2024 Olympics Day 12 Recap: Newman wins Team Canada's 19th medal, women's beach volleyball makes history, as De Grasse and Ahmed fall short of podium finishes
The action continues for Team Canada, with some big wins and some tough defeats in Paris.
While the watching experience and timing for the 2024 Paris Olympics isn't quite as challenging for Canadian viewers as it was for Tokyo 2020 or Beijing 2022, a good chunk of action during these Games happens when plenty of Canadians are fast asleep.
Whether you were crushing some zzz's, busy at work, had family activities to partake in or just didn't have a chance to tune in, we have you covered throughout these Olympics from start to finish, with Team Canada currently sitting at 19 medals, including six gold.
Here's what you may have missed on Day 12, including another athletics medal for Canada, a crushing result for Moh Ahmed in 5,000-metre qualifying, Andre De Grasse failing to make the 200-metre final, and Melissa Humana-Paredes and Brandie Wilkerson advancing to play for a medal in women's beach volleyball after making Canadian history.
Alysha Newman pole-vaults her way to bronze in women's final with new Canadian record
Alysha Newman became the first woman to win an Olympic medal for Canada in pole vaulting, claiming bronze in Wednesday's final at the Paris Games.
Competing in her third Olympic Games, and her first final, Newman set a new Canadian record at 4.85m. The Delaware, Ont. product finished at the same height as silver-medal winner Katie Moon, but finished with one more missed attempt than the American, resulting in the bronze for Newman. Australia's Nina Kennedy cleared 4.90 metres to secure gold.
Newman becomes the first Canadian to claim an Olympic medal in pole vault since William Halpenny won a bronze in the men's event at the Stockholm Games in 1912. Canada's only other medal in pole vaulting came in 1908 at the London Games when Edward Archibald took bronze in the men's event.
Alysha Newman is #TeamCanada first Olympic pole vault medallist in 112 years 👀🇨🇦
📸: Darren Calabrese pic.twitter.com/Sww19MSrCG— Team Canada (@TeamCanada) August 7, 2024
This is the attempt that won Alysha Newman her first-ever Olympic medal.
Up and over the bar at 4.85m 🇨🇦🇨🇦🇨🇦pic.twitter.com/MiBL2j17H0— Rob Williams (@RobTheHockeyGuy) August 7, 2024
Newman's triumph marks Canada's third athletics medal of the Paris Games after Nanaimo, B.C.'s Ethan Katzberg claimed gold in the men's hammer throw on Sunday, while Richmond B.C.'s Camryn Rogers secured the top spot in the women's hammer throw on Tuesday.
Canada now sits at 19 medals in Paris.
Canada's Wilkerson and Humana-Paredes make history as they beat Spain to reach women's beach volleyball semis
Canadian beach volleyball duo Melissa Humana-Paredes and Brandie Wilkerson beat Daniela Alvarez and Tania Moreno of Spain in straight sets (21-18, 21-18) in quarterfinal action at the Paris Olympics on Wednesday.
The Canadians guarantee themselves a chance at a medal with the victory. With the win today, they also secure Canada's best ever Olympic result for women's beach volleyball.
The Canadian side will face the Swiss team of Nina Brunner and Tanja Hueberli in Thursday's semifinal, with the medal matches scheduled for Friday.
Best ever Olympic result in women's beach volleyball for Canada? 🇨🇦
Melissa Humana-Paredes and Brandie Wilkerson will get you there 💪#TeamCanada | #Paris2024 | @RC_Sports pic.twitter.com/WfsaZw59gO— Team Canada (@TeamCanada) August 7, 2024
The Toronto-based pair of Wilkerson and Humana-Paredes shared fifth place in the Tokyo Games, though both were playing with different partners at the time as Humana-Paredes partnered with Sarah Pavan while Wilkerson teamed up with Heather Bansley.
Canada's secured it's only-ever Olympic medal in beach volleyball in 1996 when John Child and Mark Heese took bronze in Atlanta in the men's event.
Andre De Grasse fails to qualify for men's 200m final
A seemingly ailing Andre De Grasse was eliminated in the Olympic men's 200-metre semifinals in Paris on on Wednesday.
The 29-year-old, who won the gold medal in the event in Tokyo, finished third in his heat with a time of 20.21 seconds — far off his personal best of 19.62s. Teammates Aaron Brown and Brendon Rodney also didn't qualify for the final.
After the race, De Grasse, while trying not to wander into excuse territory, hinted he was dealing with a hamstring issue, something that has apparently been bother the reigning 200m Olympic champion for months.
Andre De Grasse is supposed to take part in the 200M semifinals tonight at Stade de France - but will he?
I spoke with Paul Doyle - and it doesn’t sound like the sprinter is 100%.
“We’re hoping he comes through.”
De Grasse won gold in the event in Tokyo. pic.twitter.com/J4d0PdJa8N— Sarah Leavitt (@sarahleavittcbc) August 7, 2024
The six-time Olympic medalist was also eliminated from the men's 100-metre field in the semis, marking the first time De Grasse will fail to make an Olympic final (and medal) in either the 100m or 200m.
De Grasse's defeat comes just a day after his coach, Rana Reider, had his Olympic accreditation revoked by the Canadian Olympic Committee over allegations of sexual and emotional abuse.
Tomorrow, De Grasse will compete with Team Canada in the men's 4 x 100 relay, which Round 1 slated for 5:35 a.m. ET.
Mohammed Ahmed to miss 5,000m final after brutal fall in qualifying
Medal favourite Moh Ahmed will not compete for a medal in the Olympic men's 5,000 metres after a disastrous fall in qualifying.
The 33-year-old was in the top seven with 400 metres left before he appeared to trip over the leg of a another runner and went hard to the ground with several other competitors also falling shortly after in what was a chaotic end to the semifinal race.
The top eight (16 total) from each of Wednesday's two qualifying heats advanced to Saturday's final.
The silver medalist in this event at the Tokyo Games in 2021, Ahmed popped up immediately after the fall and kept plugging away, but it was way too little, way too late as he finished 16th in the heat with a time of 14:15.76 seconds. The St. Catharines, Ont. product placed fourth in the men's 10,000-metre final last Friday in a thrilling final.
"That really truly sucks" 💔
After absolute carnage in his men's 5000m heat, Canada's Moh Ahmed has his appeal denied and will not make the final
More: https://t.co/vLT9YvMtLt pic.twitter.com/8NihRDcTbH— CBC Olympics (@CBCOlympics) August 7, 2024
"Oh man, people were pushing quite a lot, but I thought I was holding my position and, ah, I just ate it hard," Ahmed said following the race.
"I mean, people clipping from the back, so I don't know, I, don't know whats going to happen but, we're going to try and get in the final."
Ahmed was referring to an appeal his camp launched following the race — one that was unfortunately denied after a review.
"Unfortunately, while running in the pack Moh stood on the ankle of an athlete in front of him, which caused him to fall. We have watched the video several times with the WA (World Athletics) Video Referee and it was clear that Moh was not impeded or jostled before this happened and so it is considered his responsibility to avoid the athlete in front," the statement read.
"In these circumstances he could not be reinstated."
More news from Team Canada on Day 12
Repentigny, Que.'s Thomas Fafard advances to Saturday's 5,000m final with a qualifying time of 14:09.37
Edmonton's Marco Arop, the reigning world champion in the men's 800-metre, qualified for Friday's semifinals, finishing second in Heat 1 with a time of 1:45.74
Oshawa, Ont.'s Mariam Abdul-Rashid is into the women's 100-metre hurdles semifinals after securing one of three non-automatic qualifying spots with a time of 12.80