Olympic newsletter: Canada adds 3* medals, plus Mitton goes for gold

This is an excerpt from CBC Sports' daily newsletter, The Buzzer. Subscribe here to get the latest on the Paris Olympics in your inbox every day.

Officially, two Canadian women reached the podium today in Paris. Flag-bearer Maude Charron took silver in weightlifting while Skylar Park grabbed a bronze in taekwondo. But beach volleyballers Melissa Humana-Paredes and Brandie Wilkerson guaranteed themselves at least a silver by advancing to Friday's final.

Not counting their pending hardware, Canada's medal count now stands at 21 — six gold, five silver, 10 bronze — with three days of competition left. The Canadian records for gold (seven) and total medals (24) at a non-boycotted Summer Games are within reach.

Along with the beach volleyball final, Friday brings a great chance for another Canadian gold in a field event, plus a prime podium opportunity in canoe. Here's what to watch on Day 14, plus the scoop on a big upset in today's men's 200m final and a near-shocker in the men's basketball semis.

WATCH | CBC's Meg Roberts tells you what to watch on Day 14:

Andre De Grasse doesn't owe us anything. He's the most prolific track and field athlete in Canadian history, winning six medals in six events over the past two Summer Olympics (including a 200m gold in 2021) along with his five career medals at the world championships (including a 4x100m title in 2022).

But, at 29 years old here in Paris, it seems that he's lost a step. De Grasse didn't qualify for the men's 100m or 200m finals, and his sluggish time of 20.41 seconds in Wednesday's 200m semis was especially deflating. It feels too soon to write him off — and a hamstring injury could be slowing him right now — but De Grasse's days as an individual medal contender may be behind him.

He might also be hard-pressed to reach the podium in his last race of the Games, the 4x100m final on Friday at 1:47 p.m. ET. This morning, De Grasse and teammates Aaron Brown, Jerome Blake and Brendon Rodney scraped through qualifying with a third-place finish in their heat. Running anchor, De Grasse held off 100m silver medallist Kishane Thompson for the last entry from the group, eliminating Jamaica.

The United States is heavily favoured to win gold after clocking the fastest overall time in the heats. The Americans did that with a couple of backups joining former 100m world champions Christian Coleman and Fred Kerley. For the final, they can bring in reigning world and Olympic 100m champ Noah Lyles and U.S. trials runner-up Kenny Bednarek, who were resting for the 200m final later in the day.

WATCH | Tebogo takes gold in 200m men's final:

Lyles could be out for redemption after Botswana's Letsile Tebogo upset him for the 200m gold, spoiling Lyles' quest for the 100/200 double. Bednarek took silver and Lyles settled for bronze, just like they did in 2021 behind De Grasse. An exhausted-looking Lyles left the track in a wheelchair, and it was revealed that he tested positive for COVID on Monday, putting his status for the relay final up in the air.

Canada also qualified for the women's 4x100m final on Friday at 1:30 p.m. ET. National 100m record holder Audrey Leduc ran a blistering anchor leg to move Canada into fourth place in its heat in a national-record 42.50 seconds — good for a wild-card entry in the final. The U.S. is also favoured to win this one after 100m silver medallist Sha'Carri Richardson and company ran the best overall time in the heats.

With both Canadian 4x100 teams' podium chances looking pretty dicey, Canada's top track and field contender on Friday is shot putter Sarah Mitton. The 2023 world championships silver medallist and reigning indoor world champ made short work of qualifying today, easily clearing the mark for automatic advancement with her first attempt. It ended up being the farthest throw overall by more than half a metre. The women's shot put final is set for 1:37 p.m. ET on Friday.

Meanwhile, back-to-back world champion Chase Jackson of the United States shockingly failed to qualify for the 12-person final after fouling on her first two attempts. With her main rival out of the way, Mitton is now favoured to win Canada's first Olympic shot put gold. It would be Canada's third gold in a throwing event in Paris, following the historic hammer throw victories by Ethan Katzberg and Camryn Rogers.