Athletics

Bree Masters has handled the pressure of an Olympic 100m semi-final, and the 70,000 screaming fans at Stade de France, to execute her race plan and place a close seventh in a time of 11.34 seconds.

Bree arrived at the meet ranked 73rd and was 22nd fastest in the semi-finals. She still has the 4x100m relay to come where the Australians are a real chance of making the finals.

In the Men’s 1500m Stewart McSweyn, Ollie Hoare and Adam Spencer were unable to take advantage of the new repechage round to progress to the semi-finals. Only the top-three would progress and despite valiant efforts the Australians couldn’t go the distance.

In repechage heat 2, Ollie also pushed hard at the front. The pace was quicker than the earlier repechage, Ollie with a runner to follow, sitting in 2nd for most of the race. 

Sitting sixth, Adam was well positioned and as the pace gathered in the run home Ollie took the lead with 200m, running hard but passed at the top of the straight. He placed fifth in 3:34.00 and Adam in sixth with a season’s best of 3:34.45. 

The pole vault, the eighth event of the Decathlon, was a bright spot for Daniel Golubovic, clearing 4.60m, to equal his season’s best. In the javelin, the penultimate event, he launched 59.33m. Steady progress had seen him move up to 19th on 6880 points going into the last event the 1500m, where he finished event in a competitive 4:39.02 to close his campaign

Daniel finishes his Olympic decathlon with a tally of 7566 points and 19th position. 

3x3 Basketball

Australia’s first ever 3x3 Basketball Olympic Team has battled valiantly in a 21-10 defeat at the hands of a mighty Canadian team in their women’s play-in match.

It was not the way the Gangurrus thought their Olympic campaign would end.

“That game isn’t a reflection of how good we are or how much we have done,” 25-year-old Anneli Maley said.

“I’m really proud of the group. We’re going to get back up and we’re going to go to the next tournament and we’re going to be great. But this is going to hurt for a little bit.”

Canada started fast, making seven of their first 10 shots to build an 11-4 lead in the first five minutes, while the Gangurrus struggled with low percentage shooting and turnovers.

The Gangurrus started matching it with Canada and Marena got Australia into a good position when she knocked down a two-pointer with a hand in her face, to make the score 18-10.

However the strong Canadians pushed ahead and the Aussies couldn’t score again, the game ending in an 11-point final margin.

“I think we showed everyone in Australia the heart and the fight that we have. I’m really proud of the way we played,” Anneli said.

“We’re in the Olympics, how many people get to say that?”

Beach Volleyball

Thomas Hodges and Zachery Schubert’s Olympic campaign is over the Men’s Beach Volleyball after bowing out in the lucky loser match against American pair of Evan Miles and Chase Budinger. 

The Aussie team lost in straight sets (19-21, 17-21) to be eliminated.

Earlier, they secured their first win of the Games, beating French pair Remi Bassereau and Julien Lyneel.

The Aussies came out firing in the first set, racing to a 4-0 lead before maintaining their advantage throughout the remainder of the set to take it 21-16, while a fight through the tight second set ensured the boys took the win, in straight sets 2-0 (21-16, 22-20).

Boxing 

Back-flipping boxer Charlie Senior will secure Australia’s first medal in the sport at the Paris Olympics after a tense victory over Filipino Carlo Paalam at the North Paris Arena.

The 57kg division quarter-final went down to the wire after three tense rounds with the Perth boxer taking the win in a 3-2 split decision.

The win secures at least a bronze medal for 22-year-old who celebrates his victories with a backflip in the ring.

He now takes on number one ranked Uzbek boxer Abdumalik Khalokov in the semi-finals at Roland Garros Arena on August 8.

Canoe Slalom

Aussie sisters Jess and Noemie Fox have booked a spot in the same Kayak Cross heat, facing off against each other for a spot in the quarter-finals.

Dual Paris Olympic gold medalist Jessica had tough competition against K1 silver medallist Elena Lilik (GER) and Viktoria Wolffhardt (AUT). 

Needing to finish in the top two, Jess had an early tangle with Elena and crossed the finish line in second.

Making her debut, Noemie went one better than sister Jess, finishing first in her race against athletes from Ukraine, Spain and Canada.

It was a successful day on the white water for all four Australians, Tim Anderson and Tristian Carter also moving to the next round of racing, the heats and elimination stage of competition.

Cycling

Michael Matthews was Australia’s top placed rider with 15th in the Men’s Road Race after a gruelling six-hours through the streets of Paris.

The longest race in Olympic history at 272.1km was won by Belgian Remco Evenepoel who rode solo to the line ahead of French pair Valentin Madouas and Christophe Laporte.

Australia’s other riders were Simon Clarke who crossed the finish line under the Eiffel Tower in 32nd place and Ben O’Connor who was 51st.

Equestrian 

It was a proud day for the Aussies in the Dressage Team Final, with Jayden Brown, William Matthews, and Simone Pearce all delivering strong performances in the Grand Prix Special to see Australia finish 10th on 207.203.

Australia was the only nation outside of Europe to make it through the qualifying Grand Prix and into the team final, an impressive feat for the young equestrian contingent.

Jayden Brown and Quincy B kicked off the competition today and posted a sensational score of 70.152% to get the Aussies off to a flying start, with Jayden determined to enjoy every moment of his Olympic debut.

“The goal was to get into the Grand Prix Special, and then everything from there was a bonus. It was nice to just go for it and have fun,” said Jayden.

Fellow debutant William Matthews also impressed the judges, receiving a score of 69.711% riding Mysterious Star. It was a bittersweet experience for Simone Pearce and her black stallion Destino, as they took their final dance together on the international stage to score 67.340%.

