 | Today we're spotlighting some Canadian athletes to watch on the global stage this weekend. Plus, a local kid makes his big-league debut against the Jays, Vancouver hosts an historic WNBA game, and a look at the Canada Games' unofficial sport. | | | What to watch this weekend in international sports
| | | A few things for Canadian fans to follow:
Track and field: Canadians gear up for worlds
Some of Canada's top track and field athletes are competing in international meets this weekend as they prepare for next month's world championships in Tokyo.
Shot put standout Sarah Mitton and sprinters Jerome Blake, Aaron Brown, Brendon Rodney and Audrey Leduc headline a team of 30 Canadians at the North American, Central American and Caribbean (NACAC) championships, happening today through Sunday in the Bahamas.
Mitton took silver at the most recent world championships, in 2023, before capturing back-to-back indoor world titles; Blake, Brown and Rodney won Olympic men's 4x100m gold in Paris last summer with Andre De Grasse (not competing this weekend); while Leduc is the national record holder in the women's 100m and 200m.
Leduc is lining up in both of those events at the NACACs, while Brown and Rodney run the 200m and Blake does the 100m. Blake ran a 9.97 in June for the fastest time by a Canadian this year.
Here's the full schedule with startlists and results.
Distance-running fans may also want to check out the Canadian half marathon championships in Edmonton on Sunday. The field includes national marathon record holders Cam Levins and Natasha Wodak, and Rory Linkletter, who finished sixth in the Boston Marathon this year.
Meanwhile, Canada's rising 400m hurdles star Savannah Sutherland hopes to make her first-ever Diamond League start at Saturday's meet in Poland.
After a successful Olympic debut last summer in Paris (she made the final and finished seventh a day after her 21st birthday), Sutherland capped a stellar collegiate career at the University of Michigan this June by breaking the NCAA record held by back-to-back Olympic gold medallist Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone.
Sutherland's NCAA championship-winning time of 52.46 seconds remains the fastest in the world this year by anyone other than McLaughlin-Levrone and reigning world champion Femke Bol. It also qualified her for the world championships, and Sutherland later added an automatic berth in the flat 400m with a personal-best 50.62 in Edmonton.
Sutherland is slated to face Bol in the 400m hurdles on Saturday, but it's unclear whether the Canadian will compete after she pulled out of a race on Tuesday in Budapest due to an unspecified injury.
Canada's Olympic and world hammer throw champions Ethan Katzberg and Camryn Rogers are also competing in the Poland meet, though their events are not officially part of the Diamond League. Katzberg will face Olympic silver medallist Bence Halasz of Hungary, who handed the Canadian just his second defeat in eight starts this year on Tuesday in Budapest. Rogers has eight victories in nine competitions in 2025.
There's also a big men's 100m showdown on tap as Olympic champion Noah Lyles takes on Kishane Thompson and Kenny Bednarek. This is the first meeting between Lyles and Thompson since Lyles beat the Jamaican in a photo finish at the Paris Olympics, while Lyles and Bednarek are squaring off for the first time since they nearly came to blows after Lyles' 200m victory at the U.S. championships earlier this month.
The women's 100m on Saturday features world champion Sha’Carri Richardson vs. fellow American Melissa Jefferson-Wooden, who ran a world-leading 10.65 at the U.S. championships.
Other international stars in action include Swedish pole vaulter Mondo Duplantis, who broke his own world record (again) on Tuesday in Budapest; and Kenyan distance runner Faith Kipyegon, who might try for a world record in the women's 3,000m. Here's more on the athletes to watch.
You can watch the meet live Saturday from 10 a.m. to noon ET on CBCSports.ca and CBC Gem or catch a replay on the CBC TV network on Saturday at noon ET. Here's the full schedule and startlists.
Golf: Three Canadians gunning for the Tour Championship
Corey Conners, Nick Taylor and Taylor Pendrith made the cut for this week's 50-man BMW Championship near Baltimore — the second of three events in the PGA Tour's FedEx Cup playoffs. The top 30 in the season-long points chase after this tournament concludes on Sunday will qualify for the extremely lucrative Tour Championship in Atlanta next week.
Conners' and Taylor's chances of advancing look good as they ranked 16th and 22nd, respectively, heading into the BMW. Pendrith needs to move up from 35th.
A whopping $40 million US will be up for grabs at the Tour Championship, including $10 million for the winner and $5 million for the runner-up, which is more than any of the four majors paid their champion this year. The last-place finisher will collect $355,000, so simply qualifying for the Tour Championship guarantees a big payday.
