Canadian diver Caeli McKay advances to Olympic women's 10m platform final
Calgarian places 7th in semifinal with 308.85 points, will compete for medal Tuesday
Canadian diver Caeli McKay will be competing in the women's 10-metre platform final at the Paris Olympics.
McKay, of Calgary, finished seventh out of 18 in the semifinal on Monday after scoring a total of 308.85 over five dives at the Aquatics Centre in Saint-Denis, France.
China's Quan Hongchan and Chen Yuxi topped the scoreboard, with 421.05 and 403.05 respectively, with Britain's Andrea Spendolini Sirieix coming in third with 367.00.
"The job's done for today. The job's not done for the whole event. I'm really happy I made the finals. It was a very up-and-down day," said McKay, assessing her performance. "I had some good stuff. I had some not-so-great stuff. Overall, I was relatively consistent, which I was really happy with. I have a lot of stuff I can improve on, so I'm quite relieved with that."
Watch live coverage of the final on CBCSports.ca, the CBC Olympics app and CBC Gem, starting at 9 a.m. ET.
'Chinese team is just dominating'
Heading into the finals, the 25-year-old McKay frames the competition as China versus everyone else, with everyone else chasing bronze.
"I think it's one of the only events in diving right now that is really not sanely possible to say we would win a silver or gold. The Chinese team is just dominating. These girls are amazing. They're very, very consistent and they don't miss," she said.
Ottawa's Kate Miller was eliminated in the preliminary round earlier on Monday, coming in 20th — two spots below the cutoff — with a score of 266.30.
Earlier this week, McKay and Miller fell just short of the podium with a fourth-place finish in the women's 10-metre synchronized final.
WATCH l Full replay of women's 10m platform semifinal:
British women's sprint squad wins track cycling gold
Track cyclists from Britain have become accustomed to standing on the top step of the podium at the Olympics.
Just not in the women's team sprint.
So when Katy Marchant, Sophie Capewell and Emma Finucane shattered the world record while beating New Zealand in a head-to-head showdown for gold Monday night, the enormity of the moment hit each of them in a meaningful way.
"It's been a crazy journey," Finucane said. "It's just surreal standing on that top step, singing the anthem. It's such a pinch-me moment. And I think going up to that start line for the final, we knew we could do it, but we had to execute. And I think we did that. And looking up at the boards and seeing all the [British] flags in the crowd, I couldn't believe we did it."
The Canadian team of Sarah Orban, Kelsey Mitchell, and Lauriane Genest lost to Poland in the 7th-place race, crossing the line in 47.631 seconds, behind Poland's 47.175.
"I think it's exciting to see what the future holds for us and our team," Orban said, having helped the team break a Canadian record in the event. "We have a lot more in us and a lot more to give, so it instills a lot of confidence in us that we can do it and we can keep going."
Tahiti's Vaast wins on home waves
French Polynesian Kauli Vaast won the gold medal in men's surfing while Caroline Marks from the United States won the women's surfing gold medal on Monday at the Paris Olympics in Tahiti.
Cheers and tears erupted from boats floating near the wave and crowds of spectators along the shore as the men's final match ended in the afternoon as Vaast pumped his arms into the air in victory after beating Jack Robinson from Australia, who received the silver medal.
WATCH | Tahiti's own Vaast wins Paris 2024 surfing gold:
The women's gold medal match ended about thirty minutes later, with Marks beating Tatiana Weston-Webb from Brazil, who was awarded the silver medal.
For the bronze medals, Gabriel Medina from Brazil and Johanne Defay from France won after beating Alonso Correa from Peru and Brisa Hennessy from Costa Rica, respectively.
The final day of the Paris Olympics surfing competition began Monday morning after two days of delays due to unfavourable conditions. In the morning, conditions were smaller than the heavy, barrel-shaped waves Teahupo'o is famed for and that were seen during part of the men's competition the week before.
Miroslaw breaks own sport climbing world record twice
Aleksandra Miroslaw of Poland twice broke her own sport climbing world record in the women's speed event on Monday in Paris.
She was even better in her second run with a time of 6.06.
The men's record in speed is 4.79, set by American Samuel Watson in April at the Wujiang World Cup.
Canada's Morais out in wrestling round of 16
Tecumseh, Ont., native Linda Morais fell 8-2 to Nigeria's Blessing Oborududu in the women's freestyle -68kg round of 16 on Monday, with the Nigerian winning eight points through the second period.
Despite going up 2-0 in the first of two periods, Morais' attempts to close the fight in the second proved futile, as Oborududu scored eight in the latter stages, shutting out the Canadian 31-year-old in the latter stages.
Other Canadian results:
- Canada's artistic swimming team led by individual world champion Jacqueline Simoneau of Saint-Laurent, Que., was fifth in the 10-country field after the technical routine. The team routine is scheduled for Tuesday, and the event ends Wednesday with the acrobatic routine.
With files from CBC Sports and The Associated Press
