It's a big day in Tokyo with Australians in action across 14 different sports with Artistic Swimming, Canoe Sprint and Track Cycling all set for their first day of competition.
Highlights
- Equestrian team en route to eventing podium ahead of Show Jumping
- Sailors race to lock in more gold
- Hockeyroos take on India in must win quarter-final
- Matildas play Sweden in semi-final blockbuster
- 33-year-old father of three makes Olympic diving debut
- Steve Solomon looks to qualify for 400m final, nine years after his first final
- Artistic Swimming, Track Cycling and Canoe Sprint begin Tokyo Campaign
Artistic Swimming
With the Australian Swimming Team now done and dusted after their history making Olympic Games in the 50m pool, the Australian artistic swimmers will take to the water in their first day of competition. With just one event slated for the day, Emily Rogers and Amie Thompson, both in their second Games, dive into Duet Free preliminary. The Australians will be performing 21st of 22 teams. Routines are set to begin at 8:00pm AEST.
Athletics
An impressive list of seven athletes will fly the Australian flag on Monday at the Tokyo Olympic Stadium. During the morning session from 10am-1pm AEST, 1500m stars Linden Hall, Jessica Hull and Georgia Griffith, and 200m sprinter Riley Day will all race for a place in the semis.
On Monday evening from 8pm AEST, pole vaulters Nina Kennedy and Elizaveta Parnova will jump in qualifying, and then Steve Solomon will look to turn back the clock and make the Olympic 400m final like he did back in 2012.
Basketball
The Opals have dropped their first two games of Olympic play to Belgium 85-70 and China 76-74. The Australians will now look to shake off that start to their 2020 campaign with a win over Puerto Rico at Saitama Super Arena on Monday night. Puerto Rico, like Australia, have failed to put a win on their board in Group C. The Opals will need a decisive win over their opponents for a potential berth into the quarterfinals as one of the third-placed teams. The meeting is scheduled for 10:00pm AEST.
Canoe Sprint
Following the historic success of Australian canoe slalom at these Games, our Aussie canoe sprinters are set to take centre stage. Six Aussies will be in action at Sea Forest Waterway on Monday, three of which will be making their Olympic debut. Thomas Green and Jean Van der Westhuyzen line up in the Men’s Kayak Single 100m in heats one and three respectively.
In the Women’s Kayak Double 500m two Australian kayaks will be racing with Jamie Roberts and Jo Brigden-Jones in heat two with Alyssa Bull and Alyce Wood following in heat four. All racers will progress to the semi-final with the top two from each heat moving directly to semi-finals. Racing begins at 10:30am AEST.
Cycling
With the road, mountain and park cycling done and dusted, it’s time to move to the velodrome for the first day of track cycling. The Australians will be in only one event on Monday with the men gearing up for the Team Pursuit. Australia clinched silver in the Rio 2016 Olympic Games in the event, however the green and gold will only be returning one cyclist from that line up, Sam Welsford. The qualifying of the Men’s Team Pursuit is set to being at 6:00pm AEST.
Diving
It’s time for the Australian men to take to the boards at the Tokyo Aquatic Centre with Shixin Li making his Olympic debut in the Men’s 3m Springboard preliminary. The 33-year-old father of three has a long list of accomplishments to his name including two world championships titles from when he was diving for his birth country of China. Now donning the green and gold, Li will look to secure his position in the top 18 from the field of 29 for a spot in Tuesday’s semi-final. Monday’s preliminary will begin at 4:00pm AEST.
Equestrian
Monday will see the final day of eventing with only the jumping component left to run. Australians are well and truly in the medal race as individuals with Hoy in seventh, Rose in ninth and McNab in 15th after the dressage and cross-country stages. As for the team race, the Australians are sitting in second with France nipping at their heels just 0.90 penalty points behind, Great Britain are currently comfortably in first. Competition gets underway at 6:00pm AEST.
Football
Our Matildas take on Sweden at International Stadium Yokohama looking to secure their position in the gold medal game against the either United States or Canada. Australia downed Great Britain 4-3 in a thrilling quarter-final clash on Friday night which saw Sam Kerr put two in the net for the Matildas. Sweden is fresh off their victory over host nation Japan and won every game of their Tokyo 2020 tournament to date. Kick-off is set for 9:00pm AEST in the must win match.
Hockey
The Hockeyroos have been on fire at Oi Hockey Stadium throughout the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games without dropping a game to date. They will look to continue that unbeaten form as they take on India in the must win quarter-final match up. India finished fourth in their Group with a two-win three-loss record from Olympic play. They will need to be on their best form if they have any chance to deliver the Australians their first loss of the Games. The meeting is scheduled for a 1:00pm AEST start.
Sailing
Two Aussie boats are back on the water at Enoshima Yacht Harbour on Monday in their final two races before taking to the water for their medal races. However, all eyes will be on the Men’s 470 in which the two-person crew of Matthew Belcher and Will Ryan are comfortably in first place. If tomorrow goes to plan, the Aussies could do a “Matt Wearn” and clinch their gold medal prior to their medal race. Racing gets underway at 1:00pm AEST.
Shooting
Three Aussies are in action at Asaka Shooting Range on Monday across two events. In the Men’s 50m Rifle 3 Position, Dane Sampson will kick off his competition at his third Olympic Games alongside Jack Rossiter in his second. They will look to slide into the top eight for a spot in the afternoon’s final. Sergei Evglevski will line up for his second day of competition in the second round of qualifications in the 25m Rapid Fire Pistol qualification. Evglevski will need to finish in the top six for a spot in the final. The day’s shooting begins at 9:30am AEST.
Table Tennis
The Australian team of Heming Hu, David Powell and Xin Yan take on host nation Japan in their round of 16 match-up of the Men’s Team event. The Japanese look to be fierce competition with Koki Niwa, and Tomokazu Harimoto making it through to the round of 16 in their individual competitions of the Tokyo Games. The third member of the Japanese team, Jun Mizutani, has already snagged a Tokyo gold in the Mixed Doubles alongside partner Mima Ito. The Aussies take on Japan at Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium at 11:00am AEST.
Water Polo
Although the Sharks no longer have an opportunity to compete for medals following their 16-5 loss to Spain on Saturday night, they will look to close out their Olympic competition on a high point in their game against Kazakhstan. Kazakhstan comes into the game looking for their first win in Olympic play against the Australians, but they will be hard pressed given the depth and form of the Aussie squad who have throughout this tournament shown moments of greatness against the world’s top teams. The Sharks meet Kazakhstan at 8:50pm AEST.
Weightlifting
Charisma Amoe-Tarrant makes her Olympic debut on Monday as she steps up to the platform in the Women’s +87kg class at Tokyo International Forum. The 22-year-old will look to become the first Australian woman to win an Olympic medal in weightlifting, but she faces a tough field.
The reigning world champion, China’s Li Wenwen, will be on the hunt for her first Olympic gold medal. She lifted 186kg in her clean and jerk and 146kg in her snatch to claim the World Championships gold in 2019. Li holds the world record in the event. Amoe-Tarrant will lift with Group A at 8:50pm AEST.
Matthew Barnard
