Canada at the 2022 Commonwealth Games

[intoronto 5,678]

Beach volleyball team announced: https://sirc.ca/news/canadian-beach-volleyball-team-named-for-2022-commonwealth-games/

[JoshMartini007 2,547]

Preview: 2022 Commonwealth Games

 

Talent from around the Commonwealth has descended to Birmingham, England to compete in various sports. While COVID has caused a crowded sport schedule for 2022 where athletes have prioritized other events, Canada is still sending a relatively strong team to compete. Here’s a breakdown of each sport and the chances Canada has in each of them.

 

3x3 Basketball

Sadly, Canada is not sending its best 3x3 teams where they would have been favourites for gold, particularly the women. With that said, despite the lack of information, I feel Canada will have a decent chance to medal in both events.

 

3x3 Wheelchair will be making its world debut at the Commonwealth Games. In the 5v5 format, Australia, Canada and England are leagues better than the other nations so I’m inclined to believe the same will be true in 3x3.

 

Athletics

Due to the proximity of the World Championships, Canada will be missing some key athletes at the Commonwealth Games. As of this writing the only medalist competing is Camryn Rogers in women’s hammer throw where she and Jillian Weir could medal. The men’s side will also be favoured to win a medal or two along with a possibility for Evan Dunfee in the men’s 10,000m walk. Para athletes Josh Cassidy and Alex Dupont will be looking to add medals in the 1500m T54 with Cassidy also competing the marathon.

 

The women will have more opportunities to medal with women’s pole vault (Anicka Newell), shot put (Sarah Mitton), javelin throw (Elizabeth Gleadle) and the women’s 4x400m relay being our best opportunities.

 

Badminton

Canada’s best chance will come in the women’s singles while the women’s doubles will have an outside chance. A relatively easy draw would help us immensely. I’d keep an eye out for the mixed team event. We are underdogs, but we do have a chance against England for bronze. On the flip side we could lose in the quarterfinals to Singapore should we meet.

 

Beach Volleyball

On paper, our biggest competition in both events will be against Australia. With two of our best teams, I’d consider it a disaster if we fail to medal in either event.

 

Boxing

While the sport can be quite unpredictable, the one predictable thing is that Canada seems to struggle to meet our expectation. Our team is led by 2022 world champion Tammara Thibeault in the women’s middleweight. The draw will be very important as any of them can potentially medal. I’d say 3-4 medals would be considered a good haul.

 

Cycling

Historically, cycling at the last few games have been one of those good enough to compete, but not good enough to medal consistently. The strength of Australia, England and New Zealand along with Scotland and Wales means Canada has to be on top of their game if they want to medal.

 

Lucky for us this is probably our best track cycling team in a long time. Led by the women’s sprint crew we have the potential to win multiple medals. With that said it will be tough, but I am hopeful.

 

The road team’s chances are not as high with our best hope likely coming from Alison Jackson and Leah Kirchmann in the time trial or road race.

 

Diving

Despite the loss of many of our top divers we still have a pretty good team. In 2018 we won six medals and I think we are quite capable of beating that performance, thanks to two new events being added. The team will be led by two-time 2022 World Championship medalist Mia Vallee who alone will be looking for three medals. On the men’s side Rylan Wiens will be looking to accomplish the same feat.

 

Field Hockey

Given the strength of the field it will be unlikely for Canada to reach the semi-finals. I’m hoping at least one of our teams advances to the 5th/6th place match which is doable given the teams in our groups.

 

Gymnastics

Our artistic team is quite a bit weaker this time around which likely means England will dominate the medals for both the men and women. The team all-around medals are still possible, but we can just as easily finish fourth or fifth. I still expect a few individual medals, but nothing close to the nine won in 2018.

 

On paper, our rhythmic team is a bit better, but that’s about all I can tell you. The level of competition is quite low at the Commonwealth Games so you don’t need to be anything special to win medals. We only ended up two in 2018 so I hope we can at least surpass that.

 

Judo

The sport returns after taking a break in 2018. Eight years later, our team is better. We are led by Catherine Beauchemin-Pinard and have very solid chances with Francois Gauthier-Drapeau, Shady El Nahas and the Deguchi sisters. The draw will matter quite a bit if we want to reach the finals.

 

Lawn Bowls

I sadly do not know much about this sport, especially since top level play has been so sporadic since COVID. With that said, if Ryan Bester has maintained his form he will challenge for a medal while Jordan Kos from what I heard is an up and comer.

