on staying in sync, Olympic legacy, and fun
Athletics
Some of Canada’s top track and field athletes will be making an appearance at the Prefontaine Classic, a perennial stop on the Diamond League circuit, taking place in Eugene, Oregon.
Trackside, Team Canada fans can expect to see Aaron Brown in the men’s 200m. The two-time Olympic medallist in the 4x100m relay helped that team secure qualification for Paris 2024 earlier this month at the World Athletics Relays.
In the field events, Alysha Newman will represent Canada in the women’s pole vault, while Camryn Rogers and Jillian Weir are likely to make the Canadian presence known in the women’s hammer throw.
Newman will hope to get things back on track after an ankle injury suffered at the World Athletics Indoor Championships in March. Prior to the injury, Newman had improved her own Canadian record to 4.83m in February.
Rogers is the reigning world champion in the women’s hammer throw and has already shown to be in strong form this season, finishing third at last weekend’s USATF Los Angeles Grand Prix, hitting 75.56m.
Boxing
The second World Qualification Tournament for boxing begins on Friday in Bangkok, Thailand, offering a final opportunity for athletes to secure spots for Paris 2024.
With their gold medals at the Santiago 2023 Pan Am Games, Tammara Thibeault (women’s 75kg) and Wyatt Sanford (men’s 63.5kg) have already qualified to represent Team Canada at Paris 2024.
An additional 10 Canadian athletes will compete this weekend in the hopes of joining them, including: Mckenzie Wright (women’s 50kg), Scarlett Delgado (women’s 54kg), Marie Al-Ahmadieh (women’s 57kg), Terris Smith (women’s 60kg), Sara Kali (women’s 66kg), Victor Tremblay (men’s 57kg), Junior Petanqui (men’s 71kg), Keven Beausejour (men’s 80kg) and Doni Foreman (men’s +92kg).
In the women’s events, a top four finish is needed to qualify for Paris 2024, except in the 60kg event in which only three spots are available. In the men’s events, there are three spots up for grabs in 57kg and 80kg, four spots in +92kg, and five spots in 71kg. The tournament runs until June 2.
Tennis
The French Open tennis tournament, the second Grand Slam of the season, gets underway on Sunday at the Stade de Roland-Garros, the venue for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games tennis tournaments.
In the men’s singles draw, Félix Auger-Aliassime, currently ranked 21st in the world, will take on Japan’s Yoshihito Nishioka, 72 in the ATP rankings, on Sunday. Denis Shapovalov, currently 123rd in the world, will also take to the courts on the first day of the tournament when he takes on Luca Van Assche of France, ranked 101st.
In women’s singles, the two Canadians currently in the main draw will also be in action on Sunday. Leylah Fernandez, 33rd in the WTA rankings, will take on France’s Jessika Ponchet, 137th in the world, while Bianca Andreescu will make her return to action after a nine-month absence due to a back injury sustained at the Canadian Open. She will face Spain’s Sara Sorribes Tormo, ranked 17th in the world.
On Thursday, Gabriel Diallo, ranked 166th in the world, qualified for the main draw of a Grand Slam for the first time in his career. Marina Stakusic will continue her qualifying campaign on Friday in the hope of emulating him.
The French Open is the final tournament before the Olympic qualification window closes, with the ATP and WTA rankings on June 10 determining direct acceptances for the Olympic tournaments.
Mountain Bike and Triathlon
Team Canada’s triathletes and mountain bikers will be looking to pick up additional ranking points before the end of the Olympic qualification period for their sports on Monday.
The World Triathlon Championship Series (WTCS) makes a stop in Cagliari, Italy on Saturday for an Olympic distance triathlon (1.5km swim, 40km bike and 10km run).
Charles Paquet put in his best-ever performance on this circuit a fortnight ago when he finished fifth in Yokohama. He and Tyler Mislawchuk are currently the top two Canadians in the Olympic qualification ranking. Martin Sobey is the other Canadian man in action this weekend. As things stand, Canada will likely be limited to two male triathletes for the Olympic Games as a country must have three athletes in the top 30 to secure three Olympic berths.
Dominika Jamnicky and Emy Legault are the Canadian women in the hunt for Olympic qualification.
The World Triathlon Individual Olympic Qualification Ranking will be published on May 27 and will be used to allocate 26 places per gender for Paris 2024.
On the mountain bike front, Sunday’s UCI World Cup in Nové Město na Moravě, Czechia is the last chance for athletes to collect points in the UCI Mountain Bike Olympic Qualification Ranking.
Canada is currently ranked 11th on the men’s side and is 12th-ranked on the women’s side. A top eight ranking is needed to qualify two athletes of a gender. Countries ranked ninth to 19th get one Olympic spot.
Among the cyclists in action this weekend, Carter Woods is currently the top-ranked Canadian man, followed by Gunnar Holmgren and Léandre Bouchard. Jenn Jackson is the top Canadian in the women’s individual rankings.