With a nation riding on the Matildas, the team showed nerves of steel to win an instant World Cup classic penalty shootout. Plus the Hockeyroos, Kookaburras and Stingers all defeated New Zealand teams in New Zealand over the weekend to qualify for the Paris 2024 Olympics.
Football – Matildas cement spot for historic World Cup semi-final
In a thrilling quarter-final against France at a full Brisbane Stadium, the Matildas came out on top in a nail-biting penalty shootout which saw Australia win 0-0 (7-6).
In the longest ever World Cup penalty shootout, men’s or women’s, France and Australia duelled it out over 20 penalty kicks. Substitute Cortnee Vine’s attempt sealed the deal after Mackenzie Arnold’s goalkeeping heroics.
For the first time in Matildas history, the Aussies are through to the semi-final of the FIFA Women’s World Cup where they’ll play against the world no.4 ranked England at 8pm AEST on Wednesday 16 August at Stadium Australia in Sydney.
Australia have also joined the USA as only the second nation to reach the semi-finals in their home tournament.
Hockey - Aussie men and women secure Paris quota spot
The Hockeyroos and Kookaburras have booked their ticket to Paris 2024 by winning the Oceania Cup. The women's team went undefeated (two wins and a draw) against their New Zealand counterparts in the best of three series.
After winning 3-0 in the first match, the Hockeyroos went on to tie with the Black Sticks 1-1 in the second match. On the final day of competition, the Australian women brought it home with a 3-2 win to earn their Olympic qualification.
On the men’s side, the Kookaburras became the first team outside of the Olympic host nation to qualify for next year’s Games.
After the first two matches produced a win for each side, it all came down to the final day of competition where the Kookaburras came out firing for a 3-1 win to guarantee their ticket to Paris.
Read more about the Kookaburras results here and the Hockeyroos results here.
Water Polo – Stingers book ticket to Paris 2024
The women’s water polo team have also defeated New Zealand in a best-of-three series, only requiring two games to secure the Oceania quota spot for Paris 2024.
Captain and dual-Olympian Zoe Arancini played her 300th game for the Stingers in the quota-sealing win, 14 years after her first international appearance back in 2009.
“To have qualified a year out from the Games takes that pressure away and means we can focus on working on what we need to, to bring our best to the Paris Olympics,” Zoe said.
Surfing – Tyler Wright locks in Paris 2024 ranking requirement
After progressing through to the quarter-finals at the Tahiti Pro over the weekend, two-time world champion Tyler Wright has provisionally qualified for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games based on 2023 World Surf League (WSL) rankings.
The 29-year-old has been a top performer all year, including a win in April on home soil at Bells Beach and five finals appearance over the tour to guarantee a top eight finish on the WSL rankings. Tyler becomes the second Australian surfer to provisionally qualify for the Games, joining Ethan Ewing.
The Tahiti Pro continues this week, with Stephanie Gilmore and Molly Picklum also progressing through to the quarter-finals. Aussie men Ryan Callinan, Connor O’Leary, Liam O’Brien, and Callum Robson are still yet to compete in the elimination round.
Australian surfers can qualify for the Games by finishing as one of the top two Australian surfers in the top eight (women’s) or top 10 (men’s) in the 2023 WSL rankings, and by attending all required qualification events under the ISA Paris 2024 qualification system. There is a further chance to qualify additional athletes at the 2024 ISA World Surfing Games.
Skateboarding – Chloe Covell wins first Street League Skateboarding title
Chloe Covell has claimed her maiden win at a Street League Skateboarding (SLS) Championships in Tokyo, Japan over the weekend.
In just her third SLS appearance the 13-year-old secured the title after nailing her last trick, a switch flip, to wrap up the women’s final scoring 9.0.
With a total score of 32.5 Chloe edged out second place and reigning Olympic champion Japan’s Nishiya Momiji by just 1.3 points to secure the win.
Chloe and other Aussie skaters will be performing in front of a home crowd at their next stop on the SLS tour, with Sydney playing host on Saturday 7 October.
Cycling - Road & BMX – Thrilling world championships concludes
After an action packed two weeks the 2023 UCI Cycling World Championships came to an end over the weekend, with Aussies competing across women's road cycling, BMX racing, time trials and mountain bike.
Grace Brown put in an incredible performance to win silver in the individual time trial, finishing just under six seconds behind American winner Chloe Dygert.