 

Rugby Sevens

Both of our teams are in rebuilding mode. The women have a better chance at a medal, but they are in a tough group and with the rise in play from Fiji, things are a lot more competitive than they were four years ago where we failed to medal.

 

Squash

This is another example of the level of play being too high for Canada to compete. Our highest ranked athlete is Hollie Naughton who would need probably a couple of upsets in order to win a medal in any of the three events she’s competing in.

 

Swimming

Despite the withdrawal of a few of our top swimmers, Canada will be sending a relatively strong team with many medal opportunities. Of course, with Australia and England prioritizing the Commonwealth Games over the World Championships, medals will be hard earned.

 

On the men’s side the team is led by Joshua Liendo who will be looking to win multiple medals which will be more than what Canada had in 2018. The men’s 4x100m relay will also be a medal threat. I’d also keep an eye on Finlay Knox and Javier Acevedo.

 

The women’s side will be led by 15 year old Summer McIntosh who will compete in four individual events. While the loss of Penny Oleksiak, Taylor Ruck, Kayla Sanchez (citizenship change) and Sydney Pickrem hurts, we still have a decent team with the likes of McIntosh, Kylie Masse and Maggie MacNeil along with our relay teams. Additionally, we could see some medals from Mary-Sophie Harvey or Tessa Cieplucha.

 

On the para swimming side, we have medal chances from Nicholas Bennett and Aurelie Rivard.

 

Table Tennis

Our hopes will be on Eugene Wang and Mo Zhang, but while the level of quality is a bit lower relative to the World Championships, there is still enough talent from England, India, Nigeria and Singapore to be more than enough of a match against Canada.

 

Triathlon

This is another sport where Commonwealth nations perform well. Our best chance will likely be in the mixed relay, but we would have to beat one of Australia, England or New Zealand to win. On the individual side, our top athlete will be Tyler Mislawchuk.

 

Weightlifting

Canada has the potential to do quite well in this sport, though the lack of international results due to COVID makes things a bit more difficult to predict. We should probably finish with more medals than what we had in 2018 (five). A really good meet could see us break 10 medals though a more sensible prediction would be 7-8.

 

Wrestling

While Canada may have dropped off a bit in wrestling, the good news is the level of competition at the Commonwealth Games is pretty low. India and Nigeria will be our top rivals with other nations only having decent individuals. I don’t think we will medal in all 12 events and winning gold might be a bit more difficult, but we should still end up with a good medal haul.

 

Overall

Canada seems to be on the path for around 75 medals. This is lower than what we had in 2018 (82 medals), but our relatively weaker athletics, gymnastics and swimming teams hold us back and the other sports won’t compensate it. Our main medal rival will be India where we may end up in a situation where we finish with more medals, but they win more gold. If gold medals become an issue like they were in 2018 we could realistically finish behind New Zealand on the medal table.

[james89 864]

I think it was a decent first day for Canada, great to see Summer improve on her time from her time from worlds. I am a little disappointed that the Canadian Team Sprint could only manage a silver.

 

I am super curious to see the women's 4x100m tomorrow, super intrigued to see specifically how Summer does in that event.

[JoshMartini007 2,547]

Canada Day 1 Review

 

Day 1 saw Canada win four medals (1 gold, 2 silver, 1 bronze) for a relatively modest start. Here's how we did for each sport.

 

3x3 Basketball

The men went 1-1 today defeating Kenya 15-12 and losing to Scotland 21-20. Not a very good day if our hope is for them to win a medal. We'll likely have to play a quarterfinal match which could be dangerous. The men's wheelchair team lost to Australia 13-11 which makes the match against Northern Ireland an elimination match. Given what happened in other matches a medal in this event is very possible assuming we can win tomorrow.

 

Badminton

Our mixed team won against Uganda 5-0, none of our players lost a set which was expected. We next play Maldives and Scotland tomorrow.

 

Boxing

Only one of our athletes competed today. Sanford (light welterweight) won his match via RSC against Niue. He will face off against Lesotho in the round of 16.

 

Cycling

We won a silver medal in the women's team sprint. I was hoping for gold, but as I said before winning track cycling medals at the Commonwealth Games is very difficult. Sadly, our men's sprint team finished fourth. Both pursuit teams failed to reach the medal round which is a shame, even if I didn't think the could win medals.

 

Field Hockey

The women won their match against Wales 4-0, that places us in a great position to reach the 5th place match. We get a break tomorrow and will face England in two days.

