Tokyo Olympics Day 13: Warner wins gold in decathlon; Time change for women’s soccer gold game; Canada adds silver in canoe sprint, bronze in cycling
This file is no longer being updated. A new Olympics news file will be published this evening as Day 14 begins in Tokyo.
9:20 a.m.: And thus concludes another round of, how long does it take several international sporting federations to read a weather forecast? Canada and Sweden had been slated to play the Olympic women's soccer final at 11 a.m. Friday morning in the bowels of hell, or if you prefer, Tokyo's Olympic Stadium, where it feels like it's about 47 Celsius at that time of the day. Canada and Sweden had both asked for the game to be moved, due to the heat.
And after a remarkable delay, the International Olympic Committee and FIFA finally announced Thursday evening that Canada and Sweden would play for gold at 9 p.m. Friday night, in Yokohama Stadium. That's 8 a.m. Eastern on Friday morning.
This was, clearly, the right decision. It respected the game, the health and safety of the players, and the wishes of their federations. And it really, really didn't need to take this long. The IOC and FIFA announced it 15 and a half hours before kickoff, in response to exactly no changes in the forecast. It sure felt like they waited until the last possible moment to make the only logical decision, which was there all along.
Read the full story by the Star's Bruce Arthur.
9:10 a.m.: Game on the line, chance for gold on the line, and Slovenia's Klemen Prepelic thought he had a layup that would have given Slovenia the win.
France's Nicolas Batum thought differently.
Batum reached over Prepelic to block the layup try with 2.4 seconds left, the last play in what became France's 90-89 win over Slovenia in the men's basketball semifinals at the Tokyo Olympics on Thursday night - overcoming a historic night from Luka Doncic.
Doncic had the third triple-double in Olympic men's history: 16 points, 10 rebounds and 18 assists. But it wasn't quite enough, and Slovenia fell to 17-1 all-time when he's in the national team colors.
8:55 a.m.: With Damian Warner's victory in decathlon, Canada now has five gold medals, one better than its total in Rio in 2016.
8:48 a.m. (updated): Damian Warner of London, Ont., has won the gold medal in the decathlon. He topped the 9,000-point mark for the first time in his career to set an Olympic record with 9,018 points.
World record-holder Kevin Mayer of France wins silver while Australian Ashley Moloney took bronze.
Pierce LePage of Whitby, Ont., finished fifth.
Warner capped off the 10-discipline event with a fifth-place run in the 1,500 metres.
The 31-year-old became the fourth man in history to top the 9,000-point mark. The previous Olympic record was 8,893.
Warner became the first Canadian to win gold in the decathlon.
Warner, who won bronze at the 2016 Rio Olympics, was excellent from start to finish. He set Olympic decathlon records in the long jump and 110-metre hurdles, and tied his decathlon world mark in the 100 metres. He also set a personal best in the pole vault.
8:30 a.m.: Just when Brooke Henderson got moving in the right direction on the Olympic leaderboard on Thursday, shooting a three-under-par round of 68 to return to even par for the tournament after 36 holes, Canada's top-ranked women's golfer was presented with a grim possibility: With weather forecasters predicting the arrival of a tropical storm to coincide with Saturday's final round, players were bracing for the chance that Olympic women's golf medals could be awarded after something less than the scheduled 72 holes.
At least, that was the chatter around Kasumigaseki Country Club on a day that saw world No. 1 Nelly Korda shoot a nine-under-par round of 62 to sit at a tournament-best 13-under par for the championship, four shots better than her three nearest competitors, Emily Kristine Pedersen and Nanna Koerstz Madsen of Denmark, and Aditi Ashok of India, all three of whom reside in a three-way tie for second place at nine-under par for the Olympics.
With Friday's third round already set to be played on split tees with a 7:30 a.m. local start in an attempt to mitigate the effect of the sauna-like heat that, the spectre has been raised that Saturday's potential washout could cut short the event. With Henderson nine strokes back of a medal in a tie for 34th place at what's supposed to be the tournament's halfway mark, it's a less-than-thrilling possibility.
