The Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games are officially underway. Today’s opening ceremony at Japan’s National Stadium featured 162 flags — including those for the six-member refugee team and Afghanistan, whose athletes were unable to leave the country to compete after the Taliban regained power. Canada’s flag was carried by Priscilla Gagné, a medal contender in judo. One hundred and twenty-eight Canadian athletes, including guides, are set to compete in 18 different sports at these Games. Read more about the opening ceremony and watch highlights here.
Competition begins tonight at 8 p.m. ET, with two dozen sets of medals to be awarded on Day 1. Here’s a guide to what to watch on Tuesday night/Wednesday morning:
Canada’s best Para swimmer goes for another gold
Aurélie Rivard is the reigning Paralympic and world champion and holds the world record in the women’s 50-metre freestyle S10 event (S10 refers to the disability classification), which begins with qualifying heats at 9:33 p.m. ET. The final goes at 6:12 a.m. ET.
Rivard, 25, also won gold in her 100- and 400-metre freestyle events at the 2016 Games in Rio and added a silver in the 200m individual medley to bring her career Paralympic medal count to five. That’s the most of any woman on the current Canadian team. Rivard also owns 14 world championship medals.
After the 50m freestyle, Rivard will defend her title in the 100m free on Saturday and the 400m free on Sept. 1. She’ll also compete in the 100m backstroke on Sept. 2 and the 200m individual medley on Sept. 3.
Four other Canadian swimmers are competing on Day 1: Alec Elliot (men’s 50m freestyle S10), Nicholas Bennett (men’s 100m butterfly S14), Angela Marina (women’s 100m butterfly S14) and Shelby Newkirk (women’s 50m freestyle S6). The latter three are making their Paralympic debuts.
WATCH | 5 Canadian Paralympians to watch for in Tokyo:
5 Canadian Paralympians to watch in Tokyo
11 hours ago
Learn about one of the greatest wheelchair basketball players of all time, a track cyclist making her Paralympic debut after an incredible recovery, the king of Para triathlon and more with CBC Sports host, Jacqueline Doorey. 2:44
Other Canadian contenders to watch on Tuesday night/Wednesday morning
In chronological order:
Women’s goalball: Canada vs. the Russian Paralympic Committee team at 9:30 p.m. ET
The women’s tournament opener looks like a tight matchup. Canada is ranked sixth in the world and Russia is seventh. Canada placed fourth at the most recent world championships, in 2018. The team is looking for its first Paralympic medal since it took back-to-back golds in 2000 and 2004.
Goalball, which is for athletes with visual impairments, is one of two Paralympic sports that does not have an Olympic equivalent (boccia is the other). It’s played on an indoor court, with soccer-like nets on each end that span the width of the playing surface. From just in front of their own net, athletes try to bowl the ball into their opponents’ net and block their opponents’ tosses. The ball has bells inside it to help players gauge where it is, and there are tactile markings on the court to help with orientation. Players and fans must remain completely silent so the ball can be heard. Read more about the Canadian team here and watch an explainer video on goalball here.
Track cycling: Keely Shaw in the women’s C4 3,000m individual pursuit event
The 27-year-old has a chance to win Canada’s first medal of the Games. Shaw took silver in this event at the 2019 world championships and finished fourth in 2020. She’ll make her Paralympic debut when the qualifying round starts at 9:56 p.m. ET. The final is at 1 a.m. ET.
Women’s wheelchair basketball: Canada vs. Great Britain at 1:45 a.m. ET
Canada won five of the six women’s world championships held from 1994-2014 before losing in the quarter-finals in 2018 — the most recent time the tournament was held. Great Britain took silver in 2018, losing to the Netherlands in the title game. Canada’s last Paralympic medal in women’s wheelchair basketball was a bronze in 2004, which came on the heels of three consecutive golds.
Wheelchair rugby: Canada vs. Great Britain at 4:30 a.m. ET
Also known as murderball because of the violent collisions that can happen, wheelchair rugby is a mixed event at the Paralympics. Canada has never won gold, but it has reached the podium in four of the six tournaments held. The team lost the bronze game to Japan in 2016 in Rio, then placed sixth at the most recent world championships, in 2018.
For the full schedule of Canadians competing on each day of the Games, go here.
How to watch live events
A variety of sports will be streamed live on CBC Gem, the CBC Sports app and CBCSports.ca starting at 8 p.m. ET. See the detailed schedule, which will include links to watch the events when they go live, here.
