 Today we're recapping an exciting Diamond League track and field meet and some other wins for Canadian athletes over the weekend. Plus, Penny Oleksiak drops out of the swimming world championships, Novak Djokovic stays alive at Wimbledon, and the Blue Jays keep rolling.
Also, just a heads-up that there will be no Buzzer for the next couple days. We'll be back Thursday. | | | Weekend recap: Camryn Rogers stars at a record-breaking Diamond League meet | | | Here's a look at Canada's top performances on the international stage over the past few days:
Track and field: Canadian throwers shine at the Prefontaine Classic
The most exciting Diamond League meet of the season so far featured a victory for Canada's Camryn Rogers, runner-up finishes for Ethan Katzberg and Sarah Mitton, and world-record runs by a pair of Kenyan stars on Saturday in Eugene, Oregon.
Rogers, the reigning Olympic and world champion in the women's hammer throw, broke her own Diamond League and Canadian records with a toss of 78.88 metres to defeat former world champions Brooke Andersen (76.95m) and DeAnna Price (75.35) of the United States at hallowed Hayward Field. Rogers now has five victories and a second-place finish in six starts this year.
Katzberg, the men's Olympic and world hammer throw champ, lost for the first time in six events this year and just the second time in 18 competitions over the last two years. The Canadian's throw of 81.73m was his second-best of the season, but American Rudy Winkler topped him with a Diamond League record 83.16. Canada's Rowan Hamilton was seventh with a 76.36.
In the women's shot put, Mitton's strong 20.39m toss put the back-to-back indoor world champion behind only back-to-back outdoor world champ Chase Jackson of the U.S., who uncorked a 20.94 to win an extremely competitive event. For the first time since the 1988 Olympic final, five women broke the 20m mark in the same competition.
On the track, Kenyan distance runners Faith Kipyegon and Beatrice Chebet each broke a world record. Kipyegon, coming off her unsuccessful attempt to become the first woman to run a four-minute mile, clocked a 3:48.68 in the 1,500m to lower her own mark of 3:49.04 from last July, shortly before she won her third consecutive Olympic gold in Paris. Chebet ran a 13:58.06 in the 5,000m, becoming the first woman ever to go sub-14 minutes in that distance. She won gold in both the 5,000 and 10,000 at the Paris Olympics.
In another prominent women's race, Melissa Jefferson-Wooden of the United States handed Olympic 100m champion Julien Alfred of Saint Lucia her first loss of the season. Jefferson-Wooden's time of 10.75 into a strong headwind put her 0.02 ahead of Alfred and was just off her own world-leading time of 10.73 from last month's Grand Slam Track meet in Philadelphia.
On the men's side, Olympic silver medallist Kishane Thompson of Jamaica won the 100m in 9.86 seconds over Britain’s Zharnel Hughes and American Trayvon Bromell, while Olympic champion Letsile Tebogo of Botswana took the 200m in 19.76 (the fastest time in the world this year) after U.S. rival Kenny Bednarek withdrew from the race. Canada's Aaron Brown placed seventh in 20.44.
Dutchman Niels Laros was the surprise winner of the prestigious Bowerman Mile, nipping Olympic bronze medallist Yared Nuguse of the U.S. by one hundredth of a second while Olympic champion Cole Hocker of the U.S. was fourth. Here's more on the Prefontaine Classic.
Other key Canadian results from the weekend:
* Canada won the bronze-medal game at the AmeriCup women's basketball championship in dramatic fashion as Syla Swords sank a layup with 1.4 seconds left in double overtime to defeat Argentina 76-75 on Sunday in Chile. Swords, who starred as a freshman at the University of Michigan last season, finished with a game-high 23 points. The United States, which defeated Canada in the semifinals, beat Brazil for the gold and earned a spot in next year's Women's Basketball World Cup. Canada will try to get in via a global qualifying tournament in March.
* Canada's Madisyn Growf and Laurence Beauregard won gold in their respective weight classes at wrestling's Grand Prix of Spain while Jorawar Dhinsa took silver and Nishan Randhawa and Aidan Stevenson earned bronze.
* Olympic individual trampoline bronze medallist Sophianne Methot teamed with Sarah Milette to take silver in the women's synchronized event at a World Cup stop in Portugal.
