Day 13:
Sailors Nathan Outteridge and Iain Jensen and Mathew Belcher and Will Ryan claimed silver, while Lachlan Tame and Ken Wallace took home bronze in the K2 1000m.
In triathlon, training partners and Olympic debutants Aaron Royle and Ryan Bailie have given Australia its first dual top ten finishers in men’s triathlon history at Copacabana today.
ATHLETICS: Ryan Gregson became the first Australian in 40 years to reach the men’s 1500m Olympic final. The 26-year-old ran the race of his life to finish third in his semi-final in a time of 3:40.02. It was the eighth fastest time across the two semi-finals. Cedric Dubler finished 14th in the decathlon, Damien Birkinhead, the ‘Corio Colossus’, finished 10th in the final of the men's shot put while Kathryn Mitchell finished sixth in the final of the women's javelin. Eleanor Patterson missed a place in the women’s high jump final. Patterson successfully cleared her first attempts at 1.85m and 1.89m before failing to clear 1.92m. The Australian finished in 22nd place.
BMX: Australia’s Sam Willoughby and Anthony Dean have soared into the BMX semi-finals with a nearly flawless run by the duo in Thursday’s quarter-finals. In what was a chaotic opening to racing in Rio, two-time Olympic champion Maris Strombergs, 2016 World Champion Joris Daudet of France and 2013 World Champion Liam Phillips of Great Britain were all knocked out as was Australia’s third competitor Bodi Turner.
CANOE/KAYAK SPRINT: Ken Wallace and Lachlan Tame have claimed Australia’s first canoe/kayak sprint medal of Rio 2016. The duo claimed bronze in the K2 1000m event on Lagoa with the medal being Wallace’s third in Olympic competition. Daniel Bowker and Jordan Wood competed in the B-Final of the men’s K2 200m where they finished third to claim 11th overall.
DIVING: Melissa Wu finished fifth in the women’s 10 metre platform final at the Maria Lenk Aquatics Centre in Rio with 368.30 points. The Beijing silver medallist was all smiles throughout the competition but found herself in a hotly contested final which was dominated by the Chinese.
GOLF: Golfer Minjee Lee hit a four under par 67 in the second round of the Olympic Women's Individual Stroke Play. Lee now sits just four shots behind tournament leader Inbee Park from South Korea, as the final two rounds get under way this weekend.
MODERN PENTATHLON: The opening day of the modern pentathlon competition involved a fencing ranking round-robin tournament where all 36 competitors played each other to one hit. In the women’s event Chloe Esposito performed very well, finishing 13th with 19 victories and 16 defeats, while men’s competitor Max Esposito was less successful finishing 19th with 13 victories and 22 defeats. Chloe will compete in the final four events and a fencing bonus round tomorrow while men conclude competition on Saturday 20 August.
SAILING: Nathan Outteridge and Iain Jensen outsailed Germany in a nerve-wracking final race to claim silver in the 49er class. While Mathew Belcher and Will Ryan also sailed to silver in a tense medal race in the men's 470.
SYNCHRONISED SWIMMING: Australia kicked off its team competition in the technical event, with a strong performance finishing in eighth position ahead of tomorrow's free event.
TAEKWONDO: Olympic debutant Caroline Marton has gone down in an extremely tight encounter to Swedish fighter Nikita Glasnovic in the -57kg division. Marton looked to have taken a 3-0 lead midway through the fight before the head kick was challenged and overturned. She eventually went down 4-0 to bow out of her debut Olympic campaign.
TRIATHLON: Australia has had two top ten finishers in the men’s triathlon as history was made in Rio as Alistair Brownlee of Great Britain became the first athlete to win back-to-back Olympic triathlon titles. Aaron Royle crossed the line ninth 1:41 off Brownlee, Ryan Bailie in tenth (2:01) and Ryan Fisher 24th (3:33) at Rio’s iconic Copacabana district.
