With two breakers winning the Oceania Championships, Australia has officially qualified to compete in the inaugural breaking competition at the Paris 2024 Olympics and the Matildas continue their qualification campaign in style.
Breaking - Raygun and J Attack become historic Oceania champions
B-girl Rachael Gunn 'Raygun' and b-boy Jeff Dunne 'J Attack' have qualified Australia's first ever Olympic spots for the Breaking competition at Paris 2024, with their wins at the QMS Oceania Championships on Saturday in Sydney.
Raygun and J Attack rose to the top in their respective events after battling it out in fields of 16 b-girls and 32 b-boys at Sydney's Town Hall, impressing the nine judges en route to the gold medals.
The b-girl final was a tight affair as ‘Molly’ Chapman claimed the silver medal, with Raygun prevailing 2-1 in the best of three rounds format. While J Attack was convincing when it mattered most, sweeping his battles 3-0 in the semi-finals against 'Mighty Duck' and the final against 'Benmx'.
Watch a replay of the finals via the Olympic Channel.
Football - Matildas rout Philippines 8-0 in Olympic qualifying tournament
The Matildas defeated the Philippines 8-0 in an emphatic win as part of their Asian Olympic Qualifying tournament.
In front of almost 60,000 fans in Perth, Sam Kerr and Caitlin Foord both scored hat-tricks, with Caitlin also credited with assisting four goals in her player of the match performance.
Mary Fowler opened the scoring, while Clare Wheeler notched her first ever goal for Australia with a cracking strike from the edge of the box for Australia’s eighth of the day.
The Matildas will play Chinese Taipei on Wednesday to finalise stage two of the qualifying tournament, with Australia currently top of their pool after wins against Iran and Philippines.
The top ranked team from each of three pools and the best placed second place finisher will progress to a two-leg home and away matchup next February for the two quota spots on offer for teams in the Asian Football Confederation.
Canoe Slalom – Jess Fox named co-Australian Paddler of the Year
World champion Jess Fox has shared in the Australian Paddler of the Year honours over the weekend with Paralympian Curtis McGrath.
Jess was recognised for an outstanding season in which she achieved her 10th individual World Championship win, a team World Championship win and multiple World Cup medals, while McGrath made a stunning return to international competition in 2023, winning gold at the 2023 ICF Canoe Sprint and Paracanoe World Championships.