Read more from the Star's Dave Feschuk.
8:20 a.m.: Lauriane Genest surprised herself in her first Olympic Games by winning Canada's first track cycling medal in Tokyo.
The 23-year-old from Levis, Que., took the bronze medal in the women's keirin Thursday at Izu Velodrome.
Genest crossed the line .148 seconds behind winner Shanne Braspennincx of the Netherlands and .061 back of silver medallist Ellesse Andrews of New Zealand.
It's a surprise in a way, but I think at the Olympics everyone has a shot," Genest said.
She and Kelsey Mitchell of Sherwood Park, Alta., both raced in Thursday's final. Mitchell placed fifth among six women.
Both Canadians will also race the women's sprint starting with Friday's heats. The final is Sunday.
7:50 a.m. (updated): Canada's Damian Warner is one event from capturing an historic Olympic decathlon title.
With just the 1,500 metres to go in the gruelling 10-discipline event, the 31-year-old from London, Ont., has a commanding lead of 8,280 points. He's on pace to shatter the Olympic record and become only the fourth man in history to top the elusive 9,000-point mark.
Pierce LePage of Whitby, Ont., who'd been in bronze-medal position before the javelin, fell to fifth with 7,871 points.
World record-holder Kevin Mayer of France had a huge javelin throw of 73.09 metres to climb into second place (8,066), while Australian Ashley Moloney was third (7,964).
Warner, the reigning Olympic bronze medallist, was excellent through the first nine events, tying his decathlon world mark in the 100 metres, and then setting Olympic decathlon records in the long jump and 110-metre hurdles. He cleared a personal best 4.90 metres in the pole vault on Thursday afternoon.
No Canadian has won gold in the decathlon, the Olympic event the track and field community says crowns the world's greatest athlete."
Dave Steen won bronze at the 1988 Olympics in Seoul, then Warner captured bronze in 2016 in Rio.
The gruelling 1,500-metre event takes place at 8:40 a.m. ET.
6:45 a.m.: Canada's 4x400-metre women's relay team has advanced to the final.
6:30 a.m. (updated): The kickoff of the gold-medal match in women's soccer, which will pit Canada against Sweden, has been delayed after both teams raised concerns about hot and humid temperatures.
The game will now kick off at 9 p.m. on Friday night in Tokyo, or 8 a.m. ET on Friday morning. That's 10 hours later than originally scheduled.
The schedule change also necessitates a venue change, from Olympic Stadium in Tokyo to Yokahama Stadium, about 47 kilometres away. Olympic Stadium is currently hosting the remaining track events, and will also be the venue for the closing ceremonies
Both the Canadian and Swedish teams and their national Olympic committees shared concerns earlier in the week about facing hot and humid conditions during the final match, and requested a time change. The game was originally scheduled to kickoff midday in Japan, where temperatures have been soaring to the high 30 degree Celsius range and above - untenable heat for a game that lasts longer than 120 minutes, if extra time and penalties were required.
Women's soccer, up until this point in the schedule, have kicked off in the evening in Japan, between 5 p.m. and 8 p.m.
5:45 a.m.: The Canadian women's soccer team prepared for the sweltering conditions expected for the gold-medal game by training outdoors a day earlier in the same time window.
A Friday 11 a.m. kickoff (local) against Sweden remained in place despite requests from both sides to push the start time to later in the day to avoid the peak intensity of the heat and humidity at Tokyo's Olympic Stadium.
The uncertainty didn't affect the Canadians, who trotted out on the grass at Inage Kaihin Park just outside the city's outskirts Thursday for a 90-minute session in conditions that'll be virtually identical to those expected at game time.
5 a.m. (updated): Canada's Lauriane Genest won a bronze medal in the women's keirin track cycling event.
