Paralympic viewing guide: More medal chances in swimming, cycling | CBC Sports

Rivard came in as the reigning Paralympic and world champion in her event. But, in her first race in a year and a half, she was beaten by Russian Anastasiia Gontar, who finished just a hundredth of a second off Rivard’s world and Paralympic record to take gold, and Dutch swimmer Chantalle Zijderveld. Still, Rivard grabbed the sixth Paralympic medal of her career, and she has four more chances to add to that total. The 25-year-old from Quebec is the defending Paralympic champion in both the S10 100m freestyle (the final goes Saturday) and 400m freestyle (Sept. 1), and she’ll also compete in the 100m backstroke and 200m individual medley next week. Read more about what happened on Day 1 and watch highlights here. 

Canada has more strong medal opportunities in swimming and cycling on Day 2. We’ll cover those and some other interesting events to watch in today’s Paralympic viewing guide.

Canadians can win more medals in swimming and cycling on Day 2

Here are the top Canadian contenders to watch, in chronological order:

Track cycling

Tristen Chernove in the men’s C1 3,000m individual pursuit: Still going strong at age 46, Chernove won three silver medals at the 2020 world championships — in the kilo, scratch race and omnium events. He finished fifth in the individual pursuit, but the British Columbian has a strong track record in this race — including three world titles and a Paralympic silver in 2016. Chernove also won gold in the time trial and bronze in the kilo in Rio, and he owns a total of 10 world titles in various track and road events. The qualifying round for the individual pursuit starts at 9:30 p.m. ET. The medal races start at 2:03 a.m. ET.

Swimming

James Leroux in the men’s SB9 100m breaststroke: After finishing seventh in this event at the 2016 Paralympics, Leroux went on to take silver at the most recent world championships, in 2019. The 23-year-old Quebecer has a shot to win his first Paralympic medal when he races in the final at 5:38 a.m. ET.

Nicolas-Guy Turbide in the men’s S13 100m backstroke: The 24-year-old from Quebec City took bronze in this event at the 2016 Paralympics, and silver at the 2019 world championships. His heat is at 9:38 p.m. ET, and the final is at 6:05 a.m. ET.

Katarina Roxon in the women’s SB8 100m breaststroke: The 28-year-old Newfoundlander is the defending Paralympic champion in this event and took silver at the 2019 world championships. Her qualifying heat is at 10:01 p.m. ET, and the final goes at 6:40 a.m. ET.

WATCH | What you missed from the 1st day of competition in Tokyo:

While You Were Sleeping: Canada wins 2 medals, wheelchair rugby and basketball underway

Aurelie Rivard and Keely Shaw each took bronze on the first day of competition, plus wheelchair basketball and rugby get underway with Canada facing Great Britain in the first round-robin matches of the tournament. 3:02

Other top Canadians to watch on Wednesday night/Thursday morning

In chronological order:

Men’s wheelchair basketball: Canada vs. Spain at 10:15 p.m. ET

After winning three gold medals and a silver in the four Paralympics held from 2000-12, the Canadian men’s team went 0-5 in the group stage in Rio, then lost in the round of 16 at the most recent world championships, in 2018. High-scoring star Patrick Anderson sat out both those events, but his return should give Canada a boost. Spain, which took silver at the 2016 Paralympics, will test Anderson and the Canadians right away in their tournament opener.

The Canadian men hope to start off as well as the women’s squad, which crushed Great Britain 73-54 today. Kady Dandeneau had a huge game, racking up 32 points, 20 rebounds and 11 assists in her Paralympic debut. The Canadian women’s next game is Thursday at 8 p.m. ET vs. Japan.

Wheelchair rugby: Canada vs. United States at 10:30 p.m. ET

The Canadians will try to bounce back from a 50-47 loss to Great Britain in their tournament opener today. At the 2016 Paralympics, Canada lost a close semifinal to the U.S., which went on to lose the gold-medal game by one point to Australia while the Canadians fell by two in the bronze game vs. Japan.

Women’s goalball: Canada vs. Israel at 7:30 a.m. ET

Canada, which is ranked sixth in the world, lost its opener 5-1 to the seventh-ranked Russian Paralympic Committee team last night. Israel, ranked eighth, pounded No. 10 Australia 11-1 in their opener.

Goalball is one of only two Paralympic sports that don’t have an Olympic equivalent. Learn how it’s played by watching this explainer video. Read more about goalball, boccia and some other Paralympic sports you may not be familiar with here.

See the full schedule of Canadians competing in various sports on Day 2 here.

How to watch live events

A variety of Day 2 events will be streamed live on CBC Gem, the CBC Sports app and CBCSports.ca starting at 8 p.m. ET. 

You can also watch Paralympic action on the CBC TV network from 3-5 p.m., 7-8 p.m. and 12:30-2:30 a.m. in your local time. These shows will be streamed on the platforms mentioned above from 2-4 p.m. ET, 6-7 p.m. ET and 11:30 p.m.-1:30 a.m. ET.

See a detailed streaming schedule, which includes links to watch events when they go live, here.

Follow our reporter in Tokyo

CBC Sports’ Devin Heroux is covering these Games with his usual flair and passion. See all his Twitter updates here.

You’re up to speed. Talk to you tomorrow.