 | Today we're highlighting the most interesting performances of the weekend by Canada's Olympic athletes, including Summer McIntosh and Andre De Grasse. Plus, the second round of the NHL playoffs gets going after a wild ending to round 1, the PWHL's semifinal matchups are set, and two Canadian NBA stars square off in round 2. | | | Weekend recap: Mixed results for McIntosh, De Grasse
| | | Here's a look at how Canada's Olympic athletes fared over the past few days:
Track and field: De Grasse debuts, Arop wins another 800m
Competing in the new Grand Slam Track league for the first time, Andre De Grasse got off to a slow start on Saturday in Miami by finishing eighth (out of eight) in the 100m with a time of 10.04 seconds before improving to fourth in the 200m on Sunday in 20.23. Those results gave De Grasse a sixth-place finish in the men's short sprints group — one spot ahead of his Canadian relay teammate Jerome Blake, who was seventh in the 100 and sixth in the 200. American Kenny Bednarek swept the division for the second time in two meets, clocking a wind-aided 9.79 in the 100 and a legal 19.84 in the 200.
Canada's Marco Arop finished second in the men's short distance category, matching his result from the Grand Slam opener in Jamaica last month. The 800m world champion won his signature distance again and was seventh in the 1,500 (down one spot from last time). Great Britain's Josh Kerr won the 1,500 and placed fifth in the 800 to take the group in the absence of Kenya's Emmanuel Wanyonyi, who won in Jamaica. Canada's Lucia Stafford finished last in the women's short distance after coming in sixth in the 1,500 and eighth in the 800.
In the Diamond League, Canada's Sarah Mitton missed the women's shot put podium for the second straight week, finishing fourth in Saturday's meet near Shanghai. The indoor world champion's best throw of 19.59 metres put her well behind outdoor world champ Chase Jackson of the United States (20.54), who won after placing second in last week's opener in Xiamen, China, where Mitton was fifth.
Other winners Saturday included reigning Olympic champions Mondo Duplantis of Sweden (men's pole vault) and Yaroslava Mahuchikh of Ukraine (women's high jump) and 2021 Olympic gold medallist Karsten Warholm of Norway (men's 400m hurdles). South Africa's Akani Simbine won the men's 100m for the second straight week, beating Olympic silver medallist Kishane Thompson of Jamaica and Botswana's Letsile Tebogo, who won 200m gold last summer in Paris. American Anavia Battle repeated as the women's 200m winner. Here's more on the Diamond League meet.
Swimming: Summer takes silver, then sits
Summer McIntosh came into the star-studded Pro Swim Series stop in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., with the aim of testing herself in some of her weaker distances as she builds up to July’s world championships in Singapore. That meant skipping the 200m and 400m medleys and the 200m butterfly — her golden events at last year's Olympics.
As mentioned in Friday's newsletter, the 18-year-old Canadian superstar did stick with the 400m freestyle (her silver event in Paris) and finished second on Thursday night to U.S. rival Katie Ledecky with a time more than two seconds slower than her career best. On Friday night, McIntosh was the runner-up in the 200m backstroke to another American, Olympic silver medallist Regan Smith, with the Canadian missing her PB by just 0.01 of a second.
McIntosh was scheduled to compete in the 200m breaststroke and 100m butterfly on Saturday, but she withdrew from both races for unspecified reasons. Canada's Sophie Angus finished fourth in the 200 backstroke in McIntosh's absence.
Canada's top performer ended up being Ilya Kharun. The 20-year-old double Olympic men's bronze medallist won both the 50m and 100m butterfly, setting a Canadian record in the latter. Five-time Olympic medallist Kyle Masse placed third in the women's 100m backstroke on Saturday after getting the same result in the 50 back on Thursday.
Ledecky was the star of the meet. After beating McIntosh in the 400m freestyle with her best time since winning gold at the 2016 Olympics, the 28-year-old American turned back the clock again on Saturday in the 800 free, breaking her own nine-year-old world record with a time of 8:04.12.
Rugby sevens: Canada wins world-championship bronze
The Canadian women's rugby sevens team defeated the host United States 27-7 in the bronze-medal match Sunday at the SVNS series finale in Los Angeles, which doubled as the world championship tournament. Coming off its surprising Olympic silver last year, Canada placed fourth in the standings for the global SVNS tour this season after taking bronze in the two events leading up to the finale.
Olympic champion New Zealand beat Australia in the women's world-title match.
