Summer McIntosh celebrates after breaking the World Record in the women's 400m IM at the Canadian Olympic Swim Trials in Toronto on May 16.Frank Gunn/The Canadian Press
The Olympics kick off in Paris at the end of July. How will Canada fare against the world’s best? Here are some athletes to keep an eye on.
Maggie Mac Neil: Swimming
Maggie Mac NeilAdrian Wyld/THE CANADIAN PRESS
After bursting onto the international scene in 2019 by capturing gold in her world aquatics championships debut and being chosen Swimming Canada’s breakout swimmer of the year, Maggie Mac Neil has become one of Canada’s biggest medal threats.
At the Tokyo Games, she won gold in the 100-metre butterfly, silver in the 4x100-metre freestyle relay and bronze in the 4x100-metre medley relay. Ms. Mac Neil, who was born in Jiujiang, China, before being adopted by her Canadian family a year later, began competing with the London Aquatic Club at age eight.
Fourteen years later, Ms. Mac Neil – who’s preparing for Paris at Louisiana State University with longtime coach Rick Bishop – has a combined 30 world aquatics and Olympic medals. In April, Ms. Mac Neil, 24, finished second in the 100-metre butterfly final at the 2024 Canadian Swimming Open, losing to Olympic teammate Summer McIntosh.
Summer McIntosh: Swimming
Summer McIntoshEugene Hoshiko/The Associated Press
At just 14, Summer McIntosh was Canada’s youngest athlete at the Tokyo Games, where she impressed with a fourth-place finish in the 400-metre freestyle – one of four events she took part in.
Although she didn’t win a medal, Ms. McIntosh’s Olympic experience was a catalyst for the momentum she’s built in her international results since. In the 2022 and 2023 world aquatics championships, Ms. McIntosh won eight medals and became the first Canadian swimmer to win four golds at the event.
The native of Toronto booked her ticket to Paris at the Olympic swimming trials on May 13 after winning the 400-metre freestyle with the fastest time (3 minutes 59.06 seconds) in the world this year. Three days later, she set a world record in the 400-metre individual medley.
Andre De Grasse: Athletics
Andre de GrasseTamas Vasvari/The Associated Press
A Canadian household name since 2016, Andre De Grasse, 29, goes into Paris as Canada’s most decorated male summer Olympian.
Mr. De Grasse has won a medal in every event he’s competed in during his first two Olympic appearances and aims to reach the podium for the third consecutive Summer Games in all three of his events – the 100 and 200 metres and the 4x100-metre relay – as well as eclipse the Canadian 100-metre record of 9.84 seconds.
But after enduring some inconsistency and a nagging toe injury for parts of the past two seasons, Mr. De Grasse broke through last September, winning the 200 metres at the Diamond League final.
That momentum carried through to the start of his 2024 Olympic year after he won both the 100-metre and 200-metre at the East Coast Relays in Jacksonville, Fla., where Mr. De Grasse lives and trains.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander: Canadian men’s basketball
Shai Gilgeous-AlexanderMichael Conroy/The Associated Press
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is the best basketball player Canada has produced since Steve Nash, and his ascension to superstardom has arrived at just the right time for a team with the tools to be a medal threat in Paris.
After finishing fifth in NBA MVP voting a year ago, Mr. Gilgeous-Alexander, 25, from Hamilton, reached new heights this season, leading the Oklahoma City Thunder to the top of the Western Conference standing.
Canada hasn’t qualified for Olympic basketball since Sydney 2000, but last summer’s FIBA World Cup bronze-medal finish against the United States, in which Mr. Gilgeous-Alexander authored a clutch double-double, signalled a new – rejuvenated – era for Canadian basketball. Canada ranks seventh in the world and will bring a well-rounded roster that includes R.J. Barrett, Dillon Brooks, Jamal Murray, Andrew Wiggins and Kelly Olynyk.
Sanoa Dempfle-Olin: Surfing
Sanoa Dempfle-OlinMarcus Paladino/The Canadian Press
Surfing returns to the Olympics after debuting in Tokyo and for the first time, a Canadian will compete. Sanoa Dempfle-Olin, a native of Canada’s surfing hotbed, Tofino, B.C., got a provisional ticket to Paris at the 2023 Pan-Am Games and officially qualified at the World Surfing Games in March.
