By Canadian Press

Fierce comeback thrusts Canadian fencer Eleanor Harvey into Olympic semifinal

Jul 28, 2024 | 9:45 AM

PARIS — In a dramatic match that saw her opponent fall to her knees after the final blow, Canadian fencer Eleanor Harvey advanced to the semifinals in the women’s foil individual event at the Paris Olympics.

Harvey narrowly defeated Italian Martina Favaretto on Sunday 15-14, staging a fierce comeback after trailing 10-4 midway through the second frame.

She will face the American Lauren Scruggs on Sunday evening for the semifinals, chasing a possible medal for Canada.

The 19-year-old left-handed fencer from Hamilton, Ontario was a silver medallist in both the individual and team foil events in her third Pan Am Games last year in Santiago, Chile.

Canadian fencers, rarely seen as Olympic medal contenders, are making waves in Paris.

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On Saturday, Fares Arfa from Laval, Que., stunned three-time defending Olympic champion Aron Szilagyi of Hungary in the men’s sabre competition before narrowly losing to eventual gold medallist Oh Sang-uk of South Korea in the quarterfinals. It was the best Olympic result by a Canadian fencer until Eleanor Harvey surpassed it a day later.

Elsewhere, the drone-spying scandal staining the Canadian women’s soccer team continued to unfold. The federal government is withholding some funding from Soccer Canada after three officials were suspended and the organization was fined more than $300,000.

FIFA docked six points from the women’s team after a staffer was caught using a drone to spy on New Zealand team practices before the start of competition.

Sport Minister Carla Qualtrough, as well as fans in Paris, are calling the scandal an embarrassment to the athletes.

Later Sunday, Canadian swimmer Mary-Sophie Harvey is set to compete in the women’s 200-metre freestyle semifinals.

The 24-year-old Harvey, from Quebec City, narrowly beat Australian star Ariarne Titmus in her heat and finished second overall in the round.

Canada’s Blake Tierney will compete in the semifinals for the men’s 100-metre backstroke after finishing fifth in his heat.

After most of Saturday’s tennis matches were rescheduled by a day due to the rain, Canada’s players were off to a sunny start on Sunday.

Felix Auger-Aliassime and Bianca Andreescu scored a pair of straight-set victories.

The 23-year-old Montrealer Auger-Aliassime defeated American player Marcos Giron 6-1, 6-4 in the first round of the men’s singles competition.

In the first round of women’s singles, 24-year-old Andreescu defeated Denmark’s Clara Tauson 6-2, 6-3.

Andreescu, from Mississauga, Ont., is competing in her first Olympics after injuries forced her to withdraw from the Tokyo Games, while Auger-Aliassime made his Olympic debut in Tokyo.

The tennis matches might be underway, but the rain that marked the beginning of the Paris Olympics is still a cause for concern even as the weather has improved.

Triathletes were supposed to test the waters of the Seine Sunday ahead of their events on Tuesday and Wednesday.

But though Paris officials say they’re confident the Seine River will be clean enough for triathletes to swim in this coming week, they cancelled the testing event due to concerns over water quality due to the rain.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 28, 2024.

The Canadian Press