In the women's road cycling, Lauretta Hanson was our top finisher in 23rd place, closely followed by Grace Brown in 24th and Alex Manly in 57th.
In BMX racing, both Saya Sakibabra and Lauren Reynolds made the final and only narrowly missed the podium in 4th and 6th place respectively. Bodi Turner progressed through to the men's quarterfinals before being eliminated.
Triple Olympian Rebecca McConnell finished 22nd in the women's mountain bike.
Golf – All-Australian team win LIV Bedminster
Cameron Smith and his all-Australian team have taken out the LIV event in New Jersey, United States on the weekend.
The 2022 British Open champion was in a class of his own, shooting three rounds in the 60s to be seven shots ahead of the rest of the competition in New Jersey, USA.
The win gives Cameron his second LIV title of the season and the overall top spot in the season standings.
Marc Leishman, Matt Jones and Jed Morgan were all part of the winning Ripper GC's team, the team’s first win since the debut of LIV.
While over in Memphis at the St Jude Championship, on the PGA Tour, Cam Davis was impressive to tie for sixth at the first playoff series event.
Four shots back of the winner Lucas Glover, the result extends Cam's season - who will contest The Championship in Chicago this week.
Tennis – Alex soars to career-high ranking
Alex de Minaur reached his first ATP Masters 1000 singles final in Toronto, making him the first Australian to appear in the Canadian Masters final in 22 years.
The 24-year-old recorded back-to-back top-10 wins for the first time in his career, defeating world no.9 Taylor Fritz and world no.3 Daniil Medvedev.
The win also takes Alex’s ranking to 12th in the world, his highest ever ATP Tour Ranking.
Taekwondo – Medals for Aussies at Korean Open
Aussie Taekwondo athletes were in action over the weekend at the Korean Open, with a number of podium finishes across the men’s and women’s events.
Leon Sejranovic claimed the gold medal in the men’s -80kg event, with Bailey Lewis rounding out the men’s -58kg podium in third place.
Stacey Hymer and Reba Stewart both secured the bronze medal in the women’s -57kg and women's +73kg respectively.
Sailing – Seven Aussies into gold fleet racing at world championships
Seven Australian teams at the 2023 Sailing World Championships in The Hague, Netherlands have progressed beyond qualifying across the skiff and nacra 17 classes.
New South Wales 49er pair Tom Burton and Max Paul were one of those teams to qualify after a clutch performance on Sunday. No stranger to performing under pressure, Tom steered his team to three top five finishes to move up from 42nd yesterday to 25th today.
“We had a really good day,” Tom said after racing.
Photo credit: Beau Outteridge
“Upon coming in we found out we were 25th which is the last spot in gold fleet. It’s ironically why we chose the number 25, because we always find ourselves right on the cusp of gold fleet so it’s a good feeling.”
Olivia Price and Evie Haseldine remain in third in the 49erFX class, with Laura Harding and Annie Wilmot joining them in gold fleet racing when it commences after a day off on Monday.
The ILCA 6 and ILCA 7 classes commenced their world championships on Sunday, with Elyse Ainsworth and Luke Elliott the best placed Aussies respectively.
Visit the event website for more details and see the full results here.
Sport Climbing - World championships wrap
Australian sport climbers have wrapped up their world championships campaign over the weekend.
Tokyo 2020 Olympian Oceania Mackenzie was our top performer placing 7th in boulder, cementing herself in the record books as just the second Australian to achieve a top 10 result at a sport climbing world championships.
Oceania went on to narrowly miss out on the finals of the speed & boulder, finishing the combined event in 16th place.
In the lead competition, Campbell Harrison was Australia’s best performer placing a commendable 39th out of 125 athletes, while in speed Hayden Barton came out on top with 57th position.
Boxing – Perth hosts Aussie Boxing Championships
The 2023 Australian Elite Boxing Championships came to a close on Saturday, an event which doubled as a Pacific Games Qualifier.
Boxers from all over Australia gathered in Perth for four days in the hopes of becoming a 2023 national champion, including Tokyo 2020 Olympians Caitlin Parker Harry Garside.
Harry, who competed in the men's 63.5kg class, won his final bout via unanimous decision against New South Wales' Ahmad Reda, while Caitlin also won her final in a unanimous points decision over Lakeisha Pergoliti in the 75kg division.