It's the first medal for the 23-year-old from Levis, Que., and Canada's first in the velodrome at the Tokyo Olympics.
Genest crossed the finish line 0.148 seconds behind the winner, Shanne Braspennincx of the Netherlands, with Ellesse Andrews of New Zealand taking silver.
Kelsey Mitchell of Sherwood Park, Alta., finished fifth in the six-person final.
The keirin, which originated in Japan, is a six-lap race of the 250-metre track.
The pace gradually increases over the first three laps to about 50 kilometres per hour, then quickens to a lightning sprint for the final three.
4 a.m.: Two Canadian cyclists finished second and third in the kierin semifinal to advance to the final: Kelsey Mitchell and Lauriane Genest. The final takes place at 4:37 a.m.
4 a.m.: Some time on the putting green after a disappointing opening round at the Tokyo Olympics helped Canada's Brooke Henderson go out and get some of the birdies she'd left on the course the day before.
Henderson shot a 3-under 68 in the second round of the women's golf tournament to sit in a tie for 34th at even par. Henderson felt she was headed in the right direction after a disappointing 3 over in the first round.
American Nelly Korda was atop the leaderboard after she fired a 9-under 62 on Thursday for a four-shot lead. Denmark's Nanna Koerstz Madsen, India's Aditi Ashok and Denmark's Emily Kristine Pedersen were in a group tied for second at 9 under.
2:15 a.m. (Updated): Canada's Damian Warner is two events - javelin and 1,500 metres - away from his first Olympic decathlon title.
After pole vault, Warner closed out the day with 7,490 points, while Australian Ashley Moloney remained in second with 7,269 and Pierce LePage of Whitby, Ont., held onto the third spot, with 7,175 after clearing 5.0 metres in pole vault.
Fourth spot is held by world record holder Kevin Mayer of France at 7,129.
Warner, meanwhile, has hit several milestones over the last two days in his pursuit of gold. He set the Olympic decathlon record in the long jump, and tied his own decathlon best mark in the 100 metres on Day 1.
Warner, the 2016 Rio Olympics bronze medallist, is also near his Canadian record pace of 8,995 points set in Gotzis, Austria earlier this year.
Only three men have topped the 9,000 mark - Mayer (9,126 in 2018), Ashton Eaton of the U.S. (9,045 in 2015) and Roman Sebrle of Czech Repubic (9,026 in 2001).
2:08 a.m.: Kevin Durant led Team USA to a 97-78 victory over Australia in the Olympic basketball semifinals.
Durant scored 23 points, Devin Booker had 20 and the U.S. blew past and eventually blew away the Aussies 97-78 on Thursday in the semis after falling into a 15-point hole.
The U.S. advances to the finals in search of its fourth consecutive gold medal. Team USA will face the winner of Slovenia and France.
1:50 a.m.: The International Olympic Committee says it's not aware of any plans to change the kickoff time for the women's soccer final between Canada and Sweden.
IOC spokesman Mark Adams was asked about changing the time of the gold medal match, saying he was not aware of any changes in the schedule at this time."
Both teams have asked to avoid kicking off in the Olympic Stadium at 11 a.m. local time Friday - an almost unprecedented early start for soccer at any time of year. The forecast temperature at kickoff is around 31 C.
1:50 a.m. (Update): Damian Warner is closing in on a gold medal on the second day of decathlon.
Warner took a commanding lead into the final two events - javelin and 1,500 metres - with a total score of 7,490 points. Australia's Ashley Moloney was second with 7,269 while fellow Canadian Pierce LePage scored 7,175.
1 a.m.: Meaghan Benfeito's fourth Olympics has ended in heartbreaking fashion after she failed to qualify for the women's 10-metre platform diving final.
The three-time bronze medallist struggled on her first dive, which has also given her trouble in practice. She temporarily rose into the 12th and final qualifying spot after getting high scores for her fourth dive, but fell back into 13th after her final dive.
