The men’s 4x100-metres quartet of Akeem Haynes from Calgary, Alta., Aaron Brown from Toronto, Ont., Brendon Rodney of Hamilton, Ont., and Andre De Grasse of Markham, Ont., combined to set a new Canadian record of 37.64 on the way to a bronze medal finish. The team crossed the line in fourth place, narrowly edged out by the United States (3rd – 37.62) and Japan (2nd – 37.60). However immediately after the race the USA were disqualified for an exchange outside of the zone. Canada was bumped up to bronze, the first Olympic relay medal since gold in Atlanta.
The men’s 4x100-metre bronze medal is the sixth Canadian athletics medal at these Games, the most since 1932, except for the boycotted 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles. Canada has a chance at more tomorrow with Melissa Bishop in the 800-metres final, Nathan Brannen in the 1500-metres final, Alyx Treasure in the high jump final, and Canada is also in the women’s 4x400-metres final.
Evan Dunfee of Richmond, B.C., put in a heroic effort in the men’s 50-kilometre race walk to finish fourth in a Canadian record time of 3:41:38.
Dunfee led for part of the race but was caught by a chase pack of four athletes with about 30-kilometres to go. He worked his way back to battle for bronze with Hirooki Arai of Japan. Dunfee went ahead of Arai with about 3-kilometres to go, in the last kilometre the Japanese athlete caught up brushed up with Evan while passing him, knocking him off stride and finishing ahead of Dunfee who ended up fourth. Click here to read Evan’s statement.
The previous best finish by a Canadian in this event at the Olympic Games was sixth by Alex Oakley in 1960.
The women’s 4x400-metres qualified for tomorrow’s final with a seasonal best time of 3:24.94. Carline Muir of Edmonton, Alta., Alicia Brown of Ottawa, Ont., Noelle Montcalm of Belle River, Ont., and Sage Watson of Medicine Hat, Alta., combined to automatically qualify Canada to its first women’s Olympic 4x400-metres final since the 1992 Barcelona Games.
Full Canadian Results & Quotes
Men’s 4x100-metres FINAL
Team Canada, Bronze in 37.64 Canadian Record
Akeem Haynes, Aaron Brown, Brendon Rodney, Andre De Grasse
Aaron Brown, “I had it in the back of my mind that I wanted to get this medal back for Jared (Connaughton) and Justyn (Warner). Feels a lot better to be on the right side of a disqualification. Glenroy is our coach and he’s the one that ran it the Canadian record in 1996, we’ve been wanting to break that record, no better place than at the Olympics. It’s the 20-year anniversary, it’s about time it goes down. New wave of sprinters.”
On Andre’s closing leg, Brendon Rodney, “Hmmm it was a good leg, (laughs), the first three legs did their job and so did Andre. We can’t complain when we have a guy that can run 9.9s and 19.80. I’m excited and proud of all these guys, including Bolade (Ajomale) who stepped in yesterday, he did his job.”
Andre De Grasse, “I’m proud of those guys, we came away with a national record, it’s an exciting feeling. We were surprised with Japan, they were awesome. I needed 1 more metre to catch those guys, my legs were a little fatigued, could have got silver, we were so close. I came in wanting to win 3 Olympic medals, and I’ve done that, it’s a dream come true. Next time I just want to upgrade those medals.”
50km race walk FINAL
Evan Dunfee, 4th, 3:41:38 Canadian Record
Women’s 4x400-metres heats
Team Canada, 3rd in heat 2, 3:24.94 Q SB
Carline Muir, Alison Brown, Chanice, Chase, Sage Watson
Alicia Brown, “It was really exciting, we all did a really great job. Carline started off the race really strong with a good pass to me, my job was to run the cut and put us in a good place and keep that spot. Then off to Noelle and then Sage, everyone did a really good job”.
Sage Watson, “I was just thinking to stay strong, just keep moving in that last 100-metres, stay right on Great Britain who was right in front of me
Noelle Montcalm, “I found out about 20-minutes before the race I was running (Chanice Chase was injured in warm-up), but I had warmed up with the girls and was ready to go”.
Carline Muir, “I wanted to put the team in a great position, and then they carried it home, I’m so happy and proud of my team.”
Women’s 4x100-metres heats
Team Canada, 7th in 43.15
Farah Jacques, Crystal Emmanuel, Phylicia George, Khamica Bingham
Phylicia George, “It was an accomplishment just to make it into the final, we have a lot of good young up and coming athletes, this is just the start of the women’s relay program.”
Crystal Emmanuel, “I put my trust in the team, we came out confident and to do our very best, and that’s what we did.
Farah Jacques, “I pushed hard on the corner, I think we did a good job,
Khamica Bingham, “It’s always exciting bringing home the relay (as anchor), I’m proud and happy of my teammates.”
Women’s Pole Vault FINAL
Kelsie Ahbe, 12th, 4.50m
4.35m: XX0 / 4.50m: XX0 / 4.60m: XXX
“It didn’t go as smoothly as the prelim, I haven’t had much time to process it, so I can’t really pinpoint what went wrong, there’s a lot of things I’m proud of. It was great to make the final, I learned that I can compete with the best in the world. I was taking it one step at a time this season, first to make the team and then to make the final, today I went in and wanted to execute and be at my very best. I could have been better, but I don’t want to be negative about the experience.”
