Australia’s Olympians could secure up to four gold medals on day seven of the Paris Games, with the athletics track and field events getting underway in the French capital on Friday.
Sailor Grae Morris has already secured a medal for the Australian team, with the men’s windsurfing finals commencing at 10.23pm AEST.
After a flying start to her Olympic campaign, Saya Sakakibara is eyeing what would be an emotional medal in the BMX racing, with Izaac Kennedy and Lauren Reynolds joining her in the semi-finals.
Australian duo Matthew Ebden and John Peers have their men’s doubles semi-final at 8pm.
The Boomers will take on Giannis Antetokounmpo’s Greece to keep their Olympic dream alive, while the Kookaburras face India in the men’s hockey.
The Stingers come up against Canada in the women’s water polo before double gold medallist Jess Fox returns alongside her sister Noemie in the kayak cross time trial.
And if that’s not enough for you, Australians will also feature in boxing, golf, athletics and trampoline gymnastics events.
AUSSIE ROWERS TAKE HOME BRONZE
Rowers Jessica Morrison and Annabelle McIntyre have won Australia its 19th medal at the Paris Olympics, finishing third in the women’s pair final after a thrilling fight to the end.
The Australian duo qualified for the final after a seesawing semifinal which saw them surge from behind in the last 500m to finish ahead of Team USA by 1.45 seconds.
The final was just as much of a nailbiter, at least in the scrap for silver, with the Dutch leading from start to finish and never looking in any real doubt of giving up top spot.
The fight for silver between Australia, Lithuania and Romania though went down to the wire.
The Netherlands were in front early, with Morrison and McIntyre battling Lithuania for silver in the initial stages of the final.
The Dutch led by two boats’ length at the halfway mark while Australia had a buffer of nearly two seconds over Lithuania for second at that point.
In the end, the Netherlands cruised to victory as Romania ended up being the biggest threats to Australia’s hopes of taking home silver, finishing strong to just pip Morrison and McIntyre.
3X3 BASKETBALL: AUSSIES CONTINUE HOT STREAK TO CLAIM SPITEFUL CLASH
Australia’s 3×3 basketball team has continued its impressive run of form, comfortably accounting for Azerbaijan to claim its fourth consecutive win.
Marena Whittle was hot from beyond the arc, while the athletic Ally Wilson was quintessentially busy in a physical — at times spiteful — clash to inspire the Gangurrus to a 21-12 victory.
The Aussies then played Spain, but went down 21-17 to fall to third on the ladder.
It means the Gangurrus must now beat France on Sunday to give themselves the best chance to qualify for the semi-finals.
TRACK EVENTS: HIGH JUMPERS SOAR… AS 1500m AUSSIES COME UP SHORT
There are plenty of Australians in action on the track too, although we have had mixed resuts to open on Friday.
Ash Moloney sits 14th in the men’s decathlon after the 100m and long jump events, with a total of 1787 points, while Daniel Golubovic is 22nd with 1511 points.
Daniel Golubovic was first up and started out with a time of 11.32 in the 100m event for 791 points. Norwegian Markus Rooth topped that heat with a time of 10.71.
Tokyo bronze medallist Moloney, meanwhile, made a strong start to the 100m event but fell away late to finish fifth with a time of 10.56, which scored him 961 points.
Canada’s Damian Warner, who holds the world record in the 100-metre decathlon event, recorded the fastest time in the heats (10.25) to score 1035 points.
Next up was the long jump, with Moloney recording a best result of 7.05m for 826 points while Golubovic had a best attempt of 6.60m (720 points).
Soon after him, Tokyo silver medal winner Nicola Olyslagers and 2022 high jump world champion Eleanor Patterson started their Paris campaign with the women’s high jump qualification.
Both women qualified for the final as two of six to clear 195cm.
Oliver Hoare was also in action, competing in Round 1 of the men’s 1500m, although he dropped off in the final lap and will instead have to go to the repechage round.
It is similar scenario for the two other Australians in the event, with the top three of the repechage race making it through to the semifinals.
