While you were sleeping: How Canada performed at Tokyo Olympics Wednesday, Thursday – National

Canada made its way onto the medal podium in the first ever Olympic women’s canoe sprint in Tokyo on Thursday, while track and field athletes continued to impress.

Here’s what you may have missed from the day of competition.

Canoe Sprint

Laurence Vincent-Lapointe won the first-ever silver medal in the women’s 200-metre single canoe sprint, which made its Olympic debut in Tokyo. She came in third in the semifinal earlier in the day.

The The 29-year-old paddler from Trois-Rivieres, Que., had been one the most vocal athletes calling for women to be included in the canoe sprint, which was finally granted admission in 2017.

Katie Vincent also came in third in her semifinal heat of the same event, but finished last in the final.

Elsewhere, Nicholas Matveev finished seventh in the men’s 200-metre single kayak semifinal, sending him to the non-medal “petite” final where he placed sixth.

Michelle Russell was seventh over the finish line in the women’s 200-metre single kayak semifinal, eliminating her from the finals.

The men’s double kayak team of Brian Malfesi and Vincent Jourdenais managed a sixth-place finish in the “petite” final of the 1,000-metre sprint.

Cycling

Canada’s Lauriane Genest rode to bronze in the women’s keirin cycling event in Tokyo, winning Canada’s first-ever medal in this track cycling race.

Athletics

Damian Warner got closer to a gold medal in the second day of the men’s decathlon, finishing the morning events over 200 points ahead of his closest competition and remaining in first place in the rankings.

The current world decathlon leader finished first overall in the 110-metre hurdles and third overall in the discus throw. He matched his personal best in the pole vault, which was good enough for 11th place in that event and didn’t hurt his overall point lead.

Fellow Canadian Pierce LePage remains in third place in the point totals but his pace slipped a bit in Thursday’s events. He finished seventh in both the 110-metre hurdles and the discus throw and eighth in the pole vault.

Both men still have to face the javelin throw and the 1,500-metre race later today, which will ultimately decide who ends up on the medal podium.

In the second day of the women’s heptathlon, Georgia Ellenwood fell to 18th place in overall points after placing 19th in the long jump and 13th in the javelin throw. She’ll finish up with the 800-metre race later today, but is unlikely to leave Tokyo with a medal.

Andre De Grasse managed to clinch a second-place finish in the men’s 100-metre relay qualifier for himself and fellow teammates Aaron Brown, Jerome Blake and Brendon Rodney, sending them to the final on Friday.

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Golf

Brooke Henderson showed improvement in her second round after a lackluster first day on Wednesday, moving herself up 13 spots in the rankings to tie for 34th place. She finished three under par and notched a final score of 68.

Alena Sharpe only moved up one spot to tie for 46th place, ending on par with a score of 71.

Diving

Meaghan Benfeito was unable to make it to the 10-metre platform finals after falling just outside the top 12, finishing 13th.

Wrestling

Amarveer Dhesi fell to Turkey’s Taha Akgul 5-0, failing to secure any points across five rounds of competition and ending his run at the Games.

Marathon Swimming

Hau-Li Fan finished ninth in the men’s 10-kilometre marathon swimming final, his first Olympic appearance.

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