* The Canadian women's rugby team, ranked second in the world, ran in eight tries to trounce No. 12 South Africa 50-20 on Saturday in Pretoria. The teams play again this Saturday in Gqeberha as Canada prepares for the Women's Rugby World Cup in England, starting in late August. | | |  | Camryn Rogers broke her own Canadian and Diamond League records at the Prefontaine Classic in Oregon. (Ali Gradischer/Getty Images) | | | Quickly… | | | Some other things to know:
1. Penny Oleksiak withdrew from the swimming world championships due to a possible violation of anti-doping rules.
The seven-time Olympic medallist announced Friday that she won't compete in the upcoming worlds in Singapore as she's currently involved in a "whereabouts" case with World Aquatics, the global governing body for swimming.
"Whereabouts" refers to the fact that athletes must notify anti-doping officials of their location at all times so that surprise out-of-competition testing can be conducted. Oleksiak said her case "does not involve any banned substance; it's about whether I updated my information correctly." She added that she decided not to compete at the world championships "out of respect for Swimming Canada, my fellow racers and clean sport" and that "I am and always have been a clean athlete."
Swimming Canada, the national governing body, released a statement expressing support for Oleksiak. In it, CEO Suzanne Paulins said she believes Oleksiak is "a clean athlete who made an administrative mistake."
The swimming world championships begin July 27. Oleksiak, 25, was not considered a strong contender for an individual medal, but her absence could weaken some of Canada's relay teams. Oleksiak has won nine relay medals at the worlds but has never reached a solo podium.
2. The Blue Jays have won eight in a row, and there's a good chance they keep the streak going.
Toronto completed a sweep of its seven-game homestand with a 3-2 victory yesterday over the Los Angeles Angels. The Blue Jays, who started their run by beating the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park and then won four straight over the visiting New York Yankees to take over first place in the American League East, are now 52-38 and hold a three-game lead over New York and Tampa Bay in the division.
Toronto has seven games left before the All-Star break. They'll visit the White Sox and the Athletics — two of the worst teams in Major League Baseball.
In other Jays news, catcher Alejandro Kirk was selected as a reserve for next week's All-Star Game in Atlanta. He'll join Vladimir Guerrero Jr., who was voted a starter last week. Outfielder George Springer, who leads Toronto with 16 home runs, was not picked.
3. Novak Djokovic kept his bid for a 25th Grand Slam title alive.
The 38-year-old Serb declared before the start of Wimbledon that this would be his best chance to overtake Margaret Court for sole possession of the all-time record for major singles trophies. He's won seven men's titles at the All England Club and reached the past six finals.
Djokovic, seeded sixth, looked to be in trouble today when he got blown out in the first set by No. 11 Alex de Minaur. But he rallied for a 1-6, 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 victory to reach the quarterfinals, where he'll meet No. 22 Flavio Cobolli of Italy.
In women's doubles today, the No. 2-seeded team of Canada's Gabriela Dabrowski and New Zealand's Erin Routliffe advanced to the quarterfinals with a 7-6 (1), 7-6 (2) win over Hungary's Fanny Stollar and Russia's Irina Khromacheva. Dabrowski is the only Canadian player left at Wimbledon. She and Routliffe reached the final last year. Here's more on today's Wimbledon action. | | | And very quickly… | | | A few more things before we go:
* Mexico won soccer's Gold Cup, defeating the United States 2-1 last night in Houston to capture the Concacaf men's championship for a record-extending 10th time.
* The Women's Euro soccer championship continued today in Switzerland with World Cup winner Spain pounding Belgium 5-2 to improve its record to 2-0. Defending Euro champ England lost its opener 2-1 to France on Saturday and faces the Netherlands on Wednesday.
* The idle Saskatchewan Roughriders (4-0) are the only unbeaten team remaining in the CFL after Winnipeg lost to Calgary on Thursday night to fall to 3-1. And there are no winless teams left after Edmonton defeated Ottawa yesterday to improve to 1-3. | | | That's it for today. Talk to you later. | | | | Not subscribed? Sign up here to get the Buzzer delivered to your inbox. Got an idea, question, comment or other feedback on the newsletter? Drop us a line at thebuzzer@cbc.ca. | | | Share this newsletter | | or subscribe if this was
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