12:30 a.m.: In the women's freestyle wrestling quarterfinals, Turkey's Taha Akgul defeated Canada's Amarveer Dhesi 3-0.
In men's freestyle wrestling, Canadian Amar Dhesi lost in the round-of-16 against Turkey's Taha Akgul 5-0.
12:10 a.m.: Canadian Georgia Ellenwood came eighth in her group in long jump with a score of 5.86. Ellenwood is in 18th place (5,243) with one event, the 800, remaining.
12:09 a.m.: Everyone at the Olympics has had to adjust to the absence of crowds that have stripped the Games of their usual flag-waving, anthem-singing spirit. But perhaps no one has faced a bigger challenge than the courtside entertainment at Shiokaze Park.
The only thing we can do is try our best to make the players feel a little bit more comfortable, hopefully pump them up when they make good plays," MC Michael Rivas said. It's tough - not only for us, but most importantly I think it's the athletes are missing the audience more than we are."
12 a.m.: A COVID-19 outbreak has ruled Greece's artistic swimming team out of the Olympics ahead of Friday's team event, marking the first time in Tokyo that an entire team has withdrawn mid-competition due to the coronavirus.
The team has been moved out of the Olympic Village and is in quarantine after five of the 12 members tested positive for COVID-19. The other seven are considered close contacts and are also unable to compete.
There were 29 new cases of COVID-19 on Wednesday among Olympic personnel, including four athletes, the most in a single day since organizers began tracking cases on July 1.
11:40 p.m.: The path was long and dark and winding, but Canadian paddler Laurence Vincent Lapointe eventually found a way to arrive where she always hoped she would be: the start line of the first Olympic final in the C-1 200 metres, writes Star columnist Dave Feschuk.
It's a good thing she got to the finish line a little more efficiently. In a triumphant return to competition, Vincent Lapointe, the 29-year-old from Trois-Rivieres, Que., won silver in Thursday's final, outraced to the line by 19-year-old Nevin Harrison of the United States by 0.85 seconds.
If Vincent-Lapointe occasionally doubted her Olympic moment would come, you could understand the feeling.
The latest from Dave Feschuk: Canadian canoeist Laurence Vincent Lapointe has a silver lining for her twisting Olympic tale
11:23 p.m.: Damian Warner continues to dominate in Day 2 of the Olympic decathlon, taking a commanding lead going into the final three events - pole vault, javelin and the 1,500 metres - with a total score of 6,610 points. Australia's Ashley Moloney was second with 6,359 while Canada's Pierce LePage was in third with 6,265.
Just 14 hours after racing to gold in the men's 200 final, Andre De Grasse ran a sizzling anchor leg to put Canada's 4x100 relay into Friday's final. Aaron Brown, who was sixth in Wednesday's 200 metres, ran the leadoff leg, followed by Jerome Blake and Brendon Rodney.
11 p.m.: Canada's Laurence Vincent Lapointe has won a silver medal in the women's C-1 200-metre at the Tokyo Olympics.
The 29-year-old paddler from Trois-Rivieres, Que., finished the sprint in a time of 46.786 seconds, behind American Nevin Harrison. Fellow Canadian Katie Vincent finished 8th with a time of 47.834.
10:42 p.m.: Australia will play the United States for the beach volleyball gold medal.
Mariafe Artacho and Taliqua Clancy beat Latvia 23-21, 21-13 on Thursday to clinch at least a silver. Latvia's Tina Graudina and Anastasija Kravcenoka will play for the bronze against Switzerland, which lost to the Americans in the earlier semifinal.
10:20 p.m.: The Tokyo Olympics reported a record 31 new COVID-19 cases, one of whom was an athlete. A positive test for a Greek artistic swimmer brought the total infections on the team to six.
9:15 p.m.: In women's canoe single 200-metre race, Canada's Katie Vincent and Laurence Vincent-Lapointe both advance from their semifinals and will race in the final at 10:43 p.m. ET.
