Volleyball world, Stephen Hosier, FIBA
Team Canada is turning up the heat this weekend! There is the Paris 2024 qualification in 3×3 basketball and all the relays in athletics.
Canadian artistic swimmers will test the waters at their Olympic venue, while Canada's top beach volleyball team will take to the sand in Brazil. Meanwhile, Alison Jackson is hoping to make even more magic happen at La Vuelta Femenina.
Here's what you don't want to miss:
Athletics
Canada will attempt to qualify relay teams for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games at the world athletics relay competition in Nassau, Bahamas this weekend. Over the weekend, Canada to field teams in all Olympic relay events with the aim of obtaining one of the 14 places to be allocated in each of the five events: the women's and men's 4x100m relays, as well as the women's, men's and mixed 4x400m relays.
The competition will begin on Saturday with the qualifying heats for each relay. The top two teams from each round will qualify for Paris 2024 and the final on Sunday. All other teams will participate in another qualifying round on Sunday, in which the top two teams from each round will qualify for Paris 2024. In the final, medals and cash prizes will be up for grabs. The results of the finals will also determine the allocation of lanes at the Olympic Games.
Canada will be keeping a particularly close eye on the men's 4x100m relay, in which the quartet of Aaron Brown, Jerome Blake, Brendon Rodney and Andre De Grasse, who won silver at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games before winning the gold at the 2022 Olympic Games. The World Athletics Championships will once again be brought together at the start line.
READ: André De Grasse has his eyes on Paris 2024
In the women's 4x400m relay, Canada had a strong performance at the 2023 World Athletics Championships, finishing fourth. Canada also finished just off the podium in this event at Tokyo 2020.
Among the Canadian athletes who could start the men's 4x400m and mixed 4x400m relays are 800m world champion Marco Arop and Christopher Morales Williams, who a few months ago set an indoor world record in the 400m that was not could not be ratified.
The final two Olympic spots in each relay will be awarded on June 30 based on World Athletics' list of performances during the qualification window.
3×3 basketball
After securing a victory in the first leg of the FIBA Women's Series of the 2024 season, Team Canada will look to continue its momentum in the FIBA 3 × 3 Universality Olympic Qualifying Tournament which will take place this weekend in Utsunomiya, Japan.
READ: Team Canada's women's 3×3 team pushes for Paris while prioritizing passion
Michelle Plouffe, Katherine Plouffe, Paige Crozon and Kacie Bosch will be supported by Cassandra Brown as they attempt to secure Canada's place in the women's 3×3 tournament at Paris 2024. Only one Olympic berth will be awarded per gender at this tournament. The remaining three team spots per gender will be up for grabs from May 16-19 in Debrecen, Hungary. China, France, Azerbaijan and the United States have already qualified for the Paris 2024 women's tournament.
Team Canada has a reputation for rising to the occasion, winning back-to-back FIBA Women's 3×3 Series titles in 2022 and 2023. If the team qualifies, they will become the first Olympic 3×3 team in the Canada.
Beach volleyball
Melissa Humana-Paredes and Brandie Wilkerson will compete in the Beach Pro Tour Elite16 tournament this weekend in Brasilia, Brazil. The Canadians will play in Pool D, starting with a match against Brazil on Thursday afternoon.
The duo finished fifth at the last Elite16 event in Tepic, Mexico in April. They have never missed the quarterfinals of a tournament since they teamed up before last season.
The event at Tepic was Humana-Paredes and Wilkerson's 12th tournament together. This was the number required for their world ranking to count for Olympic qualification. The FIVB Olympic rankings won't officially close until June 10, but the Canadian duo are currently fifth, tentatively positioning them to win one of 17 tickets to women's beach volleyball at Paris 2024.
Artistic Swimming
Team Canada has the opportunity to test the waters at the brand new Aquatic Center where the Paris 2024 Olympic events will take place this summer. The second stage of the Artistic Swimming World Cup takes place this weekend.
Friday, Jacqueline Simoneau will participate in the solo technical routine before teaming up with Audrey Lamothe for the duo technical routine. The two swimmers will then be among the eight athletes in action for the technical team routine. Saturday will see duo and team free routines, followed on Sunday by solo and team free routines.
Last February, Simoneau, back with the national team since last September after taking a two-year break to devote herself to studies, was crowned world champion in free solo after winning silver in technical solo at the Championships. of the aquatic world. Championships in Doha. Canada finished sixth in the technical routine, seventh in the free routine and fourth in the acrobatic routine.
A duo event and a team event are contested at the Olympic Games. While at the World Cups, medals are awarded for each sequence, at the Olympic Games, the general classification is determined by combining the results of the different sequences: the free and technical for the duo event, and the free, technical and acrobatic for the test. team event.
Road cycling
Team Canada fans will be keeping an eye on the multi-stage cycling race, La Vuelta Femenina, this week. The race in Spain has already been a success for Canadian Alison Jackson, who took victory in the second stage while representing the EF Education – Cannondale team.
“I came in with a real fire to win this. Even starting in the rain, I took into account that it could be a very good day and that I just needed to be a little more careful than usual. “I was fortunate to always be in the right place at the right time, with teammates guiding me from start to finish,” Jackson said after the stage.
Canadian Olivia Baril, who races with the Movistar team, is also on the field. She finished third in the third stage on Tuesday.
Jackson currently sits in fourth place in the points standings. The eight-stage race ends on Sunday in Madrid.