Surfing the cold waters of Tofino since she received her first soft-top board at the age of six, Ms. Dempfle-Olin made history in 2017 when she became the youngest woman to win the Tofino Rip Curl Pro event when she was 11.
The surfing competition takes place in the village of Teahupo’o, on the southwest coast of the island of Tahiti, French Polynesia, where the 19-year-old will have to face the challenge of one of the most famous and mesmerizing reef breaks in the world.
Brooke Henderson: Golf
Brooke M. HendersonMatthew Lewis/Getty Images
Brooke Henderson has the most pro wins of any Canadian golfer, with 13 career LPGA tournament victories and two majors. The pride of Smiths Falls, Ont., was tied for seventh in golf’s return to the Olympics in Rio in 2016 but tied for 29th at Tokyo.
Although Ms. Henderson hasn’t won on the LPGA Tour since 2023, she is sixth in the LPGA season standings with six top-10 results and 14th in the world golf rankings.
At 26, Ms. Henderson has been in the spotlight for more than a decade. She burst onto the professional scene at 14 when she played her first LPGA tournament, before later that year becoming the youngest golfer in history to win a pro event with a victory on the Canadian Women’s Tour.
Félix Auger-Aliassime, Leylah Fernandez: Tennis
Félix Auger-AliassimeMatthew Stockman/Getty Images
Both Félix Auger-Aliassime (No. 18) and Leylah Fernandez (No. 23) will be in the singles draws in Paris. Mr. Auger-Aliassime competed in singles in Tokyo and lost in the first round.
He made it to the semi-finals of the 2021 U.S. Open and then reached a career-high ranking of No. 6 in 2022. Mr. Auger-Aliassime will also play doubles with Milos Raonic.
Leylah Fernandez, 21, also made her Olympic debut at the Tokyo Games and lost in the second round. She was runner-up at the 2021 U.S. Open on her way to reaching a career-high ranking of No. 13 in 2022. Ms. Fernandez will also play doubles with Gabriela Dabrowski.
Philip Kim: Breaking
Philip Kim, aka B-Boy Phil WizardChris Young/The Canadian Press
Breaking, or breakdancing as it’s sometimes mistakenly referred to, will make its debut at the Paris Games, and Canada may have one of the gold-medal favourites.
Canada’s Philip Kim, known in the breaking scene as B-Boy Phil Wizard, is one of the best in the world. The Olympic breaking competition will feature a men’s and women’s side, with 16 competitors in each, and head-to-head rounds in which breakers look to outperform their opponents.
Mr. Kim, 27, from Vancouver, has a had a slew of international success, including a gold medal at the 2022 breaking world championships, silver at the 2023 worlds and gold at the 2023 Pan Am Games.
Cordano Russell: Skateboarding
Cordano RussellATTILA KISBENEDEK/Getty Images
Skateboarding made its Olympic debut at Tokyo, where Canada’s best finish (10th in men’s street) came from Burnaby, B.C., native Micky Papa.
Once again, the men’s and women’s sides will split into two events, park and street – with 22 athletes qualifying for each event. Canada’s top street skater is Cordano Russell, 19, from London, Ont.
He doesn’t have the typical slender skateboarder build. Instead, he stands at a muscular 6-foot-3, 230 pounds, and for a period, considered pursuing football after earning defensive player-of-the-year awards at Horizon Prep in San Diego.
Christa Deguchi: Judo
Christa Deguchi was born and raised in Japan, where she took up judo at age 3. In 2017, she made the move to compete for Canada, her father’s birth country, and has since become Canada’s most decorated female judoka.
Now 28 and a World No.1, Ms. Deguchi endured a neck-and-neck battle to land the coveted sole Olympic spot for Canada in the 57-kg women’s weight class against the world’s second-ranked player in this weight class, Jessica Klimkait of Whitby, Ont. It was Ms. Klimkait who earned Canada’s Olympic spot three years ago to compete in Tokyo. This time, it’s Ms. Deguchi making her Olympic debut.
Ms. Deguchi is a two-time world champ (2019 and 2023) and 2024 world silver medalist.