What’s happening today at the Olympics: De Grasse fails to qualify for 200m final; Canada women’s beach volleyball duo move to semi-finals

Alysha Newman of Canada competes in the women’s pole vault final at the 2024 Summer Olympics on Aug. 7 in Paris.Christinne Muschi/The Canadian Press

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Olympic highlights for Aug. 7

Pole vault: Alysha Newman of London, Ont., won the bronze medal in the women’s pole vault, setting a national record by clearing 4.85 metres in the process.
Athletics: Andre De Grasse placed third in his semi-final heat in the 200-metre sprint, failing to qualify for the final with a time of 20.41 seconds. Fellow Canadians Aaron Brown and Brendon Rodney likewise missed the cut.
Beach volleyball: Canadians Melissa Humana-Paredes and Brandie Wilkerson are a win away from a medal after they eliminated Spain in the women’s beach volleyball quarter-finals and advanced to the semi-finals. The duo, currently ranked fourth in the world, will face Switzerland on Thursday.
Athletics: Tokyo silver medalist Mohammed Ahmed won’t make the men’s 5,000-metre track podium or even race the final after the Canadian took an upsetting fall near the last lap of a qualifying heat at Stade de France Wednesday morning and his appeal to be reinstated was denied. Canada’s Thomas Fafard placed eighth in the same heat as Ahmed and will advance to the final on Saturday, along with four others who fell after Ahmed in a heated and disputed pile-up further down the track.

In photos: Day 12 of the Paris Olympics

Alysha Newman reacts while competing during the Women's Pole Vault Final.Cameron Spencer/Getty Images
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Canada's Andre De Grasse, left, competes in the men’s 200m semifinals. De Grasse did not qualify for finals.Christinne Muschi/The Canadian Press
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Canadian athletes Scarlett Finn, Audrey Lamothe, Jonnie Newman, Raphaelle Plante, Kenzie Priddell, Claire Scheffel, Jacqueline Simoneau and Florence Tremblay (not all pictured) perform their acrobatic routine as they compete in Artistic Swimming.Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press
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Canada's athletes during their performance Artistic Swimming Team Acrobatic Routine.Hannah McKay/Reuters
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Alysha Newman, of Canada, competes in the Women's Pole Vault final at the Olympic Games.David J. Phillip/The Canadian Press
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Brandie Wilkerson competes with Melissa Humana-Paredes (not pictured) from Canada during the women's beach volleyball quarter finals against Spain.Siegfried Modola/The Globe and Mail
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Melissa Humana-Paredes (right) and Brandie Wilkerson (left) from Canada after winning the women's beach volleyball quarter finals.Siegfried Modola/The Globe and Mail
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Margo Erlam of Canada in action during the Women's 3m Springboard Preliminaries.Maye-E Wong/Reuters
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Rebecca Petch of New Zealand leads Lauriane Genest of Canada, top left, during the Women's Keirin event in Paris.Ricardo Mazalan/The Associated Press
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Teams compete including Sarah Douglas of Canada in Women's Sailing Dinghy Medal Race at Marseille Marina.Andrew Boyers/Reuters
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Tyler Rorke of Team Canada competes during the Men's Sprint Qualifying on day twelve of the Olympic Games.Alex Broadway/Getty Images
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Greta Kerekes of Hungary, Michelle Jenneke of Australia, Cyrena Samba-Mayela of France and Mariam Abdul-Rashid of Canada in action during heat 3 in Women's 100m hurdles.Phil Noble/Reuters
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Mohammed Ahmed of Team Canada falls during the Men's 5000m Round 1 on day twelve of the Olympic Games.Hannah Peters/Getty Images
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Canada's Mohammed Ahmed tries to catch the group after falling in the Men's 5000m Round 1 on day twelve of the Olympic Games.Phil Noble/Reuters
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Canada's Maggie Coles-Lyster, Sarah Van Dam, Erin Attwell and Ariane Bonhomme in action during heat 2 Women's Track Cycling Team Pursuit.Matthew Childs/Reuters
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Connor Fitzpatrick of Canada in action during the Men's Sprint Canoe Canoe Single 1000m Heats.Yara Nardi/Reuters
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Brooke Henderson, of Canada, plays a shot from the 3rd fairway during the first round of the women's golf event at Le Golf National in Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, France.Matt York/The Associated Press
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Marco Arop, left, of Canada, Peyton Craig, of Australia, and Eliott Crestan, right, of Belgium, compete in the men's 800m heats in Saint-Denis.Ashley Landis/The Associated Press
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Eliott Crestan of Belgium finishes heat 1 in first place, followed by Marco Arop of Canada in second place and Peyton Craig of Australia in third place REUTERS/Fabrizio BenschFabrizio Bensch/Reuters
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Michelle Russell, of Canada, competes in the women's kayak single 500-meter heats near Esti Olivier, of South Africa, in Vaires-sur-Marne.Ebrahim Noroozi/The Associated Press
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Riley Melanson, of Canada, reacts in the finish area of in the women's kayak single 500-meter heats at the Olympic Games.Lindsey Wasson/The Associated Press
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Canada's Evan Dunfee and Olivia Lundman in the Marathon Race Walk Relay Mixed at the Olympic Games in Paris.Isabel Infantes/Reuters
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Canada's Evan Dunfee leads the pack during the Marathon Race Walk Relay Mixed at the Olympic Games in Paris.Vadim Ghirda/The Associated Press
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Maria Perez of Spain and Olivia Lundman of Canada in action during the Marathon Race Walk Relay Mixed at the Olympic Games in Paris.Isabel Infantes/Reuters
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Lena Stojkovic of Croatia competes against Josipa Kafadar of Canada during the Women's Taekwondo 49kg Qualification rounds.Albert Gea/Reuters
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Alena Sharp, of Canada, plays a shot from the 3rd fairway during the first round of the women's golf event at the Olympic Games.Matt York/The Associated Press
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Here’s what happened today, Aug. 7, at the Olympics