Stewart McSweyn also struggled, initially leading the charge before dropping down to finish 11th with a time of 3:36.55, meaning he too with join Hoare in the repechage.
Adam Spencer finished his 1500m heat 10th in what is his Olympics debut and is also heading to the repechage.
Hoare, the 2022 Commonwealth Games gold medallist, started strong to take a share of the lead alongside Kenya’s Brian Komen but finished 13th.
“Tough going for the Aussie,” Gerard Whateley said in commentary.
Tamsyn Manou, meanwhile, wondered whether the Australian decided at a latter part of the event to conserve energy for the repechage.
“It looked like Ollie, he got checked so many times,” she said in commentary.
“If you had a camera on him that whole last 300 metres, he was checked and checked again.
“… I feel like in Ollie’s head mentally at one point he just went, ‘I’m not going to use any extra energy here because I’m off the back. I’m going to just run it through so I can put more energy in the repechage’.”
The Australians had better success in the women’s 100m event, at least to start, with Bree Masters booking her spot in the semis after recording a time of 11.26 in what Manou described as a “fantastic” race from the 29-year-old.
Unfortunately, Ella Connolly drew a tough field in her heat and finished in sixth place with a time of 11.29. She will now turn her attention to the women’s 4×100.
AUSSIES IN ACTION — DAY 7 HIGHLIGHTS
All times AEST
5pm — Men’s Golf: Round 2 (Jason Day, Min Woo Lee)
5.30pm — Women’s 3×3 Basketball: Australia vs Azerbaijan (Gangurrus)
6.05pm — Athletics: Men’s Decathlon 100m (Ash Moloney, Daniel Golubovic)
6.15pm — Athletics: Women’s High Jump Qualification (Nicola Olyslagers, Eleanor Patterson)
6.55pm — Athletics: Men’s Decathlon Long Jump (Ash Moloney, Daniel Golubovic)
7pm — Swimming Heats (Kaylee McKeown, Ariarne Titmus, relays)
7.10pm — Athletics: Men’s 1500m, Round 1 (Adam Spencer, Oliver Hoare, Stewart McSweyn)
7.42pm — Women’s Rowing: Pair Final A (Jessica Morrison and Annabelle McIntyre)
7.50pm — Athletics: Women’s 100m, Round 1 (Ella Connolly, Bree Masters)
8pm — Men’s Tennis: Doubles Semi-Final, Australia vs USA (Matthew Ebden and John Peers)
8.30pm — Women’s 3×3 basketball: Australia vs Spain (Gangurrus)
9.15pm — Men’s Hockey: Australia vs India (Kookaburras)
9.30pm — Men’s Basketball: Australia vs Greece (Boomers)
10pm — Women’s Water Polo: Australia vs Canada (Stingers)
10.23pm — Men’s Sailing: Windsurfing Finals (Grae Morris)
11.30pm — Men’s Canoe Slalom: Kayak Cross Time Trial (Tristan Carter, Timothy Anderson)
12.40am — Women’s Canoe Slalom: Kayak Cross Time Trial (Jessica Fox, Noemie Fox)
1.54am — Men’s Boxing: 92kg Quarterfinals, Australia vs Uzbekistan (Teremoana Teremoana)
2.10am — Athletics: Women’s 5000m, Round 1 (Isobel Batt-Doyle, Lauren Ryan, Rose Davies)
3.45am — Athletics: Women’s 800m, Round 1 (Abbey Caldwell, Catriona Bisset, Claudia Hollingsworth)
4am — Cycling BMX Racing: Semifinals (Izaac Kennedy, Saya Sakakibara, Lauren Reynolds)
4.30am — Swimming Finals (Cameron McEvoy, Kaylee McKeown)
4.48am — Women’s Boxing: 57kg Round of 16, Australia vs Poland (Tina Rahimi)
5.35am — Cycling BMX Racing: Finals (Izaac Kennedy, Saya Sakakibara, Lauren Reynolds)