 

Gymnastics

Canada managed a silver medal in the men's artistic team event, though it was a bit intense for a while. We will also have representation in the individual finals with the exception of the horizontal bar. Felix Dolci is ranked third in the rings and vault so there will be chances for medals in the coming days.

 

Lawn Bowls

Our teams went 2-5 today with the women's singles and fours losing both of their matches, the men's triple going 1-1 and the men's pair winning their only match. Not looking good for the women to make the quarterfinals. We'll see where the men stand tomorrow .

 

Rugby Sevens

Both teams went 1-1 today which places them in a great position to advance to the cup knock-out stage. Tomorrow the men face Zambia while the women face Sri Lanka. Should be easy victories, though they will be keeping an eye on the other match (Fiji/Wales and Australia/England respectively) and hope an upset does not occur.

 

Squash

Both men won their round of 64 match. Baillargeon will face Wales' Creed while Sachvie will go up against New Zealand's Chileshe, both will be tough matches to win.

 

Swimming

We won two medals (McIntosh in women's 400mIM and the mixed 4x100m freestyle relay) which was par for the course. Acevedo and Angus sadly missed the 100m back and 50m breast final by finishing 9th, but Liendo is in the 50m fly final and we have three swimmers in the 100m fly.

 

Table Tennis

The women's team won both of their matches against Uganda and Vanuatu and will face Wales to determine top spot in the group. The men's team started off well with a victory over Mauritius, but lost to Australia 3-2. They must now defeat Malaysia if they want to advance to the next round which will be difficult.

 

Triathlon

Mislawchuk sadly had to drop out of the men's race due to a series of unfortunate events. The performance of our team shows Canada will be competitive for the mixed relay. They likely won't compete for gold or silver, but they are in the mix to potentially win bronze in a few days time.

[orangeman 2,002]

CBC is very furstrating.  6 channels, none showing three of our girls in the semis in cycling.  But we've got cricket and weightlifting!  

[JoshMartini007 2,547]

Canada Day 2 Review

 

Day 2 saw Canada win seven medals (2 gold, 1 silver, 4 bronze) for a solid day. Here's how we did for each sport.

 

3x3 Basketball

The women's team went 1-1 with a victory against the British Virgin Islands, but a loss to New Zealand. It looks like New Zealand's team is a lot better than expected. While not required, beating England tomorrow will be very helpful if we want to have a chance at medalling. Both our wheelchair teams have booked a spot to the semifinals.

 

Athletics

The marathons were today, but we only competed in the men's T54 marathon where Cassidy finished fourth, we'll see him again on the track in the T54 1500m.

 

Badminton

Our mixed team won our matches against Maldives and Scotland to finish top of the group. We will now play England in the quarterfinals. Not sure how I feel about this, but if we are to win a medal we would have to defeat England at some point whether here or in the third place match.

 

Beach Volleyball

Pavan/Melissa won their match against the Ghanaian duo. They will face off against Kenya's team on Monday.

 

Cycling

We won a silver in the women's sprint. This was one of our gold medal chances going into the game, but New Zealand's Andrews seems to be having the meet of her life. The individual pursuit were outclassed and none of the men's keirin riders were able to reach the semis which was a bit disappointing.

 

Field Hockey

Canada's men lost to Wales 5-1. Not a good performance by them, even if this is a rebuilding type of squad.

 

Gymnastics

Despite fielding a weaker team, Canada was still able to win bronze in the women's artistic team event. We were also able to qualify athletes into all of the individual events with Denommee ranked second on the vault and Lee and Spence finishing second and third on the floor.

 

Lawn Bowls

Horrible day for our lawn bowls team as they went a combined 0-5 against the competition. They have all been eliminated from contention and will not reach the quarterfinals.

 

Rugby Sevens

Canada was able to reach the elimination rounds thanks to winning their final group game. Sadly, they both lost their next match. The men lost to South Africa and will now play for 5th place. The women's lost to Fiji, but will get a chance to win bronze. They just have to defeat New Zealand, a not so easy task.

 

Squash

A great day as all four of our players won their round of 32 match. The next round will be very tough. On the men's side Baillargeon will face the number 3 seed from India while Sachvie will face the number 5 seed from Malaysia. Bunyan will face off against Kennedy from England while Naughton will face off against Azman from Malaysia

 

Swimming

Great day at the pool as Canada won four medals, two gold in the men's S13 50m freestyle and the women's 100m butterfly. Additionally, our 4x100m freestyle relays won a bronze medal each. In the women's 100m backstroke semis both Masse and Harvey were able to qualify to the finals in 1st and 6th respectively.

