Olympic newsletter: Alysha Newman saves the day, plus De Grasse's last chance

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.

It was shaping up as a rough day for Canada's track and field athletes. This morning, men's 5,000m medal contender Moh Ahmed was eliminated when he tripped on another runner with about a lap left in his heat. A few hours later, reigning 200m champion Andre De Grasse lost his title when he failed to advance past the semifinals.

But, just when it looked like Canada might go without a medal for the second time in three days, pole vaulter Alysha Newman won a surprising bronze in her first trip to the women's final in three Olympic appearances.

Brimming with confidence and radiating joy even when she didn't get over the bar successfully, the 30-year-old cleared a national-record 4.85 metres to become the first Canadian woman to win an Olympic pole vault medal (no Canadian man has done it since 1912).

Nina Kennedy of Australia (4.90) took the gold ahead of defending Olympic champion Katie Moon of the United States (4.85 with one less miss than Newman). Kennedy and Moon shared the gold at last year's world championships.

WATCH | Newman cashes Canada's lone medal on Day 12:

Newman's delightful bronze brought Canada's medal count to 19 (six gold, four silver, nine bronze) through 12 full days of competition. That's five

medals away from matching the national record for a non-boycotted Summer Games, set three years ago in Tokyo, with four days left.

Day 13 brings podium chances for Canadians in an array of lesser-followed sports like weightlifting, track cycling and taekwondo. Plus, Canada can clinch its first Olympic beach volleyball medal of this century.

Before we get to that