Australia's history-making Olympic Team picked up another two silver and two bronze medals on Day 13, and the Stingers are through to the Water Polo gold medal game. Read how the green and gold fared in Paris.
Athletics
Jessica Hull continued the scintillating form that has seen her break a world record in the 2000m this season, booking her place in the final of the 1500m. Jessica produced a clinical run of 3.55.40 at the Stade de France and will run the final on Sunday morning at 4:15am AEST. Georgia Griffith ran bravely in her semi-final, finishing in 9th with 4.02.69.
It was not to be for Australia's men in the 800m. Peter Bol (1.46.12) and Joseph Deng (1.48.58) exited the repechage rounds finishing fourth and fifth in their races respectively.
The 4x100m relay teams did the nation proud, the men shattering the national record, posting a new time of 38.12 but missing the final by just 0.05 seconds. The women's team finished 10th overall, only 0.11 seconds outside of the qualifying time for the final.
The women's 100m hurdles trio of Celeste Mucci, Michelle Jenneke and Liz Clay all put up a tough fight but were off the pace to reach the next round.
Australia's heptathlon athletes Camryn Newton-Smith and Tori West finished the day's events in 14th and 21st respectively, following the 100m hurdles, shot put, high jump, shot put and 200m. The javelin and 800m will be contested on Day 14 to close out the heptathlon.
Boxing
Caitlin Parker became the first Australian woman to win a medal in Olympic Boxing, taking the bronze. Caitlin faced China's Li Qian, going down in a hard-fought battle in the 75kg division.
Teammate Charlie Senior also won bronze, putting up a strong fight in his bout, but bowing out to Abdumalik Khalokov.
Beach Volleyball
In an epic battle Mariafe Artacho del Solar and Taliqua Clancy faced Brazil in their semi-final match, unfortunately falling 2-1 (22-20, 21-15, 15-12). It was easily the best game of the tournament for the Aussies, but the no.1 seeded Brazil were just too strong, having lost one set for the entire competition for Paris 2024 so far.
The tournament is not over for the Australians, as they now need to quickly regroup for the bronze medal match where they face Suiss pair Tanja Huberli and Nina Brunner on Saturday 10 August at 5am AEST.
Canoe Sprint
A photo finish for an Olympic gold medal normally means heartbreak for the silver medallists. But the Australian men’s K4 500m Canoe Sprint crew are seeing the positives in winning silver rather than missing gold by 0.04 seconds.
Neither the Australian crew of Riley Fitzsimmons, Pierre van der Westhuyzen, Jackson Collins and Noah Havard nor the German crew or the spectators knew who had won.
“It was crazy,” Jackson said. “We didn’t know whether to celebrate, so I told everyone just wait.”
Once the result was clear, Germany had defended their K4 title in 1:19.80, Australia won silver (1:19.84) and Spain claimed bronze (1:20.05). It is the first men’s K4 Olympic medal for Australia since London 2012.
Track Cycling
Matthew Richardson is through to the men’s Sprint semi-finals after a convincing straight sets win over Japanese rider Yuta Obara in the quarter-finals.
The 25-year-old came from behind in both races of the cat-and-mouse sprint with his trademark speed on the final lap.
In other events, Sam Welsford was back on the velodrome less than 24 hours after his Team Pursuit gold medal to line up in the Omnium.
After a tough night in the scratch, points, elimination and tempo races, he finished 14th overall and will now turn his attention to the Madison with Kelland O'Brien on Saturday.
Women’s sprinter Kristina Clonan was also in action in the women’s Keirin and did not advance past the quarter-finals when she finished sixth in her heat.
Diving
Maddi Keeney secured her place in the women’s 3m Springboard final, following a second place finish in the semi-final. Having also finished second in the preliminary, Maddi will be looking to replicate that consistency in her search for a medal.
Meanwhile teammate Alysha Koloi just missed out on a spot in the final, ending her Olympic debut 14th overall.
The world’s best divers gathered for the men’s 3m Springboard final at the Paris 2024 Olympics, among them Australian Kurtis Mathews. Making his Olympic debut after a remarkable journey back to the sport following a brief retirement and in an incredibly competitive field, Kurtis placed 10th to conclude his Olympic campaign.
