Silver lining for rowers, heartbreak for Warner in eventful Day 8 at Paris Olympics

Canada's eight-member women's rowing team failed to defend its Olympic title, but came together when it mattered and earned a silver medal.

There was no silver lining for Damien Warner's title defense. The Canadian decathlete dropped from second to 17th when she crashed three times in the javelin.

Day 8 for Canadian athletes at the Paris Games began on Saturday with plenty of action, as Canada's women's soccer quarter-final against Germany, Felix Auger-Eliassim's bronze medal tennis match against Italy's Lorenzo Mosti and Summer McIntosh's return to the pool continued the drama.

The rowing silver medal, Canada's 12th of the Games, extended Canada's record eight days on the podium since the medal ceremony began after the opening ceremony. Canada's record opening medal streak is nine days, set at the 2016 Rio Olympics.

The Canadian rowers finished with a time of five minutes, 58.84 seconds at the Virre-sur-Marne Aqua Stadium, just behind gold medalists Romania, who finished with a time of five minutes, 54.39 seconds.

Canada found itself in a close battle with Great Britain for second place with 500 meters to go, but was able to hold off its rival for silver.

The Romanian team had a dominant performance and led for three-quarters of the race, ending with a four-second gap.

Campbell River, B.C., rower Avalon Westneys said the eight-man team had a tough few years after winning gold at the Tokyo Games, including a lot of team changes, but managed to come together at the right time.

Warner, 34, of London, Ont., was second in the top 10 after seven races with 6,428 points, 72 points behind Germany's Leo Neugbauer. He dropped to 17th after failing to score in the javelin.

Warner was looking to defend his Olympic title at the 2021 Tokyo Games, where he set an Olympic record with 9,018 points.

Warner was looking to join American Bob Mathias (1948, 1952), Great Britain's Daley Thomson (1980, 1984) and American Ashton Eaton (2012, 2016) as the only two-time Olympic gold medalists in the men's decathlon.

Canada had high hopes of another medal in the decathlon. But defending world champion Pierce LePage withdrew shortly before the Games to focus on recovering from a lumbar disc injury, and Warner's bid for a medal was dashed.

Elsewhere on the track, sprint star Andre de Grasse from Markham, Ont., advanced to the semi-finals of the men's 100m at the Paris Olympics.

Du Grass, who had won bronze in the last two games of this tournament, finished third in heat 7 with a time of 10.07 seconds.

In gymnastics, Halifax's Ellie Black finished sixth in the women's vault final in what may be her final Olympic event.

Black, competing in her fourth Games, averaged 13.933 on the double jump to finish behind medalists Simone Biles of the United States, Rebecca Andrade of Brazil and Jade Carey of the United States. Vancouver's Shalon Olsen finished eighth.

On Saturday afternoon, Montreal native Auger-Eliassim was looking for her second tennis bronze of the Games when she faced Mosti. Auger-Eliassim and Gabriela Debrowski of Ottawa won mixed doubles bronze on Friday.

Canada looked to continue its impressive run in women's soccer in a quarterfinal matchup with Germany in Marseille. Defending champion Canada advanced to the knockout stage after receiving a six-point penalty from FIFA.

And McIntosh was scheduled to swim in the women's 200m individual medley final. This 17-year-old phenomenon from Toronto has already won two golds and one silver in these games.

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