A look at 5 things to know from Saturday at the Tokyo Olympics

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This article was published 31/07/2021 (1502 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

TOKYO – From swimmer Kylie Masse’s 200-metre project paying silver dividends to Andre De Grasse’s fast time in the 100-metre heats, here are five things to know from Saturday at the Tokyo Olympics.

MASSE EFFECT 2

Kylie Masse was already a two-time world champion and a multi-Olympic medallist in the 100-metre backstroke. Replicating that success at a longer distance has been a long-term project for the swimmer from LaSalle, Ont. That project showed big results Saturday, when Masse won silver in the women’s 200-metre backstroke, lowering her own Canadian record to two minutes 5.42 seconds in the process. “It’s fun. It’s definitely painful,” said Masse, who was narrowly beaten at the wall by star Australian swimmer Kaylee McKeown. “A lot more painful than the 100.” It’s Masse’s third Olympic medal. She took silver in the 100 backstroke four days ago in Tokyo and won bronze in that event in 2016.

COOL CUSTOMER

A pair of false starts in the eighth heat of the men’s 100 metres might have rattled some of the competitors. Not so Andre De Grasse. The Canadian sprinter, wearing sports shades and looking generally untroubled, cruised to victory in the heat with a season-best time of 9.91 seconds. That fast time turned out to be the best qualifying time out of all the heats. De Grasse will look to repeat his success in the semifinal and final on Sunday.

ABEL TO ADVANCE

Canadian diver Jennifer Abel is on track for a second medal in Tokyo after qualifying third for Sunday’s three-metre springboard final. Abel was solid in Saturday’s semifinal, finishing third behind reigning Olympic champion Shi Tingmao and her Chinese teammate Wang Han. Pamela Ware had hoped to join Abel in Sunday’s final and was on pace to qualify before missing her approach on her fifth and final dive, forcing her to simply drop, feet first, into the water. She finished in last place. Abel and Melissa Citrini-Beaulieu teamed up to take silver in last week’s three-metre synchronized springboard event.

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CLEAN AND JERKED

The waiting game turned out to be no fun for Canadian weightlifter Boady Santavy. Leading the men’s 96-kilogram competition after his third attempt in the clean and jerk, Santavy had to watch as his competitors all tried to knock him off the podium. While he was bumped down the leaderboard a couple of times, the Canadian was still in a bronze-medal position with one lifter remaining. That lifter was Qatar’s Fares El-Bakh, who won the gold medal outright, and denied Santavy a place on the podium, with his first lift of 217 kilograms.

DRESSEL DENIED

American swimmer Caeleb Dressel’s hopes for a sixth gold medal were all but gone before he even hit the water. Dressel was part of the American team in the 4×100-metre mixed medley, which made its Olympic debut Saturday. Two men and two women per country swim different legs in the event. Dressel swam the anchor leg for the Americans, but by that time his team was more than seven seconds behind the leaders in last place. Britain claimed the gold with a world record of three minutes 37.58 seconds. The silver went to China in 3:38.86, while Australia took the bronze in 3:38.95.

This report by The Canadian Press was first publishedJuly 31, 2021.