Diving – Paris preview in Adelaide as Olympic nominations decided

Australian divers Melissa Wu, Cassiel Rousseau, Maddison Keeney and Kurtis Mathews all claimed national crowns at the Australian Open Championships and Nomination Trials in Adelaide over the weekend. In claiming the titles, all four are set to be nominated for Australian Olympic Team selection for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

Melissa, Ellie Cole and Emily Meaney went head-to-head for the Australian title, and the win gives the 32-year-old a chance to become the first diver to represent Australia at five Olympic Games.

“To know that Olympic selection is a real possibility is really incredible feeling and looking back now on my career, I can appreciate the gravity of what this competition means,” Melissa said.

Photo credit: Get Snapt

Cassiel, the 2023 men’s 10m platform world champion, put on a dominant display to edge 18-year-old Jaxon Bowshire. With two men’s 10m platform spots on the Olympic Team up for grabs Jaxon, a South Australian local, put in a performance which is set to see him nominated for the Olympic Team as well.

“It’s been a wild ride to get here but I'm really happy with that result,” Jaxon said. “To have my friends and family here made a difference, hearing the cheers before and after the dive was great support.”

With two quota positions available for the women’s 3m springboard, Maddison Keeney delivered a decisive performance to take out the Australian title. Maddison, who has already secured her ticket to Paris 2024 for the women’s 3m synchronised event, has now also earned the opportunity to represent Australia in the individual event.

Alysha Koloi and Georgia Sheehan battled it out for second place, with Alysha prevailing in a tight contest.
“I’ve dreamt of this moment since I was five years old and I still don’t have the words but it really means everything to me,” Alysha said.

The men’s 3m springboard saw Kurtis Mathews tough it out with Tokyo 2020 Olympian Shixin Li for the title and the one quota position on offer. Kurtis’ final score of 1402.15 prevailed over Shixin, defeating the 36-year-old by 98.5 points.

Canoe Slalom – Noemie Fox eyes kayak cross at Paris 2024 with World Cup silver

Noemie and Jess Fox have come away from the Prague World Cup as the silver sisters, and Noemie the opportunity to join Jess on the Paris 2024 Australian Olympic Team.

After Jess finished the women’s canoe and women’s kayak events with two silver medals, all eyes were on Noemie Fox in the women’s kayak cross to see if she would qualify Australia a spot in the new Olympic event for Paris 2024.

In back-to-back racing on the final day of competition, Noemie was nothing short of impressive, having to compete in five races before booking a spot in the final where she staged a stunning come from behind performance to take the silver medal.

With only three quota spots on offer, the stakes couldn’t have been higher. But Noemie is a seasoned professional, holding her nerve and executing her game plan to give Olympic Team selectors an opportunity to select the 27-year-old for an Olympic debut.

“Paris has always been a distant dream and one that I wanted to latch onto, while staying a little bit rational knowing that there were so many steps to get to this day and where we are,” Noemie said.

“It’s been such a long journey and I feel so grateful to have had the most incredible support team here with me.”

Swimming – Nine Aussies swim Aus Olympic qualifying times on trials opening night

An emotional Lani Pallister, a fearless Ariarne Titmus, a disbelieving Josh Yong and a stroke-for-stroke tussle between Sam Short and Elijah Winnington featured last night, the opening night of finals at the Australian Swimming Trials.

The trials offer direct nomination for Aussie swimmers striving to make the Paris 2024 Olympic Team, for the swimmers that finish top two in their event in a time that meets the Australian Olympic qualifying benchmark set by Swimming Australia.

Ariarne in the women’s 400m freestyle (3:55.44) went within 0.06 seconds of breaking her own world record, putting herself in a position to be nominated for Paris in this event alongside Lani (4:02.27). It was an emotional moment on the pool deck for the Olympian to be with mum Janelle Pallister, a 1988 Olympian, and godmother Dawn Fraser.

Photo Credit: Delly Carr

Kaylee McKeown (2:06.63) set a Commonwealth record in the 200m individual medley, a gruelling event she is adding to her program for the Paris Olympics. She is to be joined by Ella Ramsay (2:09.32) and if so, would make her Olympic debut.

Australia's most successful Olympian Emma McKeon all but secured her ticket to Paris in the 100m butterfly.

In the men's 400m freestyle final, Elijah, the 2022 world champion in the event and Sam, the 2023 world champion, continued their rivalry with a stroke-for-stroke battle as Elijah (3:43.26) pipped Sam (3:43.90) with a last-gasp burst. Both appear set to feature in Paris.

