Men’s relay gold cues Canadian celebration in athletics on Day 14
On a rainy evening at Stade de France, Canada’s sprinters provided a moment to remember on Day 14 at Paris 2024.
Racing out of Lane 9 in the men’s 4x100m relay final, the team of Andre De Grasse, Aaron Brown, Brendon Rodney and Jerome Blake blazed to gold in 37.50 seconds. It’s Canada’s third straight podium in the event, following silver at Tokyo 2020 and bronze at Rio 2016.
After the win, the Canadian men celebrated on the track with the women’s team of Audrey Leduc, Jacqueline Madogo, Sade McCreath and Marie-Éloise Leclair. Earlier on, they’d run a 42.69 in the women’s 4x100m final.
The Canadians crossed the finish line seventh but were upgraded to sixth after a disqualification to Switzerland. That’s Canada best finish in the event since a silver medal at Los Angeles 1984.
Though the rainy conditions didn’t hamper Canada’s sprinters, it did cause problems in the women’s shot put final.
Sarah Mitton had come in with high hopes of being Canada’s first medallist in the event, after finishing first in qualifying. But her first two attempts (17.15m and 17.48m) were outside the top eight scores, requiring a big effort on her third attempt to stay in contention.
Mitton got great distance, but couldn’t keep her balance on the slippery surface and stepped outside the ring. The foul negated her effort, and she would ultimately finish 12th.
But there was another medal moment in athletics on Day 14, albeit an extremely belated one. High jumper Derek Drouin was finally awarded a silver medal for his performance at London 2012.
He’d originally won bronze but was upgraded to silver in 2021 after a retroactive disqualification for doping to the initial first place finisher. Drouin would go on to win his own gold medal at Rio 2016, but is appreciative of what the upgraded silver represents.
“Long-awaited reallocations like this display the continuous fight our governing bodies are undertaking to ensure the Olympic arena is a fair and honest environment,” said Drouin.
“It’s a pleasure to be here, in Paris, with Team Canada. I am excited to celebrate the incredible current athletes as they live out their own Olympic journeys.”
One athlete living out his Olympic journey is Marco Arop, who’s advanced to the men’s 800m final. In Friday’s semifinal, the reigning world champion won his heat in a time of 1:45.05 to book a spot in Saturday’s final.
“I felt composed, felt comfortable,” said Arop, who finished 14th at Tokyo 2020. “There were a few chances that opened up, but I wanted to make sure I saved the move for last and really when I needed it most and I think it worked out well.
“It might look really easy, but I promise that’s the part of the trick: just trying to make it look as easy as possible.”
There was one more relay team in action on Day 14: the women’s 4x400m team of Zoe Sherar, Lauren Gale, Aiyanna Stiverne and Kyra Constantine. Their time of 3:25.77 in Friday’s qualification round was good for fourth in their heat, and held up as enough to reach Saturday’s final.
“We put out the best we could on the track; I’m really proud of the girls,” said Stiverne. “Me and Kyra had to get our legs warmed up a bit because we haven’t been on the track yet, but I’m excited for tomorrow.”
In the women’s 100m hurdles semifinal, Mariam Abdul-Rashid ran in 12.60 seconds, just 0.09 seconds short of what was needed to clinch a spot in the final.