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Here are some things for Canadian fans to keep an eye on:
Track and field: The Diamond League season begins
The first of 15 meets in the global series takes place Saturday in Xiamen, China. Throughout the season, athletes will compete for prize money and points toward qualifying for the Diamond League Final in Zurich in late August — just a couple weeks before the world championships in Tokyo.
Last year, shot putter Sarah Mitton became the fourth Canadian ever to win a Diamond League championship, joining hurdler Priscilla Lopes-Schliep (2010), shot putter Dylan Armstrong (2011) and sprinter Andre De Grasse, who won the men’s 200m at the 2023 Final.
Mitton is the only Canadian competing in the season opener, where her competition will include two-time reigning world champion Chase Jackson of the United States and China’s Gong Lijiao, a two-time world champ and the Olympic gold medallist in 2021. Mitton took silver at the 2023 worlds and captured her second consecutive indoor world title last month.
Other stars in action Saturday include pole vault sensation Mondo Duplantis of Sweden and back-to-back-to-back Olympic 1,500m champ Faith Kipyegon of Kenya, who’s racing the 1,000m as she prepares to attempt a four-minute mile this June. Two-time reigning world champion Shericka Jackson of Jamaica is running the 200m, while the men’s 100m is headlined by Botswana’s Letsile Tebogo, who won silver at the last world championships before capturing Olympic 200m gold in Paris. Here’s the full schedule and startlists.
For more on the Diamond League, read this explainer from CBC Sports’ Justin Piercy. Watch Saturday’s meet live on CBC Gem and CBCSports.ca from 7-9 a.m. ET.
On Sunday, Eliud Kipchoge goes for his fifth London Marathon title in the Kenyan star’s first race since failing to finish at the Paris Olympics, where he was trying for his third consecutive gold medal. The women’s division features a clash between the Netherlands’ Sifan Hassan and Tigst Assefa, the gold and silver medallists in Paris.
Curling: Canada goes for its first mixed doubles world title
Here’s a surprising fact: Canada, by far the planet’s top producer of elite curlers, has never won the mixed doubles world championship.
Sure, this version of the sport is relatively new, but it’s not like it was invented yesterday. The first mixed doubles worlds were held in 2008, and they’ve taken place every year since with the exception of Covid-spoiled 2020. So that’s 16 tournaments, and all Canada has to show for them is two silver medals and two bronze.
Part of the problem early on was that Canada didn’t really take mixed doubles seriously. That began to change when it joined the Olympic program in 2018 and Canada’s Kaitlyn Lawes and John Morris won gold, showing other big names that mixed doubles is worth their attention.
But the influx of talent hasn’t made a huge difference. Morris and now three-time women’s world champion skip Rachel Homan didn’t even make the playoffs at the 2022 Olympics, and only one Canadian duo has reached the podium at the world championship since 2018. That was Jocelyn Peterman and Brett Gallant, who took silver in 2019 before the star pairings of Kerri Einarson and Brad Gushue and Jennifer Jones and her husband Brent Laing lost the bronze game in 2021 and ’23, respectively.
Peterman and Gallant are back for another crack at the world title after they won the Canadian championship back in January. The Calgary-based married couple will also try to clinch their provisional spot in next year’s Olympics as the worlds get underway Saturday in Fredericton, N.B. Here’s more on Peterman and Gallant from CBC Sports’ Karissa Donkin.
NHL playoffs: The Battle of Ontario might be over
Toronto defenceman Simon Benoit was the unlikely hero last night, scoring for just the second time this season to give the Leafs their second straight overtime win and a commanding 3-0 series lead over the Ottawa Senators. Toronto can close it out Saturday at 7 p.m. ET.
Nothing went right for top-seeded Winnipeg last night as St. Louis chased MVP candidate Connor Hellebuyck in a 7-2 rout that cut the Blues’ series deficit to 2-1. Game 4 is Sunday at 1 p.m. ET.
Montreal and Edmonton are both badly in need of a win tonight as they return home down 2-0 to Washington and Los Angeles, respectively. The Canadiens play at 7 p.m. ET and the Oilers at 10 p.m. ET. Game 4 for both series is on Sunday night: Habs at 6:30 p.m. ET, Oilers at 9:30 p.m. ET. Edmonton is going with backup Calvin Pickard in net tonight after Stuart Skinner allowed 11 goals in the first two games.
NBA playoffs: SGA can put down the Grizzlies
It was another tough shooting night for Canada’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, but the MVP favourite squeezed 31 points from a 10-for-26 performance from the floor to help top-ranked Oklahoma City rally from 29 points down to beat Memphis 114-108 last night and take a 3-0 lead in their first-round series. The Thunder’s comeback coincided with the exit of Grizzlies star Ja Morant due to a hip injury, and he might remain out for what could be a decisive Game 4 on Saturday at 3:30 p.m. ET.
