Paris is calling for the Gangurrus after winning the FIBA 3×3 Universality Olympic Qualifying Tournament and for the women’s and men’s 4x100m track relay teams to highlight the weekend in Olympic sport.
Report ! M.Naveed
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The Gangurrus women are bound for the Olympics for the first time in their history after winning the second FIBA 3×3 Universality Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Utsunomiya, Japan on Sunday.
They are set to become the first Australian 3×3 team to compete at an Olympic Games, which for Paris 2024 will be in the urban sports precinct at the iconic Place de la Concorde.
Tournament MVP Anneli Maley, Alex Wilson, Marena Whittle and Lauren Mansfield strung together four must-win games off the back of an 16-18 loss in overtime against the Netherlands to start.
Victories against Kenya (22-9) and no.2 seed Canada (21-16) in the group stages set up a high intensity semi-final against Brazil (18-16) and a nail-biting rematch against Canada (19-16) in the final.
The four-time Asia Cup winners and bronze medallists took their final chance to qualify for the Olympics, as they were not eligible to participate in the final Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Hungary.
Athletics – New relay era begins with Olympic berths
Australia’s women’s and men’s 4x100m relay teams have qualified for Paris 2024 at the Bahamas World Relay Championships.
The women’s 4x100m team comprising Torrie Lewis, Bree Masters, Ella Connolly and Ebony Lane finished the heats in a national-record time of 42.83 seconds to book a spot for Australia to compete at the Olympics in this event for the first time since Sydney 2000.
“I’m so speechless! I had full faith that we could do it, but we actually did it and it’s just wild. To have that automatic Olympic qualification is so, so exciting,” Bree said.
The team then finished fifth in the final, showcasing they are right at home in the top tier of global track sprinting.
The men’s 4x100m relay team members Sebastian Sultana, Jacob Despard, Calab Law and Joshua Azzopardi finished in 38.46 seconds to be second across the line in repechage, automatically confirming their team’s inclusion for the Olympic competition.
Both the men’s and women’s 4x400m relay teams fell just short of winning a quota, but still have a chance to book a ticket to Paris, with the top 2 unqualified teams on the World Athletics relays ranking list at 30 June 2024 earning a quota.
Shooting – Gold and silver for trap shooters at Baku World Cup
James Willett and Penny Smith have collected their first World Cup medals of the Olympic year, gold and silver, at the ISSF World Cup in Baku, Azerbaijan.
James, a dual-Olympian, finished fifth in the qualifiers to make the six-man final. In the final he missed only one of his last 30 shots to score 46 – placing ahead of Filip Marinov’s 42 (SLO) and Jean Pierre Brol Cardenas’s 34 (GER) – to get his first individual World Cup gold medal since 2019.
Tokyo 2020 Olympian Penny Smith topped qualifying in Baku and scored 40 in the final to win her 11th career World Cup medal. She finished behind Lebanon’s Bassil Ray (44) and ahead of Erica Sessa’s (ITA) 34.
Rugby 7s – Silver in Singapore
Australia’s rugby 7s teams headed to Singapore for the penultimate round of the World SVNS Series.
The women’s team entered the round on top of the overall standings, however their silver performance saw them slip behind New Zealand on the ladder.
The team blitzed through their pool games and narrowly beat France 19-12 to earn themselves a place in the final, where they ultimately went down to the New Zealand side 21-31.
The men’s team went into the Singapore round in sixth position on the overall ladder, but were able to jump up to fourth position after they made their way to the bronze medal match against Great Britain, where they finished in fourth place after being defeated 7-26.
The two teams will head to Madrid, Spain for the final and deciding round of the World SVNS Series from 31 May to 2 June.
