Article 5MKSA Olympics overnight: Swimmer Maggie Mac Neil secures Canada’s first gold, judoka Jessica Klimkait battles back for bronze

Olympics overnight: Swimmer Maggie Mac Neil secures Canada’s first gold, judoka Jessica Klimkait battles back for bronze

by
Justin Smirlies - Toronto Star
from on (#5MKSA)
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Rise and shine, Olympic fans. Here's what you missed overnight and need to know about the 2020 Tokyo Olympics this morning.

For all the Star-related Summer Games content, visit our Olympics page here.

Three days into official Olympic action and Canada has its first gold medal.

Maggie Mac Neil - who won silver a night earlier with Canada in the freestyle 4x100-metre relay - captured the top spot on the podium for the women's 100-metre butterfly after a strong second half of the swim. And boy, was she excited.

In other Canadian action, world judo champion Jessica Klimkait disappointingly didn't make it to the gold medal round, but made up for it by capturing Canada's first bronze and triathlete Tyler Mislawchuk misses the podium. Plus, Team Canada lost their opening women's basketball match against Serbia.

Here's what you missed while you were sleeping:

Oh My Gold: Canadian Maggie Mac Neil was in seventh halfway through the women's 100-metre butterfly when she uncorked it and surged into first in the second half of the race.

The 21-year-old world champion finished with a time of 55.59 seconds, an Americas record and the third-fastest time in the history of the event, beating out China's Zhang Yufei and Australia's Emma McKeon.

And after realizing she had won gold, the Canadian let out an emphatic Oh. My. God."

Read Rosie Dimanno's column on the gold-medal performance from Tokyo here.

Battling back for bronze: World champion judoka Jessica Klimkait lost her chance at gold earlier on in the inght, but made up for it afterward by easily taking down Slovenia's Kaja Kajzer in one of the two bronze medal matches in under-57 kilogram judo, capturing Canada's fourth medal at these games.

The 21-year-old Whitby native was in top form for most of tournament but lost to Sarah Leonie Cysique of France in the semifinals. Fellow Canadian Arthur Margelidon also had a shot at bronze in the under-76 kg men's category but lost to Tsogtbaatar Tsend-Ochir of Mongolia.

Read the column from the Star's Bruce Arthur in Tokyo.

Sloppy shooting: Team Canada may have forced 28 turnovers against the Serbs in their first match of group play in women's basketball, but it wasn't enough to overcome a sluggish first half and poor shooting as the Canadians lost 72-68. Canada shot just 5-for-24 from three-point range and 38 per cent from the field in the loss.

Their road to reaching the podium in a highly contested field just got a little tougher. The Canadians face South Korea next on Wednesday.

Read the full analysis from the Star's Doug Smith.

Paralyzing cramping': Tyler Mislawchuk tried to fight through it in the last leg of the race but it was just too much. The Manitoban - who was hoping for a podium finish in the Tokyo 2020 triathlon after winning the test event two years ago - faced paralyzing cramping" shortly into the four-kilometre run.

Despite this, the 26-year-old finished 15th in one hour 46 minutes 28 seconds, matching his place from the 2016 Rio Games. Fellow Canadian Matthew Sharpe was 49th in 1:57.32.

Read Dave Feschuk's column from Tokyo here.

More from Canadians:

  • Beach volleyball: Sarah Pavan and Melissa Humana-Parades beat Germany, 21-17, 21-14.

  • Tennis: Barbora Krejcikova (8), Czech Republic, defeated Leylah Annie Fernandez, Canada, 6-2, 6-4.

  • Diving: Canada (Vincent Riendeau; Nathan Zsombor-Murray) placed fifth in the 10-metre synchronized diving with a score of 405.00.

  • Swimming: Toronto's Penny Oleksiak had the second fastest time in the 200-metre freestyle heats, behind only U.S. legendary swimmer Katie Ledecky. Summer McIntosh, the 14-year-old from Toronto, had the fifth fastest time. They move on to semifinals later tonight

  • Swimming: Canada (Brent Hayden; Joshua Liendo Edwards; Yuri Kisil; Markus Thormeyer), placed fourth in the freestyle 4x100-metre relay with a time of 3:10.82.

  • Badminton: France (Thom Gicquel; Delphine Delrue), defeated Canada (Joshua Hurlburt-Yu; Josephine Wu), 21-12, 21-13, in mixed doubles group play.

  • Men's rugby: Fiji 28, Canada 14. Canada now 0-2 in group play.

  • Mountain biking: Peter Disera, men's cross country, 26th

  • Women's weightlifting, 55 kg: Rachel Leblanc-Bazinet, Canada (2, 82-181; 3, 99-218), 181-399, in Group B

  • Men's Volleyball: Canada loses 3-1 to Japan, now sit 0-2 at the tournament.

  • Women's water polo: Spain 14, Canada 10, in group play

  • Skateboarding: Annie Guglia finished 19th out of 20 in the women's street event

The Star in Tokyo:

The Star in Toronto:

COVID report:

Organizers of the Tokyo Olympics say 153 people accredited for the Games have tested positive for COVID-19 in Japan since July 1.

The total includes 19 athletes who tested positive in Japan from July 1 through Sunday. Some of those athletes are residents of the Olympic Village, where 16 people have tested positive.

Those people left the apartment blocks overlooking Tokyo Bay to stay in quarantine hotels.

For the latest coronavirus news, visit here.

WHAT'S IN STORE TODAY:

  • Triathlon: Joanna Brown of Carp, Ont., and Amelie Kretz of Blainville, Que., will race in the women's triathlon Tuesday morning.

  • Swimming: World champion Kylie Masse had the second fastest time in the semis heading into tonight's final, 9:51 p.m. ET

  • Swimming: Penny Oleksiak and Summer McIntosh swim in the 200-metre freestyle semifinals, 9:30 p.m. ET

  • Softball: Canadian women's softball team plays in the bronze medal match at midnight ET

  • Platform synchro diving: Medal contenders Meaghan Benfeito and Caeli McKay compete, 2 a.m. ET

  • Mountain biking: Catharine Pendrel and Haley Smith compete, 2 a.m. The Star profiled Haley Smith earlier this month.

  • Women's weightlifting: Watch for Canada's Maude Charron in women's 64kg division at 6:50 a.m. ET.

Terminator' beats Ledecky

American swimming legend Katie Ledecky was in an unfamiliar position of accepting silver Monday in the 400-metre freestyle final. Twenty-year-old Australian sensation Ariarne Titmus - nicknamed the Terminator" - blew past Ledecky in the final stretch of the race.

It was an impressive win, one that sent Titmus' coach into an absurd frenzy of excitement.

Young guns

Youth dominated the women's skateboarding Olympic debut on Monday, with two 13-year-olds and one 16-year-old taking the three spots on the podium. Damn, these girls are cool.

Sky high

Just look how high this volleyball player is going. Just look!

National first

Weightlifter Hidilyn Diaz was overcome with emotion after winning the Philippines' first ever gold medal.

PHOTO OF THE DAY

For yesterday's gallery of the best shots, visit here:

With files from Star wire services

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