Canadian Jamal Murray and the Denver Nuggets are down 2-1 heading into their road game against the Los Angeles Clippers on Saturday at 6 p.m. ET after losing 117-83 last night. Murray scored 23 points to match teammate Nikola Jokic for the game high, but the Clippers got 19 or more points from four different players, including a team-best 21 by Kawhi Leonard.
Gritty Canadian forward Dillon Brooks is averaging 13.5 points through two playoff games for the Houston Rockets, who are tied 1-1 with Golden State heading into Game 3 on Saturday at 8:30 p.m. ET. Canadian guards Andrew Nembhard and Bennedict Mathurin are averaging 17 and 13.5 points, respectively, for the Indiana Pacers, who can go up 3-0 on Milwaukee tonight at 8 p.m. ET. Game 4 is Sunday at 9:30 p.m. ET.
NFL draft: Canadians still waiting for the call
Last night’s opening round brought a couple of big surprises. Jacksonville traded up to second overall in a deal with Cleveland to grab two-way star Travis Hunter, while polarizing quarterback Shedeur Sanders, once considered among the top prospects, didn’t get picked at all.
As expected, no Canadians were taken in the first round. But one could go tonight as Stanford receiver Elic Ayomanor is considered a possible third-rounder. If not, look for Ayomanor to be selected on Saturday, when the draft wraps up with rounds four through seven.
A couple of Canadian quarterbacks are also hoping to hear their names called on Saturday: Kurtis Rourke, who led Indiana to a surprising playoff berth, and Taylor Elgersma, who’s trying to make the rare leap from Canadian university football to the NFL after winning the Hec Creighton Trophy (the Canadian Heisman) last season at Laurier.
If you missed yesterday’s newsletter, here’s our look at the top Canadian prospects in the draft.
A correction from that piece: Elgersma is vying to become the first quarterback selected from Canadian university football since the NFL went to a seven-round draft, but not the first ever. In 1981, the Bengals took Dan Feraday in the 12th round out of the University of Toronto.
Other stuff:
The Madrid Open, tennis’ biggest clay-court event outside of the French Open, continues with early-round action in the men’s and women’s brackets. Canada’s Felix Auger-Aliassime lost in the second round today, while Denis Shapovalov was set to meet Japan’s Kei Nishikori on Saturday. Bianca Andreescu, the only Canadian left in the women’s draw, was facing 10th-seeded Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan in the second round later today. The top-seeded women’s doubles duo of Canada’s Gabriela Dabrowski and New Zealand’s Erin Routliffe play their first match Saturday after winning last week’s Stuttgart Open for their first clay title together.
The first women’s golf major of the year, the Chevron Championship, continues through Sunday in the Houston area. At our publish time, Canada’s Brooke Henderson was tied for 40th at even par heading into her second round. Defending champion and world No. 1 Nelly Korda of the United States was in danger of missing the cut after shooting a disastrous 5 over yesterday. Here’s a live leaderboard. In men’s golf, the Canadian duo of Adam Hadwin and Nick Taylor was tied for fifth at the Zurich Classic team event in New Orleans.
Canadian Olympic sailors Antonia and Georgia Lewin-LaFrance are in the podium hunt at this week’s Grand Slam event in France. The sisters are in third place heading into Saturday’s medal race in the 49erFX competition. Canada’s Clara Gravely, sitting 10th in the ILCA 6 class, also qualified for her medal race.
The PWHL returns from its three-week world championship break with all six teams back on the ice this weekend. League-leading Montreal visits Ottawa on Saturday at noon ET, Toronto faces Boston on Saturday at 2 p.m. ET on the CBC TV network, CBC Gem and CBCSports.ca, and New York takes on Minnesota on Sunday afternoon. After this weekend, each team has just two games left in the regular season.
After a strong debut week for the Northern Super League that saw more than 14,000 fans attend matches in both Vancouver and Toronto, all six teams in the new Canadian women’s pro soccer league are in action this weekend. Halifax hosts Calgary on Saturday at 5 p.m. ET, Ottawa welcomes Toronto on Sunday at 1 p.m. ET and Vancouver hosts Montreal on Sunday at 3 p.m. ET on CBC Gem and CBCSports.ca.
WATCH | NSL reactions from Week 1:
Andi Petrillo is joined by soccer analyst Clare Rustad and Montreal Roses forward Tanya Boychuk to break down the first two NSL games.
