Team Canada at Tokyo 2020: Day 6

Penny Oleksiak eyes a seventh Olympic podium, two Canadian pairs row for the podium, and Michelle Li eyes a Canadian best ever in badminton. 

There’s a lot to get excited about for Team Canada on Day 6.

Rowing

Canada will have two boats going for medals in the Olympic rowing regatta, both of which set Canadian records in their semifinals. Conlin McCabe and Kai Langerfeld will race in the A final of the men’s pair and then Caileigh Filmer and Hillary Janssens will compete in the A final of the women’s pair.

There will also be the semifinals of the women’s and men’s single sculls with Carling Zeeman and Trevor Jones seeking their spots in the A finals. 

The lightweight double sculls tandems of Jill Moffatt and Jennifer Casson as well as Patrick Keane and Maxwell Lattimer will compete in B finals. 

Swimming

One day after becoming Canada’s most decorated summer Olympian ever, Penny Oleksiak will be looking to add to her medal haul. After winning bronze in the 200m freestyle, she was anticipating a busy schedule on Day 6, including the final of the women’s 4x200m freestyle relay. Canada qualified for the final with the fourth-fastest time in the heats, thanks to Katerine Savard, Rebecca Smith, Mary-Sophie Harvey and Sydney Pickrem. Canada’s lineup for the final will be announced close to the start of the race. 

Before that, Oleksiak will swim in the semifinals of the women’s 100m freestyle, the event in which she is the defending Olympic champion. Also racing in semifinals are Markus Thormeyer in the men’s 200m backstroke and Kelsey Wog in women’s 200m breaststroke. A top eight time is needed to advance to the final. 

In the nighttime session, Kylie Masse takes her first step towards a second Olympic medal as she swims in the heats of the 200m backstroke with Taylor Ruck. Summer McIntosh will look to build on the momentum of her fourth-place finish in the 400m freestyle as she races in the heats of the 800m freestyle. Joshua Liendo will be in the heats of the 100m butterfly. Canada will also race in the heats of the mixed 4x100m medley relay, an event making its Olympic debut. 

Artistic Gymnastics

Though Ellie Black had to unfortunately withdraw from the women’s individual all-around final due to an injury sustained in training, Canada will still be represented by Brooklyn Moors. 

Fencing

The women’s foil team of Alanna Goldie, Jessica Guo, Eleanor Harvey and Kelleigh Ryan will start their day with a quarterfinal match against France. 

Judo 

The last Canadian judoka to hit the tatami is Shady El Nahas in the men’s 100kg event. He’ll start in the Round of 32 against Ivan Remarenco of the United Arab Emirates. 

Badminton

Michelle Li advanced from group play with a 2-0 record and will now face Nozomi Okuhara of Japan in the women’s singles Round of 16. Li is ranked 11^th in the world while Okuhara is number three. By reaching this stage, Li has matched Canada’s best ever Olympic result in the women’s singles event. 

Beach Volleyball

The Pool A match between Sarah Pavan and Melissa Humana-Paredes and Switzerland’s Anouk Verge-Depre and Joana Heidrich should be an interesting one as it features the number two-ranked Canadians against the fourth-ranked Swiss. Both teams bring 2-0 records into the final game of pool play but are guaranteed to move on to the Round of 16. 

Heather Bansley and Brandie Wilkerson will face world number ones Agatha and Duda of Brazil in their final Pool C match. Both teams have 1-1 records to sit behind pool leaders Wang and X.Y. Xia of China who are 2-0. The top two teams in each pool and the two best third-ranked teams across all pools will advance to the Round of 16 with the remaining third-ranked teams playing in the lucky loser round. 

Rugby 

The women’s team will start their Olympic tournament against Brazil, followed later in the day by a game against Fiji as they look to return to the Olympic podium for the second straight Games. 

Basketball

After a tough opening game loss to Serbia, Canada looks to rebound against South Korea, ranked 19th^th in the world. 

BMX Racing

Drew Mechielsen and James Palmer will compete in the quarterfinals of the women’s and men’s BMX races. The quarterfinals are comprised of three runs, each with four heats. The riders who rank in the top four in each heat after all three runs advance to the semifinals. 

Golf

The men’s tournament featuring Corey Conners and Mackenzie Hughes begins with the first round.

Field Hockey

The Red Caribou are still seeking their first win of Tokyo 2020 as they take on Belgium, who lead Pool B with a 3-0 record. Only the top four teams in each pool will advance to the quarterfinals. 

Sailing

Five Canadian boats will be on the water. Sarah Douglas is the highest ranked among them, sitting 11^th overall in the women’s Laser Radial, and has two races on her schedule. Tom Ramshaw in the Finn, Jacob Saunders and Oliver Bone in the 470, and William Jones and Evan DePaul in the 49er also have two races on the day. Nikola Girke will be out there three times on her RS:X windsurfer. 

Shooting

Lynda Kiejko will compete in her second event of the Games, the women’s 25m pistol, which starts with the qualification precision round.