Olympic wake-up call: Canadians upset U.S. in soccer semis, beach volleyball duos keep rolling | CBC Sports

And when time in the game ran out, the Canadians dropped to their knees, screamed and threw their arms in the air, finally beating the Americans — the four-time Olympic champions — 20 years since the last time they beat their rivals.

WATCH | Canada defeats U.S. in women’s soccer semifinals: 

Midfielder Jessie Fleming scores on a penalty in the seventy-fifth minute as Canada defeats U.S. 1-0 and advances to the women’s soccer gold medal match. 1:28

CBC Sports’s Devin Heroux has more on Canada’s quest on the pitch and that nerve-racking semifinal game. 

Here’s what else you might have missed on Monday in Tokyo. 

Find live streams, must-watch video highlights, breaking news and more in one perfect Olympic Games package. Following Team Canada has never been easier or more exciting.

More from Tokyo 2020

Canada’s beach volleyball duos into quarter-finals

Two Canadian beach volleyball teams are headed into the quarter-finals of the women’s tournament. And if they win their matches, the pairs will have to play each other in the semifinals. 

Sarah Pavan and Melissa Humana-Paredes, the reigning world champions, have won every single match in Tokyo so far. They’re set to face Australians Mariafe Artacho del Solar and Taliqua Clancy. 

WATCH | Pavan, Humana-Paredes are heading to the quater-finals:

Reigning world champions Sarah Pavan and Melissa Humana-Paredes advanced to the quarter-finals at the Tokyo Olympics with a straight-sets (21-13, 21-13) win over Spain’s Liliana Fernández and Elsa Baquerizo in their opening knockout match. 5:21

The other Canadian duo, Heather Bansley and Brandie Wilkerson, will take on Latvia’s Tina Graudina and Anastasija Kravcenoka. 

At this point, there can still be two Canadian teams on the podium: while the winner of the semifinals would go on to the gold-medal match, the other would play for bronze. 

Canadian sisters size up track semi

The women’s 1,500-metre race is shaping up to be a family affair. 

Two Canadian sisters — Gabriela Debues-Stafford and Lucia Stafford — will race together in the semifinals of the track event after getting through the qualifying heats.

Gabriela holds the Canadian record time, and finished first in her heat with a time of four minutes 3.70 seconds on Monday. Lucia had a fantastic run, reaching a personal best of 4:03.52 seconds, and finishing seventh in her tough heat.

The semifinals are scheduled to take place on Wednesday.  

Simone Biles is back

American gymnastics superstar Simone Biles is making a return to Olympic competition in Tokyo. According to USA Gymnastics, the 24-year-old and six-time Olympic medallist plans to compete in the balance beam finals. 

Biles had recently pulled out of several events at the Olympics in order to focus on her mental well-being.

While she didn’t compete in the team final, as well as the finals of the individual all-around, vault, floor exercise or uneven bars, the organization says she’ll return on Wednesday for the beam event, in which she earned an Olympic bronze in Rio 2016. 

She spent time at the Games cheering on her American teammates, such as Suni Lee, who won gold in the all-around, and Jade Carey, who grabbed gold in the women’s floor exercise in her Olympic debut. 

Canada’s team pursuit squads will go for bronze

The Canadian men’s and women’s team pursuit squads will have to focus their sights on the bronze medal after finishing in the bottom halves of their qualifying races on Monday.

Since the Canadian cyclists finished sixth and eighth, respectively, in their events, the gold and silver medals are out of grasp.

If they do hit the podium, it would be a case of déjà vu for the women’s team — three of four team members are competing in Tokyo after the squad clinched bronze in Rio 2016.

The men’s race also had a frightening moment, when an Australian competitor’s handlebars broke and set him flying onto the track. The race was paused so the athlete, Alexander Porter, could get medical attention.

He returned with his team later on to race again, scrapes and all.