You can also watch competitions on the CBC TV network from 3-5 p.m., 7-8 p.m. and 12:30-2:30 a.m. in your local time
More on the Paralympics
Read a primer on the Tokyo Games here, and some fun facts about the Canadian team here. Read more about how Canada’s athletes are approaching the Games, which are happening a year late and during Japan’s worst wave of COVID-19 cases since the pandemic began, in this story by CBC Sports’ Devin Heroux. Devin is in Tokyo covering the Games, and you can follow his tireless Twitter updates here.
GUADALAJARA, Mexico – Canada’s Marina Stakusic fell 6-4, 6-3 to Poland’s Magdalena Frech in the quarterfinals of the Guadalajara Open tennis tournament on Friday.
The 19-year-old from Mississauga, Ont., won 61 per cent of her first-serve points and broke on just one of her six opportunities.
Stakusic had upset top-seeded Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia 6-3, 5-7, 7-6 (0) on Thursday night to advance.
In the opening round, Stakusic defeated Slovakia’s Anna Karolína Schmiedlová 6-2, 6-4 on Tuesday.
The fifth-seeded Frech won 62 per cent of her first-serve points and converted on three of her nine break point opportunities.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
TORONTO – Alejandro Kirk’s long single with the bases loaded provided the Toronto Blue Jays with a walk-off 4-3 win in the 11th inning of their series opener against the St. Louis Cardinals on Friday.
With the Cardinals outfield in, Kirk drove a shot off the base of the left-field wall to give the Blue Jays (70-78) their fourth win in 11 outings and halt the Cardinals’ (74-73) two-game win streak before 30,380 at Rogers Centre.
Kirk enjoyed a two-hit, two-RBI outing.
Erik Swanson (2-2) pitched a perfect 11th inning for the win, while Cardinals reliever Ryan Fernandez (1-5) took the loss.
Blue Jays starter Kevin Gausman enjoyed a seven-inning, 104-pitch outing. He surrendered his two runs on nine hits and two walks and fanned only two Cardinals.
He gave way to reliever Genesis Cabrera, who gave up a one-out homer to Thomas Saggese, his first in 2024, that tied the game in the eighth.
The Cardinals started swiftly with four straight singles to open the game. But they exited the first inning with only two runs on an RBI single to centre from Nolan Arendao and a fielder’s choice from Saggese.
Gausman required 28 pitches to escape the first inning but settled down to allow his teammates to snatch the lead in the fourth.
He also deftly pitched out of threats from the visitors in the fifth, sixth and seventh thanks to some solid defence, including Will Wagner’s diving stop, which led to a double play to end the fifth inning.
George Springer led off with a walk and stole second base. He advanced to third on Nathan Lukes’s single and scored when Vladimir Guerrero Jr. knocked in his 95th run with a double off the left-field wall.
Lukes scored on a sacrifice fly to left field from Spencer Horwitz. Guerrero touched home on Kirk’s two-out single to right.
In the ninth, Guerrero made a critical diving catch on an Arenado grounder to throw out the Cardinals’ infielder, with reliever Tommy Nance covering first. The defensive gem ended the inning with a runner on second base.
St. Louis starter Erick Fedde faced the minimum night batters in the first three innings thanks to a pair of double plays. He lasted five innings, giving up three runs on six hits and a walk with three strikeouts.
ON DECK
Toronto ace Jose Berrios (15-9) will start the second of the three-game series on Saturday. He has a six-game win streak.
The Cardinals will counter with righty Kyle Gibson (8-6).
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
BRUSSELS – Canadian shot putter Sarah Mitton rebounded from a disappointing performance at the Paris Olympics by capturing Diamond League gold on Friday.
Mitton, of Brooklyn, N.S., won the competition, the final Diamond League event of the season, with a heave of 20.25 metres on her third throw.
Chase Jackson of the U.S. placed second with a throw of 19.90, while German’s Yemisi Ogunleye, the Olympic gold medallist, claimed bronze with a toss of 19.72.
Mitton, the runner-up of last year’s world championship, failed to qualify for the top eight in Paris.
Edmonton runner Marco Arop, who won silver for Canada in the men’s 800 metres at the Paris Games, was scheduled to race in the 800 on Saturday.
Olympic bronze-medallist Alysha Newman, of London, Ont., also competes Saturday in the women’s pole vault.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