Athletics: Men’s 800-metres reigning world champion Marco Arop of Edmonton qualified for Friday’s semi-finals, finishing second in his heat, while Mariam Abdul-Rashid qualified for the women’s 100-metre hurdles on Friday. Lucia Stafford, Simone Plourde and Kate Current won’t make the 1,500-metre semi-finals after coming up short in their repechages this morning.
Golf: After the first round in women’s golf, Canada’s two athletes sat seventh (Alena Sharp) and 10th (Brooke Henderson), despite participating in an event that Cathal Kelly says feels divorced from the spirit of the Olympics.
Cycling: Canada’s Kelsey Mitchell and Lauriane Genest are into the women’s keirin track cycling quarterfinals tomorrow at 11:18 a.m. ET after winning their repechages this morning, while Nick Wammes and Taylor Rorke were eliminated in their men’s sprint repechage. World records have been shattered at the velodrome this week, including two this morning.
Canoe sprint: Canada’s Connor Fitzpatrick is into the men’s single 1,000-metre canoe sprint semi-finals tomorrow after placing second in his heat this morning, while Michelle Russell and Riley Melanson are into the women’s 500-metre kayak sprint semi-finals on Saturday.
Artistic swimming: Canada’s artistic swimming team missed the podium after their acrobatic routine, finishing sixth in the three-day event. China won gold, the U.S. silver, and Spain captured the bronze medal.
Steeplechase: Jean-Simon Desgagnés finished 13th in the men’s 3,000-metre steeplechase final. Gold was won by Moroccan Soufiane El Bakkali, while Kenneth Rooks of the U.S. earned silver and Abraham Kibiwot of Kenya won bronze.
Sailing: Sarah Douglas of Burlington, Ont. finished eighth overall in the women’s dinghy event after a third-place finish in the much-delayed final medal race, not earning her enough overall points to take the podium. Canadian teammate Emily Bugeja’s formula kite race was delayed and then cancelled this morning due to the same difficult winds in Marseille.
Race-walking: Evan Dunfee and Olivia Lindman didn’t put Canada on the podium in the mixed relay marathon event, finishing 20th overall with a time of 3:04.57.

What to watch for tomorrow, Aug. 8, at the Olympics

Beach volleyball: Canada’s women’s duo will play Switzerland in the semi-final match at 11 a.m. ET after eliminating Spain in the quarter-final.
Open water swimming: Canada’s Emma Finlin will compete in the women’s 10-kilometre race final in the Seine beginning at 1:30 a.m. ET, the only athlete from Canada in the sport. On Wednesday, officials determined the long-polluted river was safe to swim in and allowed practices to begin.
Golf: Brooke Henderson and Alena Sharp will tee off for Team Canada in the women’s individual stroke competition round two starting at 3 a.m. ET.
Weightlifting: Defending Olympic champion Maude Charron will look to repeat as gold medallist in the women’s under-59-kilogram weightlifting final starting at 9 a.m. ET.
Athletics: Canada’s Savannah Sutherland goes for the podium in women’s 400-metre hurdles at 3:25 p.m. ET at Stade de France.

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