Plus, new for this year, all 30 players will begin the Tour Championship on equal footing after the Tour ditched the old "starting strokes" format. Under that system, the No. 1 seed began with a score of 10 under par and the rest of the field slotted in between 8 under for the No. 2 seed and even par for the bottom few guys. Now, everyone has a fair shot at the title.
World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler, the defending FedEx Cup champion, has already won a $10-million bonus for leading the regular-season chase. He'll collect another $5M for being the No. 1 seed after the BMW. Here's a live leaderboard.
Tennis: Dabrowski goes for doubles title
There are no Canadians left in the singles draws at the Cincinnati Open, a highly regarded U.S. Open tuneup, after 23rd-seeded Felix Auger-Aliassime got smoked 6-0, 6-2 by top-ranked Jannik Sinner of Italy in their men's quarterfinal yesterday. But Gabby Dabrowski remains in the hunt for the women's doubles title after the second-seeded pairing of her and New Zealand's Erin Routliffe defeated No. 6 Ellen Perez and Lyudmyla Kichenok today. Dabrowski and Routliffe could face top-seeded Sara Errani and Jasmine Paolini in the final if the Italians win their semi.
In the men's semis, Sinner will face 136th-ranked Frenchman Terence Atmane, who has upset three seeded players including No. 4 Taylor Fritz and No. 7 Holger Rune. Second-seeded Carlos Alcaraz of Spain and No. 3 Alexander Zverev of Germany could meet in the other semi if they win their quarterfinals.
In women's action this afternoon, eighth-seeded Elena Rybakina upset top-ranked Aryna Sabalenka while No. 3 Iga Swiatek advanced to the semis.
Beach volleyball: Melissa and Brandie on home sand
Olympic beach volleyball silver medallists Melissa Humana-Paredes and Brandie Wilkerson are among the Canadian duos competing in a Pro Tour Elite 16 event in Montreal. They were 1-0 heading into their match against a German pair today at 4 p.m. ET, and they'll wrap up group play against a Brazilian team at 9 p.m. ET. The knockout rounds are on Saturday and Sunday.
You can watch women's and men's matches live on CBCSports.ca and CBC Gem. Here's the schedule with the latest results. | | |  | Camryn Rogers will try for her ninth win in 10 starts this year at Saturday's Diamond League meet in Poland. (Ali Gradischer/Getty Images)
| | | Quickly…
| | | Some other things to know:
1. The Blue Jays spoiled a local kid's big-league debut.
Toronto (71-51) remains atop the American League after beating the National League wild card-leading Chicago Cubs 2-1 yesterday to take two of their three matchups at the Rogers Centre. The Texas Rangers (61-61) are in town for a three-game set starting tonight.
Yesterday, Chicago promoted top prospect Owen Caissie just in time for the native of nearby Burlington, Ont., to make his major-league debut in front of family and friends. Batting in the fifth spot as the designated hitter, the 23-year-old swung at the first pitch he saw from Toronto starter Max Scherzer and was robbed of an extra-base hit when Davis Schneider made a diving catch in the gap in left-centre.
Caissie finished the day 0-for-4 with a strikeout but still had a great time. “It was surreal,” he said. “Growing up watching the Blue Jays, I’m just super thankful the Cubs could make my debut happen in front of the Canadian people I cherish so much.”
2. Vancouver hosts an historic WNBA game tonight.
As we await the arrival of the expansion Toronto Tempo next year, the Seattle Storm and the Atlanta Dream square off at Rogers Arena in the first WNBA regular-season game played outside of the United States. Toronto (2023) and Edmonton (2024) have hosted WNBA pre-season contests.
Atlanta (21-11) ranks second overall in the 13-team league and is led by All-Star guard Allisha Gray. Seattle (16-17), the closest team to Vancouver, features forward Nneka Ogwumike, who's averaging over 18 points per game. Neither team has a Canadian player on its roster.
3. Pin trading is the Canada Games' unofficial sport.
With more than 4,000 young athletes gathered around St. John's to compete in 19 different sports, the tradition of swapping commemorative pins is bigger than ever. It started years ago as a way to "start conversation" between athletes from different parts of the country, according to the company that makes the pins, and now there are upwards of 240 different ones to trade while a collector's guide is part of the official Canada Games app.
Here's more on how the pins are breaking down barriers from CBC Sports' Justin Piercy.
You can watch the Canada Games live every day on CBCSports.ca and CBC Gem. See the full streaming schedule for details and streaming links. | | | That's it for today. Talk to you later.
| | | | Not subscribed? Sign up here to get the Buzzer delivered to your inbox. Got an idea, question, comment or other feedback on the newsletter? Drop us a line at thebuzzer@cbc.ca. | | | Share this newsletter | | or subscribe if this was
forwarded to you. | | | |