 

Table Tennis

Both teams qualified to the quarterfinals. Sadly, the women lost to Australia later in the day. The men will go up against Singapore tomorrow.

 

Weightlifting

Opening day of weightlifting saw three of our athletes compete and end up with 1 bronze and 2 fourth place finished. Not a bad day, even though the fourth place finishes hurt. Our better athletes have yet to compete.

[JoshMartini007 2,547]

Canada Day 3 Review

 

Day 3 saw Canada win seven medals (0 gold, 3 silver, 4 bronze) for another decent day. Here's how we did for each sport.

 

3x3 Basketball

The men won their match against Sri Lanka to finish second. They will face New Zealand in the quarterfinals. The women lost to England to finish third and will face Scotland in the quarterfinals. The wheelchair women won against England and will face Scotland in the semifinals while the opponent for the wheelchair men has been revealed to be Malaysia. Overall everyone is still in it.

 

Badminton

The mixed team has been eliminated by England in the quarterfinals. The focus now shifts to the individual matches starting in a few days.

 

Beach Volleyball

The men kick-off their tournament with a victory against Sri Lanka. They next face against St. Kitts and Nevis on Tuesday.

 

Boxing

Only one Canadian was in action today, Sanford defeated Lesotho's Mohlerepe in the light welterweight round of 16. His quarterfinal opponent will be against Uganda's Tukamuhebwa who already has victories against Norther Ireland and Australia.

 

Cycling

Canada won silver in the women's 500m time trial. I feel the day was a bit of a let down. Mitchell set a Commonwealth Record in the 500m time trial and led for almost the entire event until the final rider. We also had a great opportunity to win a medal in the women's points race, but finished fourth.

 

Field Hockey

Canada lost to England 1-0. This was a great performance by the team, but a loss is a loss. This does give me hope for a potential semifinal appearance if we can pull off the upset against India. Our next opponent will be Ghana on Tuesday.

 

Gymnastics

We won a bronze medal in the women's artistic individual all-around. The very poor performance on the pommel horse from Dolci essentially cost him a medal as he barely finished fourth. He'll have a few more chances to win medals in the apparatus finals.

 

Lawn Bowls

Our men's pair won their final match against Niue, but sadly it wasn't enough to qualify to the quarterfinals. All of our teams currently in play failed to qualify to the quarterfinals. We'll see if the second half of our teams can fare better in the coming days.

 

Rugby Sevens

The men's team lost the 5th-8th place semifinal to Samoa (19-17) while the women lost the bronze medal match to New Zealand (19-12). I wasn't expecting a medal, but it still hurts losing the bronze medal match.

 

Squash

Our four have been cut to one as only Naughton won her round of 16 match. She now faces fourth seed Chinappa of India in the quarterfinals.

 

Swimming

We won two silvers thanks to Masse in the women's 100m backstroke and the women's 4x200m freestyle relay team. It was a shame Masse couldn't win gold, but Mckeown is quite strong. We also had some good performances in other events with Acevedo (men's 50m back), MacNeil and Savard (women's 50m fly) and Gaziev and Liendo (men's 100m free) all reached the finals.

 

Table Tennis

Our men's team lost to Singapore in the quarterfinals and have been eliminated. This concludes Canada's bid for a team medal. Next up will be the singles and doubles tournaments.

 

Triathlon

Canada won a bronze medal in the women's PTVI event. I was hoping we would have been a bit more competitive in the mixed relay, but we were out of it by the end of the first leg.

 

Weightlifting

Canada won two bronze medals today making it a perfect day among the athletes that competed. Our top weighlifters are set to compete soon so hopefully we'll upgrade some of our bronzes to gold/silver.

[orangeman 2,002]

Watching the cycling crash again, I still have no idea how the Canadian got DSQ for causing the crash.  He was way out in front and the crash happened behind him.  

 

Looks like golds will be hard to come by again, just like in Beijing last winter.  

[JoshMartini007 2,547]

1 hour ago, orangeman said:

Looks like golds will be hard to come by again, just like in Beijing last winter.  

 

That's nothing new for Canada. I'm expecting India to win more golds again, but with New Zealand's performance in cycling there's a good chance they may finish with more golds than us too.

[orangeman 2,002]

Vachon just barely lost gold in weightlifting.  Another gold through the fingers.  Good performance, nonetheless, for bronze.