It’s safe to say the Canadian women’s water polo team is no longer flying under the radar in Doha, Qatar.
The group of 15 prepared for Thursday’s critical match against Italy at the World Aquatics Championships with a 20-5 drubbing of Great Britain on Tuesday.
“Some people believe that as Canadians we’re not the most strong-willed,” team captain Emma Wright told CBC Sports before this tournament, the third and final qualifier for the Paris Olympics this summer.
Canada must finish in the top two of the 16 teams competing to earn a spot at the Games.
“People underestimate us as a team because we’re Canadian and we hope to use that to our advantage,” Wright said.
Canada also cruised to a 24-2 victory over South Africa to open the tourney on Sunday.
Élyse Lemay-Lavoie was among a trio Canadians to score five goals and added four on Tuesday to secure player of the game honours.
Canada leads Group D over Italy, also 2-0, based on goal differential (37-34). In their most recent meeting, the Italians prevailed 13-12 in a friendly last April.
The Italians are one of the teams, along with Hungary, expected to provide the stiffest test for the Canadians in their pursuit of an Olympic berth. Thursday’s game is scheduled for 4 a.m. ET and will be live streamed on CBCSports.ca, CBC Sports app and CBC Gem.
The top team in each of the four groups advances to the Feb. 12 quarterfinals, while the runner-up must win a one-game playoff to move on.
WATCH | Canada vs. Great Britain at World Aquatics Championships:
Watch Canada take on Great Britain in women’s water polo group stage action from the 2024 World Aquatics Championships in Doha.
For the second straight game in Doha, Canada scored six times in the opening quarter on Tuesday.
It held a 5-2 advantage in the second to take an 11-3 lead into halftime.
‘Everyone played together’
Great Britain managed to hold its opponent scoreless for over five minutes in the third quarter, but Canada scored three goals in quick fashion and breezed to victory.
“Everyone played together and everyone touched the ball, so it was really good,” said Blaire McDowell, who scored twice along with Axelle Crevier, Kindred Paul, Marilia Mimides and Wright.
Shae La Roche had a hat trick while Daphné Guèvremont, Verica Bakoc and Serena Browne also scored.
“Great Britain was doing a really good job diving and … we had to be disciplined in our defence and capitalize on the opportunities we [had].”
Canada scored on 20 of its 32 shots for a 62.5 per cent success rate compared to 25 per cent (5-for-25) for the Brits.
The Canadians also outblocked their opponent 6-3 and had five fewer turnovers.
“It was definitely a tough match for us,” said Great Britain’s Toula Falvey, who led her team with two goals. “We set some goals and wanted to reach that; definitely some things we can take from this game into the next.
“We have to learn from our mistakes and move on.”
Great Britain faces South Africa on Thursday in a battle of winless squads.
McKay, Miller 6th in women’s synchro diving
About 24 hours after feeling a little angry and disappointed with an eighth-place finish in the women’s 10-metre platform, Montreal diver Caeli McKay was “relieved” to earn a quota spot for Canada in the 10m platform synchronized event with Katie Miller ot Ottawa.
Sixth entering the fifth and final round, the Canadians were unable to move up, despite only a two-point gap between them and Ukraine in bronze-medal position.
McKay and Miller went on to score 64.32 for their back 2 1/2 somersault with 1 1/2 twists, but Great Britain (74.88) and Mexico (72.96) delivered their best of five dives to finish third and fourth, respectively, bumping Ukrainians to fifth.
“We’re very, very happy to have [secured the quota spot]. This was definitely a challenge,” McKay, who lives and trains in Montreal, told Diving Canada. “We have a lot of work to do when we get home, but now we can put everything into the Olympics and not necessarily worry about qualifying.
“We both said we wanted to enjoy this event, no matter the outcome.”
Quan Hongchan and Chen Yuxi of China ran away with the competition, defeating Mi-Rae Kim and Jin Mi Jo of North Korea by 41.52 points (362.22-320.70).
China also romped to victory in the team technical event of artistic swimming with a score of 299.8712 points, adding to its triumph in acrobatic team.
Spain claimed the silver at 275.8925, edging bronze medallist Japan’s 275.8787. The United States just missed out on its second medal of the meet, finishing fourth, while Canada was sixth (253.3550).
China has claimed four gold medals in both diving and artistic swimming through the first five days in Doha, with another event still to go on Tuesday.
Finlin secures Olympic spot in open water
Emma Finlin officially has a spot on the Canadian Olympic team for Paris after a reallocation of unused quota spots in the women’s 10-kilometre open water event.
Finlin, 18, missed earning Canada the continental qualifying spot for the Americas in Saturday’s race, finishing 24th, 0.7 seconds and one spot behind Martha Sandoval of Mexico.
However, World Aquatics announced Tuesday that Canada would receive the unallocated spot for Oceania, which had no competing athletes outside the two Australians already qualified.
Swimming Canada will nominate Finlin to represent her country in France.
“It doesn’t feel real right now,” said Finlin, who has had an emotional few days.
Swimming Canada high performance director John Atkinson noted Finlin, a member of Edmonton Keyano Swim Club, has “shown great improvement from her 30th-place position at the world championships last year.”
Action continues Wednesday with the 5 km races. Finlin and Laila Oravsky of the Barrie (Ont.) Trojans start at 2:30 a.m. ET.