The Canadian men's team was hoping to earn a spot in Division 2 of the revamped SVNS series after being relegated out of the top tier last year. But a 24-5 playoff loss to Kenya means they'll have to win a regional qualifying tournament to make Division 3, from which they can win their way back up to Division 2. South Africa defeated Spain for the men's world title.
Other key Canadian results:
* Canada's Jocelyn Peterman and Brett Gallant finished sixth at the mixed doubles curling world championship in Fredericton after losing the fifth-place game to the United States on Friday night. The married couple secured their spot in next year's Olympics by qualifying for the playoffs, where they were eliminated in the first round by Estonia on Friday morning. Reigning Olympic champions Stefania Constantini and Amos Mosaner of Italy won their country's first mixed doubles world title with a 9-4 victory over Scotland in Saturday's final.
* Olympic bronze medallist Eleanor Harvey took bronze in the women's individual foil at a Fencing World Cup stop in Vancouver. It was Harvey's fourth medal in five World Cup appearances this season, including a gold and a silver.
* Audrey Lamothe was the top Canadian at an artistic swimming World Cup event in Markham, Ont., placing fifth in the women's solo free competition. She also finished seventh in both the solo technical and the duet technical with teammate Ximena Ortiz Montano. | | |  | Andre De Grasse placed sixth in the men's short sprints group in his Grand Slam Track debut. (Petr David Josek/Associated Press)
| | | Quickly…
| | | Some other things to know:
1. The second round of the NHL playoffs starts tonight.
The first round went out with a bang last night as the Winnipeg Jets scored with 1:56 and three seconds left in regulation to force overtime and then beat St. Louis on captain Adam Lowry's goal in double OT to take Game 7 of their series 4-3. It was a gutsy win for the Presidents' Trophy winners, who were without injured star centre Mark Scheifele for a second straight game and lost top defenceman Josh Morrissey in the first period. Star goalie Connor Hellebuyck, who was pulled for the third straight road game on Friday night, stood tall with nine saves across the two OTs.
Winnipeg's dramatic win means there are three Canadian teams in the second round for the first time since 2004.
The second round opens with Toronto hosting Stanley Cup champion Florida tonight at 8 p.m. ET. On Tuesday it's Carolina at Washington and Edmonton at Vegas. Weary Winnipeg hosts Dallas on Wednesday after the Stars pulled off a stunning Game 7 comeback of their own on Saturday night, scoring three four times in the final 12:11 to beat Colorado 4-2. Mikko Rantanen completed his third-period hat trick with the clinching empty-netter.
In other NHL news, Rob Blake is out as the Kings' GM after eight seasons, and the draft lottery is tonight at 7 p.m. ET. Last-place San Jose (18.5 per cent) has the best chance of landing the top pick, which is expected to be Erie Otters defenceman Matthew Schaefer.
In other men's hockey news, goalie Marc-Andre Fleury will play for Canada at the upcoming world championship after announcing his retirement from the NHL last week. Star forwards Sidney Crosby and Nathan MacKinnon have also signed on.
Also, here's the latest from the sexual-assault trial involving five former world junior hockey players in London, Ont.
2. The PWHL playoffs begin Wednesday.
All three Canadian teams are in after Ottawa qualified with a 2-1 overtime win over the Toronto Sceptres in their regular-season finale on Saturday. Ottawa will face Montreal after the top-seeded Victoire picked the third-place Charge as their first-round opponent, preferring them over defending Walter Cup champion Minnesota.
The fourth-place Frost will instead meet No. 2 Toronto, beginning Wednesday night. Montreal hosts Ottawa on Thursday night. The semifinal matchups guarantee that at least one Canadian team will be in the Walter Cup final.
3. Two Canadian NBA stars go head-to-head in the second round of the playoffs.
In true NBA fashion, the second round began yesterday before the first round ended. Indiana surprised Eastern Conference top seed Cleveland in their series opener with 23 points by Canadian guard Andrew Nembhard before Golden State knocked off West No. 2 Houston in Game 7. The Warriors will now face Minnesota, starting Tuesday night.
Two more second-round series begin tonight as the defending champion Boston Celtics host the New York Knicks at 7 p.m. ET and the top-ranked Oklahoma City Thunder welcome the Denver Nuggets at 9:30 p.m. ET. Canadian stars Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Jamal Murray will square off in that one. | | | That's it for today. Talk to you later.
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