Golf
Minjee Lee is confident she is capable of the low round needed to reignite her medal hopes after she fought to maintain touch with the leaders at the halfway point in the women’s Golf competition at Le Golf National.
Minjee is in a tie for 22nd at 1-over through two rounds, trailing Switzerland’s Morgane Metraux (66, 8-under) by nine strokes.
It’s a sentiment shared by fellow Aussie Hannah Green.
Two late birdies at holes 16 and 18 saw Hannah rise to a tie for 29th through two rounds, shooting a 2-under 70 for the day.
Modern Pentathlon
Genevieve Janse van Rensburg, 20, took to the North Paris Arena for the fencing ranking round in the women’s Individual competition for Modern Pentathlon, going up against 34 other competitors for vital points ahead of the semi-finals on the weekend.
Genevieve showed poise and prowess on her Olympic debut with no signs of fatigue, stringing together a strong performance to finish the day in 13th place.
Rhythmic Gymnastics
Alexandra Kiroi-Bogatyreva shone on Olympic debut, displaying vibrant energy and creative routines at the Rhythmic Gymnastics Individual All-Around qualifications.
Her four routines across Ball, Hoop, Ribbon and Clubs saw her finish with a score of 114.350 to place 22nd.
Sailing
Australian sailors rounded out their Olympic competition on the waters of Marseille with the final medals decided in the light winds that characterised the Mediterranean Sea all week long.
With one of the youngest teams in recent times sent to compete, the Australian sailors came away with a gold and silver medal and three top 10 finishes from the eight events entered.
Breiana Whitehead fought valiantly in her semi-final round but was knocked out by multiple world champion Daniela Moroz of the USA. Breiana ultimately finished ninth overall in the new Kite Foiling event.
In the Mixed Dinghy event, Nia Jerwood and Conor Nicholas finished ninth overall in their event debut at these Games.
The pair from Western Australia finished sixth in their medal race, which wasn’t enough to move up in the rankings.
Sport Climbing
Oceania Mackenzie qualified for the gold medal competition in the women's Boulder & Lead, finishing sixth overall in the semi-final with a total score of 124.7 (79.6 in Boulder and 45.1 in Lead). Her lead performance ranked her second behind France’s Oriane Bertone.
Oceania will compete for gold at 6:15pm AEST on Saturday 10 August.
Marathon Swimming
In the women's 10km Marathon Moesha Johnson of Australia secured the silver medal with a time of 2:03:39.7, Australia's best result in Olympic marathon swimming.
She is only the second Australian to win a medal in this event. She finished just 5.5 seconds behind gold medallist Sharon van Rouwendaal of the Netherlands. Fellow Australian Chelsea Gubecka placed 14th, completing the course in 2:06:17.8.
Taekwondo
Stacey Hymer fell short in progressing to the women’s Taekwondo -57kg quarter-finals in a closely fought loss to Brazilian Maria Clara Pacheco.
The Victorian was unable to get through the high leg work of Pacheco, with the Brazilian’s 5-0 win in the opening round enough to seal a 2-0 victory, despite a deadlocked second round.
Water Polo
The Australian Women's Water Polo Team delivered a stinging victory over the USA, booking their ticket to the gold medal match in a stunning penalty shootout.
The scores were tied at eight-all at full-time, before the Aussies won the shoot-out 6-5. They'll now face Spain in the fight for the gold medal on Saturday 10 August at 11:35pm AEST.
It will be the first time the Stingers playoff for the Olympic title since winning gold at Sydney 2000, having last won an Olympic medal at London 2012.
Wrestling
Australian wrestler Jayden Lawrence’s fate in the men’s Freestyle 86kg class may hinge on the repechage after losing his opening match-up to Iranian Hassan Yazdanicharati 10-0 in Paris.
The 29-year-old on Olympic debut said he gave his all at Champ-de-Mars Arena but Yazdanicharati was too good.
“He brought his A Game definitely this time,” Jayden said.
“I versed him last year and I had a really good crack at him then, but he certainly came out firing this time and blocked everything that I could do.
“Hopefully, he goes all the way through so I can get back into the repechage.”
