Canadian Philip Kim reaches Olympic men’s quarterfinals

Philip Kim has made a good start to his quest for Canada’s first-ever Olympic medal in breaking.

Kim won all three of his fights in the round-robin of the B-Boys breaking competition on Saturday to advance to the quarterfinals in an event that will be his Olympic debut. The quarterfinals begin at 2 p.m. ET / 11 a.m. PT. Kim’s quarterfinal bout begins at 2:23 p.m. ET where he will face Lee-Lou Demierre of the Netherlands.

The 27-year-old breaker, who competes as Phil Wizard, defeated Frenchman Danny Dann 13-5 in his opening bout, followed by a 10-8 win over Ukrainian Oleg Kuznietsov in a thrilling match before finishing with a dominant 17-1 victory over 16-year-old breaker Jeffrey Dan Arpie Dunne of Australia.

Each of the 16 competitors competed in two battles against the three other breakers in their group in the round-robin. Breakers are awarded points for technique, vocabulary (the variety of movements incorporated), execution, musicality and originality.

Instead of judging each criterion, the nine judges use a digital slider to move to the breaker they believe will win the head-to-head matchup. There are a total of 18 points (one point per judge per battle) up for grabs in each head-to-head matchup.

Kim, born in Vancouver, won the first gold medal in the B-Boys breaking competition at the 2023 Pan American Games.

He also won Canada’s first world title in breaking at the 2022 World DanceSport Federation Championships. Kim was runner-up at the championships in 2021 and 2023.

Breaking makes its Olympic debut in Paris. It will not be a sport at the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.

Japan’s Ami Yuasa won the first-ever Olympic gold medal in the B-Girls competition on Friday.