Paris 2024 Day 8 Preview: Sitting Volleyball and Wheelchair Basketball Semi-Finals for Canada

Paris, September 4, 2024 – With four days to go until the end of the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games, the competition is heating up for the Canadian Paralympic Team. Two teams will play in the semi-finals, with Canada battling for bronze in boccia, Priscilla Gagne taking centre stage in Para judo and the action continues in Para swimming, Para athletics and Para cycling. Below is the schedule for Day 8, Thursday 5 September:

Boccia
Alison Levine and Iulian Ciobanu will face Thailand for the BC4 pairs bronze medal at 12:20 p.m. CEST / 6:20 p.m. ET. Both are seeking their first Paralympic medal at their third Games.

Wheelchair basketball
Canada’s men’s team will take the court for their semi-final match against the United States with a spot in the gold medal game at stake. The Americans are the defending Paralympic champions, while Canada has already achieved one better result than at Tokyo 2020, where the team placed eighth. Kick-off is at 9:30 p.m. CEST / 3:30 p.m. ET.

Sitting volleyball
The Canadian women’s sitting volleyball team will face China in the semifinals at 20:00 CEST / 14:00 ET. The team, fourth in Tokyo three years ago, is aiming to advance to the gold medal match for the first time. China, silver medalists at the last Games, went 3-0 in its pool during the group stage, while Canada finished 2-1 and advanced to the semifinals.

Para-judo
Tokyo 2020 silver medallist Priscilla Gagne is ready to take centre stage in Paris. The para judoka has received a bye into the quarter-finals of the women’s J1 57kg category and is scheduled to take seventh place on the second tatami in her opening bout. Play begins at 10am CEST / 4am ET. The day’s programme will run through to the medal rounds.

Road cycling for cyclists
Charles Moreau will be the only Canadian cyclist riding the roads of Paris on Thursday. Seventh in Wednesday’s time trial, he is set to take part in the men’s H3 road race which will start at 4:05 p.m. CEST / 10:05 a.m. ET.

For athletics
Five Canadians will compete in the Para athletics competition, including two in the final.

Julia Hanes, who competed in the javelin throw at the Games, is now set for the women’s shot put F33 final at 7:31 p.m. CEST / 1:31 p.m. ET, while Brent Lakatos will compete in the men’s 800m T53 final at 7:58 p.m. CEST / 1:58 p.m. ET. Lakatos already has a silver medal in the 400m in Paris.

Three more track athletes will compete in heats later in the evening: Marissa Papaconstantinou in the women’s 100m T64, Keegan Gaunt in the women’s 400m T13 and Anthony Bouchard in the men’s 100m T52.

For swimming
Paralympic swimming action continues at La Defense Arena, with Paris 2024 medallists Tess Routliffe, Aurelie Rivard and Reid Maxwell returning to the pool for more races.

Routliffe, who won silver in the individual medley earlier in the week, will now compete in the women’s 100m breaststroke SB7 heats at 9:30 a.m. CEST / 3:30 a.m. ET. Joining her will be Abi Tripp.

They will be followed by Rivard in the heats of the women’s 400m freestyle S10. Rivard has claimed a silver and a bronze in Paris so far, bringing her career total of Paralympic podium finishes to 12.

Katarina Roxon, Canada’s co-flag bearer at the opening ceremony, and Mary Jibb will compete in the SM9 women’s 200m medley heats, with the Canadians closing out the morning with the mixed 4x50m medley relay at 11:22 a.m. CEST / 5:22 a.m. ET. The roster will include Nikita Ens, Shelby Newkirk, Sebastian Massabie and Reid Maxwell.

The afternoon finals begin at 5:30 pm CEST / 11:30 am ET.

The full schedule for 5 September can be found on the Paris 2024 website HERE.

HOW TO WATCH
Audiences can tune in to CBC/Radio-Canada’s coverage of Paris 2024 in English on CBC, CBC Gem, the CBC Paris 2024 website (cbc.ca/paris2024) and the CBC Paris 2024 app for Android and iOS devices, and in French on ICI TÉLÉ, ICI TOU.TV, the Radio-Canada Paris 2024 website (Radio-Canada.ca/jeux-paralympiques) and the Radio-Canada Paralympics app for Android and iOS devices.