Simone announced 17-year-old Destano's retirement prior to the team final and says she thinks "it's a time where he (Destano) should now be celebrated. And what better way to do it than at the Olympics."

Together, Simone and Destano have held all three Australian Dressage records and have competed at two Olympic Games together. 

Golf 

Jason Day has refused to rule out securing a historic medal for Australia despite a late stumble on day three of the Men’s Golf competition at Le Golf National.

Jason has a five-shot deficit to make up in the final round to be in medal contention, with Spain’s Jon Rahm (66) and Tokyo 2020 champion Xander Schauffele (68) of the US co-leaders after 54 holes at 14-under par, while while Min Woo Lee is leading the day at four-under and tied for 29th.

Min Woo tees off in the final round at 6:55pm AEST with Jason to follow at 8:06pm AEST alongside reigning Australian Open champion Joaquin Niemann and Swedish star Ludvig Aberg.

Hockey 

The Australian Women’s Hockey Team have topped their pool and set up a quarter-final against China after unbelievable scenes unfolded in the dying minutes of their final pool match against Spain.

With less than five minutes on the clock and leading 2-1, the Hockeyroos knew they needed a desperate last-minute goal to win by two points, which was the crucial deciding factor for topping Pool B over Argentina and setting up a more favourable quarterfinal berth.

Spain was locked in third on the table regardless of a win, draw or a narrow loss but both sides were down to 10 players thanks to yellow cards and were playing like it was a knockout match.

With just two minutes remaining, the Spaniards pulled their goalkeeper from the field, taking a massive risk and opting for another field player in a last-minute attempt to level the scores.

But the Hockeyroos pounced immediately, charging down the field before skipper of the match Kaitlin Nobbs heaved it past the sole Spanish defender desperately trying to protect their open goal to score. 

Rowing

A courageous Tara Rigney has missed the medals by the barest of margins in in the Women’s Single Sculls as the Olympic regatta wrapped up at Vaires-sur-Marne Nautical Stadium.

Tara was in the bronze medal position for most of the race but was pipped right on the line by the Lithuanian boat of Viktorija Senkute, with the margin just 0.53 seconds after a gruelling 2000m row.

Meanwhile the Rowsellas Women’s Eight recorded their best ever finish at an Olympic Games, charging home for fourth, with the Men’s Eight finishing sixth in their final.

Sailing

Grae Morris has scorched the Olympic sailing course in Marseille to finish second and claim the silver medal for Australia. In doing so, the 20-year-old becomes the first Australian since Lars Kleppich at the 1992 Barcelona Games to win an Olympic windsurfing medal.

In other races, defending champion Matt Wearn leads the One Person Dinghy series by 22 points with four races to go before the medal race. Zoe Thomson moved up to 13th overall in the Women’s Dinghy and is well positioned to make the top 10.

In the Mixed Multihull Brin Liddell and Rhiannan Brown notched two 11th places to position themselves in 13th overall. Nia Jerwood and Conor Nicholas are in sixth place after four races in the Mixed Dinghy.

Shooting

Olympic debutant Joshua Bell has finished qualification in 25th place in the Men’s Skeet event on Day Eight of competition at the Chateauroux Shooting Centre.

Joshua went into the second day of qualifying on a score of 70 out of 75 targets. 

Shooting the opening round of the day with 24 out of 25, he followed on with a round of 22, finishing qualification with a total of 116 targets.

On the shotgun range, Aislin Jones commenced her Paris campaign with day one of qualification in the Women’s skeet event.

Cheered on by her family and friends in a packed grandstand, Aislin started the day hitting 23 out of 25 targets. She continued with rounds of 21 and 23, finishing the day on a score of 67.

Swimming

Ariarne Titmus has once again claimed silver in the women’s 800m Freestyle after an epic showdown with USA’s Katie Ledecky. Repeating her efforts from Tokyo 2020, Ariarne added the silverware as well as another record to her name. Touching the wall in 8:12.29 she set a new Australian Record and became the third-fastest woman in history. 

Kaylee McKeown has added a 200m Individual Medley bronze to her golden backstroke double from earlier in the week on a dramatic night in Paris.

The Queenslander touched the wall in fourth but was later upgraded to the bronze medal after American Alex Walsh was disqualified for an illegal turn.

The Aussies added bronze to the medal tally in the Mixed 4x100m Medley Relay. Kaylee McKeown backed up her impressive performance from earlier in the night, leading off in the backstroke leg, alongside Joshua Yong (breaststroke), Matthew Temple (butterfly) and Mollie O’Callaghan (freestyle).

Tennis

Matt Ebden and John Peers have ended a 28-year gold medal drought for Australian tennis by clinching gold in the men’s doubles at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. 

The Australian duo triumphed on the clay courts of Roland-Garros, overcoming third seeds Austin Krajicek and Rajeev Ram of the USA in a thrilling final, 6-7(6) 7-6(1) [10-8]. 

The pair said ‘merci beaucoup’ to the electric French crowd, crediting them for the much needed push to top the medals. 

Water Polo

The Australian Men’s Water Polo Team has taken honours in a hard-fought win over Hungary, claiming a 9-8 victory in a thrilling match.

With a scoreline that ebbed and flowed, and with Hungary in the lead throughout the final quarter, it was a goal in the final minute of the match that proved the winner for the Aussie Sharks.

The focus for the Aussie Sharks now turns to their final preliminary round match, which will see them take on Japan, who currently sit at the bottom of their group.