Ottawa – With just over 50 days to go before Team Canada competes at Paris 2024, many Canadian athletes enjoyed a successful weekend as they head into the home stretch of Olympic qualification.
The country’s newest sprint star, Audrey Leduc, took down her second national record in the last six weeks, while the consistency of shot putter Sarah Mitton was on display at the latest Diamond League stop. Canada’s artistic swimming team gave the home crowd a great show at the World Aquatics World Cup in Markham, Ontario. There was a momentous victory for Canada’s Women’s Sevens Team in rugby and the Canadian women’s volleyball team kept themselves in contention for their own Olympic berth.
Here’s a quick look at some of the moments you might have missed:
Athletics: Mitton wins Diamond League silver, Leduc sprints to another national record
World indoor champion Sarah Mitton earned her third Diamond League podium of the season, finishing second in Stockholm on Sunday. With a best throw of 19.98m, she missed out on the victory by a mere two centimetres. American Chase Jackson, the two-time reigning outdoor world champion, finished first with a throw of 20.00m.
Two other Canadians competed in Stockholm. Charles Philibert-Thiboutot placed seventh in the men’s 1500m while Jean-Simon Desgagnés was eighth in the men’s 3000m steeplechase after posting a season best time of 8:15.95. Meanwhile in Atlanta, Audrey Leduc set her second national record in six weeks, this time in the women’s 200m. She ran 22.36 seconds to win the event at the Edwin Moses Legends Meet, taking 0.14 off the previous Canadian record held by Crystal Emmanuel since July 2017. In late April, Leduc erased a nearly 37-year-old Canadian record in the women’s 100m.