8:50 p.m.: Damian Warner from London, Ont., ran an Olympic decathlon record of 13.46 seconds in the 110-metre hurdles in the day's first event.
Warner had 5,767 points after six of 10 events, Australian Ashely Moloney was second with 5,605, while Canadian Pierce LePage held onto third with 5,454.
Warner set an Olympic decathlon record in the long jump, and tied his own decathlon best mark in the 100 metres on Day 1.
8:55 p.m.: BMX rider Connor Fields was released from St. Luke's International Hospital in Tokyo on Thursday, five days after a horrific crash in his semifinal race at the Tokyo Olympics left him with a brain bleed and other injuries.
8:50 p.m.: Florian Wellbrock of Germany added a gold medal in marathon swimming to his bronze at the pool, romping to a dominant win in the men's 10-kilometer race at Tokyo Bay on Thursday.
Canadian Hau-Li Fan finished ninth with a time of one hour 51 minutes 37.0 seconds, a little more than three minutes behind Wellbrock.
8 p.m.: Canada's Laurence Vincent-Lapointe and Katie Vincent will take part in the women's 500-metre canoe double at the Sea Forest Waterway. The pair are gold medal contenders in the event, which is making its Olympic debut in Tokyo.
8 p.m.: Evan Dunfee of Richmond, B.C., hopes to make the podium in 50K race walk tonight. It may be his last chance: The IOC is removing the event from the Games after Tokyo.
7:50 p.m.: After winning his first Olympic medal in Rio de Janeiro in 2016, Andre De Grasse made a point of visiting his former teachers at Milliken Mills High School in Markham as a show of thanks.
When Penny Oleksiak became the most decorated Canadian Olympian on Saturday, she shouted out a high school teacher on Twitter who hadn't believed in her, saying this is what dreams are made of."
Canada's Olympians credit their teachers with pushing them toward their dreams, one way or another.
7:49 p.m.: In men's 10 km swimming, Hau-Li Fan of Burnaby, B.C., finished ninth overall in one hour, 51 minutes and 37.0 seconds.
7 p.m.: As gymnast Simone Biles fought to overcome her mental health struggles and the twisties," NBC released a clip previewing her balance beam performance voiced by Taylor Swift.
When the clip aired, Biles took to Twitter to thank Swift for the kind words. Swift responded: I feel so lucky to have gotten to watch you all these years, but this week was a lesson in emotional intelligence and resilience. We all learned from you. Thank you."
7 p.m.: The Canadian women's soccer team focused on its veterans in the aftermath of its historic win over the United States in the semifinals of Tokyo 2020. And the squad will be playing for those veterans in the gold-medal match against Sweden.
There's a group of players on our team who have been working for this for 20 years. Just seeing them so excited and crying after the match and in that moment, it just means a lot to us as a group," midfielder Jessie Fleming said Monday, after scoring the lone goal in the win over the Americans, which ensured a third straight Olympic medal for Canada.
The latest from Laura Armstrong: Canadian soccer women will be playing for the ones who came before them, including a few, like Christine Sinclair, who are still with them
3 p.m.: On today's episode of Tokyo Daily, Brendan Dunlop chats with the Toronto Star's Laura Armstrong about Andre De Grasse's gold medal in the men's 200-metre race. And Canada might just bring home two medals in men's decathlon with Damian Warner leading the charge after Day 1 and Pierce LePage right behind him.
The two also discuss De Grasse's emotional response to winning the elusive gold medal, the skateboarding takeover at Tokyo and who will carry the flag for Team Canada at the closing ceremonies.
Previously: Andre deGrasse wins gold medal in the 200 m; Damian Warner leading the decathlon after five of 10 events; Tamyra Mensah-Stock becomes first U.S. black woman to win gold in wrestling; Canada and Sweden want IOC officials to push back Friday's women's soccer final as intense heat buffets Japan.
For a full write-up of what you missed on Day 12 of the Tokyo Olympics, click here.