What to watch in Olympic sports this weekend | CBC Sports (2024)

Jesse Campigotto · CBC Sports

· Posted: Jun 21, 2024 6:00 PM EDT | Last Updated: June 21

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Summer is officially here (hot enough for ya?), the Paris Games are only five weeks away and some of Canada's best-known Olympians are competing this weekend. Here's what to watch:

It's Penny Oleksiak's last chance to qualify for a solo event.

The most decorated Olympian in Canadian history could be nearing the end of her swimming career. Since winning an astonishing four medals, including an individual gold, as a 16-year-old at the 2016 Games and adding three more in 2021, Oleksiak's only major hardware is the four relay medals she picked up at the 2022 world championships. She's been slowed by injuries over the past couple of years and has given the impression that Paris could be her final Olympic Games.

Penny was named to the Canadian team last month, but as of right now she's only allowed to compete in relay races. She failed to meet the Olympic qualifying time in her three individual events at the Canadian trials, despite winning the 50 and 100m freestyle finals (she was ninth in the 200).

On Saturday in Rome, Oleksiak will make a last-ditch effort to qualify for a solo event when she competes in the women's 100m freestyle at theSette Colli meet. To get to Paris, she needs to clock in at 53.61 seconds or faster— an improvement of just five hundredths of a second from her time at the trials.

Read more about Penny's last chance inthis story by CBC Sports' Devin Heroux. Also, read Devin's story on theexciting potentialof Canada's Olympic swim team, led by 17-year-old phenom Summer McIntosh.

Canada's Olympic golfers are competing in big tournaments.

The Women's PGA Championship at Sahalee Country Club in Washington state is the third major of the year and the last event in the Olympic qualifying window. Countries will allocate their entries in the 60-player women's tournament in Paris based on the world rankings following Sunday's final round.

World No. 13 Brooke Henderson is a lock for one of Canada's two spots as she returns to the course where she won her first major title in 2016. No. 276 Alena Sharp is likely to get the other one as she sits 50th in theOlympic rankings. The only other Canadian in the field at Sahalee is 458th-ranked Savannah Grewal.Here's a live leaderboard.

Nick Taylor and Corey Conners, who will represent Canada in the Olympic men's tournament, are competing in the Travelers Championship, one of the PGA Tour's $20-million US "signature" events.Live leaderboard here.

The Canadian men's rugby sevens team has one more chance to make the Olympics.

The winner of this week's 11-team global qualifying tournament in Monaco gets the last remaining spot in the men's event in Paris. The Canadians will have to beat out South Africa, Great Britain and Spain, who all finished ahead of them on the global SVNS tour this season.

Canada was relegated out of the league after placing 12th out of 12 teams, so its chances of contending for an Olympic medal would be extremely slim. The team finished eighth at the 2021 Tokyo Games.

The Canadian women's rugby sevens team placed fifth on the SVNS tour this season and will be making its third straight trip to the Olympics. Canada won bronze in 2016 before finishing ninth in 2021.

Canada lost in the semifinals of a women's 3x3 basketball event in France.

The Canadian team of Katherine Plouffe, Paige Crozon, Cassandra Brown and Mackenzie Smith defeated the Netherlands in the quarterfinals today in Orleans before falling to the host team for the second straight week. Last week, the Canadians lost to France in the final in Clermont-Ferrand.

Plouffe and Crozon will play in the Olympics along with Michelle Plouffe (Katherine's twin sister) and Kacie Bosch, who both sat out for the second straight week.

In other women's basketball news, WNBA rookie star Cameron Brinksuffered a torn ACLthat will prevent her from playing for the U.S. 3x3 team in the Olympics. If you're thinking that Caitlin Clark would make a great fill-in after being left off the American 5-on-5 team, forget it. The rules say that Brink's replacement must have a sufficient number of 3x3 qualifying points, and Clark has not played this version of the sport.

Canada's men's volleyball team qualified for the Nations League quarterfinals.

Today'swin over world No. 6 Brazilclinched a spot in next week's knockout stage for the ninth-ranked Canadians, who will get to face more top-notch competition as they prepare for the Olympics. Before heading to Poland for the quarterfinals, Canada (7-4) closes out the preliminary round against the 13th-ranked Netherlands on Saturday in Manila.

The women's Nations League championship bracket began today in Thailand and culminate with the gold-medal match on Sunday morning. Canada did not make it and also failed to qualify for the Olympics.

In beach volleyball, the Canadian men's duo of Sam Schacter and Daniel Dearing and the women's team of Heather Bansley and Sophie Bukovec each need to win their regional qualifying tournament in Mexico for a spot in the Olympics. Canada's Melissa Humana-Paredes and Brandie Wilkerson have already qualified.

Watch the women's Nations League knockout stage and the Canada-Netherlands men's match live on CBCSports.ca, the CBC Sports app and CBC Gem.Here's the full streaming schedule.

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