In the men's 100m breaststroke, Sam Williamson's winning time of 58.80 and Joshua Yong’s 59.48 for second place, one-hundredth of a second inside the qualifying time, has both in line for the plane to Paris.

Heats and finals will continue daily at the Brisbane Aquatic Centre until Saturday 15 June, with all the action live and free on Channel 9 and 9Now. On the final night the Australian Olympic Swimming Team for Paris 2024 will be announced at the conclusion of the trials.

Event Coverage:
Stream the event live, free and on demand with 9Now and keep up to date with Swimming Australia.

Hockey - Hockeyroos conquer world no.3 Germany in thrilling shootout

The Hockeyroos have continued their winning ways at the FIH Pro League in London, defeating Great Britain and Germany in the space of 24 hours.

Coming off a comfortable 3-0 win over world no.5 Great Britain, the Hockeyroos were fired up for a clash with Germany that went right down to the wire.

They recovered from a 2-0 deficit, then with 40 seconds remaining and the teams tied at 2-2 Aussie goalkeeper Jocelyn Bartram stepped up to save a direct shot on target and the match went into a shootout.

"It's always difficult trying not to get too caught up in what comes next and staying in the moment in the game, so it was good to make that save and give the girls a chance to get the extra point," Jocelyn said.

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The Hockeyroos only had one miss in the shootout, which was enough thanks to Jocelyn whose two great saves allowed Kaitlin Nobbs to deliver for Australia, smashing it on the turn to secure the 4-3 shootout win.

Hours later the Kookaburras found themselves on the other end of a penalty shootout against the world champions, going down 2-2 (4-5) to Germany.

The Kookaburras were on the cusp of passing Argentina for top spot on the FIH Pro League season five standings with a win. Tom Craig and Tim Brand both found the back of the net once to force the penalty shootout.

"It's a great opportunity for us,” Jake Harvie said. “To come over to Europe right before the Olympics and play some great teams is fantastic. And as much as we would like to have scored a few more in regular time, getting to do a shootout is an awesome opportunity for us."

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The Hockeyroos and Kookaburras have a day to review, rest and recover before facing Germany again on Wednesday morning. The Hockeyroos will play after the Kookaburras at 2.45am AEST.

Tennis - Ebden returns to world no.1, de Minaur jumps inside top 10

Matt Ebden and Ravindra Bopanna's (IND) run in the Roland Garros men's doubles has come to an end in the semi-finals.

Playing at what will be the Paris 2024 tennis venue in just 45 days time, the 2024 Australian Open champions went down 5-7 6-2 2-6 to Italy's Simone Bolelli and Andrea Vavassori.

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The top four finish at another grand slam has moved Matt Ebden back up to the no.1 ranked men’s doubles player in the world, while Alex de Minaur has re-entered the men’s singles top 10 (no.9).

Shooting – Munich World Cup brings out personal-best performance for Olivia Cartwright

Olivia Cartwright shot a new personal best in the women’s 50m rifle three positions at the ISSF Pistol & Rifle World Cup elimination event in Munich with a score of 576, finishing 45th in her relay.

Sergei Evglevski finished the men’s 25m rapid fire pistol in 15th place with a score of 582.

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In the women’s 10m air pistol Elena Galiabovitch shot 574 and placed 22nd. Then in the men’s 10m air pistol event Dan Repacholi shot 567 and finished 75th place to unfortunately miss out on Olympic qualifying.

Full results here.

Over in Lonato, Italy the ISSF Shotgun World Cup started on Monday 10 June and runs through until Wednesday 19 June. Shotgun shooters Joshua Bell, Penny Smith, Catherine Skinner, James Willett, Mitch Iles and Aislin Jones are representing Australia.

Surfing - Quarter-finals exits for Aussie pair in El Salvador

The El Salvador stop of the World Surf League Championship Tour was a tough test for the Australian contingent of six.

Best placed were Paris 2024 bound athletes Jack Robinson and Molly Picklum, who were both eliminated in the quarter-finals when pitted against Yago Dora (BRA) 14.54 v 11.50 and Gabriela Bryan from Hawaii 15.16 v 12.10 respectively.

Weekend Wrap: Diving and Swimming Olympic Team nominations take shape, Noemie Fox’s World Cup silver furthers Olympic dream and more