PARIS — Katie Vincent rewrote the record book multiple times as she surged over the finish line in the women's 200-metre sprint canoe final at the Paris Olympics on Saturday.
The 28-year-old canoeist from Mississauga, Ont., won the race in a world-record time of 44.12 seconds. And she won Canada's eighth gold medal, and 25th overall, in Paris. Both totals set a new standard for Canadian athletes at a non-boycotted Olympics.
But Canadian athletes didn't just surpass those marks. They blew past them further as Vancouver's Phil Kim won the first-ever gold medal in men's breaking, and Marco Arop took home silver in the men's 800 after finishing one-hundredth of a second behind the gold medallist.
Canada ended the penultimate day of the Olympics in 11th place with 27 medals — nine gold, seven silver and 11 bronze.
The country's previous high for total medals at a non-boycotted Summer Games was set three years ago in Tokyo. Its gold-medal high mark of seven was set at the 1992 Barcelona Games and equalled in Tokyo.
Canada's biggest haul was 10 gold and 44 total medals at the 1984 Los Angeles Games, but competition was diluted by an Eastern Bloc boycott led by the Soviet Union.
Vincent just beat out Nevin Harrison of the United States, who won silver in 44:13 seconds. Cuba's Yarisleidis Cirilo took bronze.
Sophia Jensen, of Chelsea, Que., finished in sixth with a time of 45.08.
“It was just one of the most incredible C-1 finals that has probably ever happened for our sport," Vincent said. "I've been around this sport for a long time, and I've been in the world championships finals and different events for the last 10 years at this level.
“And you know, 44.1 (seconds) was a dream seven or eight years ago. We were winning (with) times of 46, and then it got down to 45, and then slowly it got lower and lower. We're approaching a 43.3 area, with the right day, and it's just a credit to how hard all these girls are working all over the world."
Vincent also became Canada's third multi-medallist of the Games, joining swimmers Summer McIntosh (three gold, one silver) and Ilya Kharun (two bronze). She also teamed with Sloan MacKenzie of Dartmouth, N.S., to win bronze in the women’s double 500 on Friday.
Earlier on Saturday, kayaker Michelle Russell, of Fall River, N.S., finished eighth in the women's single 500m final and Riley Melanson of Dartmouth was sixth in a placing race.
Kim, who competes as B-Boy Phil Wizard, claimed the historic men's breaking medal with a 3-0 win over local favourite Danis Civil (Dany Dann) of France in the final.
The former world champion from Vancouver looked unfazed by any of the moves thrown down by Civil, a former nurse who gave up his career to concentrate on breaking.
While the crowd might have been on Dany Dann's side, Kim's repertoire of freezes and spins won over the judges, who earned 23 of the 27 votes over the three rounds and won the second and third rounds unanimously.
"For myself, I connect with the people really well. I am a freestyler, and I do not plan things before," said Kim, on why his style won over the judges. "I allow the music and the moment to take me over, and because of that spontaneity it can be magic."
Kim also beat Civil 2-0 in their first bout of the group stage.
The Canadian scored a 3-0 semifinal win over Japan's Shigeyuki Nakarai (Shigekix), who lost the bronze-medal battle 3-0 to Victor Montalvo (Victor) of the United States.
Arop, from Edmonton, topped the clock in the 800 metres in a Canadian-record time of one minute 41.20 seconds.
Kenya's Emmanuel Wanyonyi held on for gold, beating Arop by one-hundredth of a second in 1:41.19. The two times are now the third- and fourth-fastest ever in the 800.
"Still trying to take it all in," Arop said with a smile. "It was a little bittersweet, I wanted that gold medal so bad but also, I couldn't have asked for a better race."
Algeria's Djamel Sedjati, who entered the race unbeaten this year, took bronze in 1:41.50.
Arop's previous personal best and Canadian record was 1:42.85, which he ran in the Diamond League final last September.
"Not really," Arop, the reigning 800 world champion replied when asked if he was shocked by his time. "I know these guys have been running 1:41 all year, so I just imagined if I keep myself in it and finish strong, it's going to be incredibly fast.
"It'll probably take me a little moment for it to sink in but yeah, it's just incredible."
A couple of other Canadian podium opportunities came up short early Saturday.
Canadian wrestler Ana Paula Godinez Gonzalez came up short in the bronze-medal match in the women's 62-kilogram freestyle division.
The 24-year-old from Burnaby, B.C. lost to Grace Jacob Bullen of Norway by a score of 11-0.
Earlier Saturday, Godinez Gonzalez defeated Romania’s Kriszta Tunde Incze 2-0 in a repechage at the Champ-de-Mars arena to reach the medal round.
Brooke Henderson continued a late charge up the women's golf leaderboard, at one point climbing into a tie for fourth, before a couple of bogeys on her back nine dropped her to 1 under for the day and 3 under for the tournament, four shots behind third-place Lin Xiyu of China.
Still, the star golfer from Smiths Falls, Ont., did well to put herself in the mix heading into the final round after a mediocre start after carding a round of 5 under on Friday.
"I gave myself a lot of good opportunities," Henderson said. "I feel like if I had made two or three different putts throughout the round then I feel like the momentum would have been more in my favour."
New Zealand's Lydia Ko, a three-time Canadian Open champion, won gold at 10 under, two strokes ahead of Germany's Esther Henseleit.
In diving, a costly error cost Rylan Wiens of Pike Lake, Sask., a chance to add to his medal haul.
Wiens was in third place halfway through the men's 10-metre platform final, but a mistake on his fifth of six dives took him out of medal contention.
Wiens ended up seventh, three spots ahead of teammate Nathan Zsombor-Murray of Pointe-Claire, Que. The pair teamed up to win the men's 10m synchronized bronze last week for Canada's first-ever medal in the event.
Cao Yuan finished first to defend his Olympic title and give China an unprecedented sweep of the diving gold medals in Paris.
Canada's 4x400 relay team finished sixth in their final, Toronto's Zoe Sherar of Borden, Sask., Savannah Sutherland, Toronto's Kyra Constantine and Ottawa's Lauren Gale finished with a season-best time of three minutes 22.01 seconds.
In artistic swimming Montreal's Audrey Lamothe and Jacqueline Simoneau of Saint-Laurent, Que. were ninth in the women's duet. The pair struggled mightily to a 15th-place showing in Friday's technical routine, but gave an idea of what they are capable of with the third-highest score in Saturday's free routine.
In track cycling, Kelsey Mitchell will not defend her Olympic sprint title Sunday after falling to Lea Friedrich of Germany in today's quarterfinals. But Hamilton's James Hedgcock and Nick Wammes of Bothwell, Ont., advanced out of their repechages to reach the quarterfinals of the men's keirin.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 10, 2024.
The Canadian Press
