Australia’s most successful Canoe Sprint and Paracanoe World Championships, plus a record number of medals won by Aussies at the World Athletics Championships highlights the weekend in Olympic sports.
Canoe - Sprint - Aussies top World Championships medal tally
With four gold, three silver and two bronze medals Australia has topped the medal tally at the 2023 Canoe Sprint and Paracanoe World Championships. It's also sets up nicely the Paris 2024 Olympic campaign, achieving quota results in five boat classes.
Needing a top-6 finish in K1 and K2 events and top 10 in the K4 to earn a quota for Paris 2024, Australian athletes paddled to fourth place in the Olympic disciplines of men's K1 1000m, K2 500m and K4 500m, with fifth in both the women's K4 500m and K1 500m.
The results secure Australia the maximum six athlete quota places in the men's events (K1, K2, K4) and five athlete quotas in two of three women's kayak events (K1, K4). Next year's Oceania Championships in Sydney will be another opportunity to qualify in the women's K2 and in both men's and women's canoe events for Paris.
Aly Bull was successful in her women's K1 1000m world title defence, she finished almost two seconds ahead of her nearest competitor, Poland's Justyna Iskrycka, to complete a commanding win.
"I'm really stoked to be able to go back-to-back in the K1 1000, it's a challenging race and it's pretty cool I was able to do it," Aly said.
"I tend to try and not look around when I'm in a race ... I just knew that there was a bit of a tail breeze on today and I just really wanted to go hard from the start.
"Unfortunately I think I overcooked myself in that middle section, but I was really glad to still be able to come away with a win."
Alyce Wood returned to the World Championships stage in style, with fifth place in the women's K1 500. After what's been a huge 12 months for the new mum, Alyce said she was super proud of the result.
"It's really nice to know that I've been able to get a quota spot for Australia, and do that for the team," Alyce said.
"I'm really happy with the race, really happy to be in the mix and happy to be able to race with those girls again.
"The really special thing is there was three of us with kids in that race, and we got third, fourth and fifth. So I think that's really special as well."
K2 1000m Olympic champion Jean van der Westhuyzen took on a different challenge in the K1 500m at the World Championships and came away with the silver medal.
Yale Steinepreis has also become a World Championships silver medallist with her performance in the K1 200m, crossing the line behind nine-time world champion Lisa Carrington (NZL).
More silver went to Aly Bull and Jackson Collins in the mixed K2 500m for the second year in a row.
Athletics - Sensational six-medal haul for World Championships team
The stage is set for an exciting Paris 2024 track and field campaign after a remarkable showing by the Australian Athletics Team at the 2023 World Championships in Budapest.
An unprecedented six medals for Australia at these World Championships (one gold, two silver and three bronze) and 14 top-16 performances delighted fans, including two medals in the same event for the first time.
Eleanor Patterson put an injury-affected preparation for the World Champs behind her to claim silver in the women's high jump and Nicola Olyslagers was alongside her on the podium with bronze. Both athletes cleared 1.99m and were only separated on a countback. Ukrainian Yaroslava Mahuchikh won the gold by clearing 2.01m.
"It was a very wild, incredible night and a tough competition," Eleanor said. "I definitely put my back up against the wall but I am incredibly proud of the performance tonight and of Nicola and Yaroslava as well."
"I was getting flashbacks of a few years ago when we (Eleanor) were going head-to-head, especially in 2020 and we really pushed each other. I was thinking, we've come a long way since a few years ago," Nicola said.
Kurtis Marschall, inspired by Nina Kennedy's gold medal from the women's pole vault earlier in the week, won bronze in the men's pole vault on Sunday.
Clearing an equal personal best 5.95m was the defining moment for Kurtis to receive his first senior global medal, in a tie with Christopher Nilsen (USA).
"Chris and I wanted to do exactly what Nina (Kennedy) and Katie (Moon) did the other night, Kurtis said. "We were both so stoked to clear 5.95 on our first jump. Usually that gets you more than just equal bronze, but I couldn't be more stoked."
Mackenzie Little used her sixth and final throw in Saturday's women's javelin final to enter medal contention, rising from fifth place to be a chance at the silver medal.
Her 63.38m throw was surpassed by Japan's Haruka Kitaguchi, who won the competition with a monster 66.73m effort to leave Mackenzie with a bronze medal.
"This is absolutely a dream and the highlight of my career," Mackenzie said. "If I'm honest, it didn't come together on the sixth (throw) but I've got more and I'm so excited to show you I have more at the Diamond League Final (15-16 September, Oregon, USA)."
Basketball - Boomers face do or die group stage match against Japan
The Boomers face a must-win situation in their final group match of the FIBA Men's World Cup after splitting their opening two matches.
A first-up 98-72 win against Finland on Friday night was a solid outing for Australia, as Patty Mills led all scorers with 25 points, eight rebounds and four steals.
Josh Giddey's World Cup debut saw him dominate the stat sheet with 14 points, nine rebounds and eight assists - becoming the only player since LeBron James in 2006 to have 10 points, five rebounds and five assists in a first career World Cup game.
Then on Sunday night Germany took the match in the dying seconds 85-82, meaning Australia has to beat Japan on Tuesday night (9:10pm AEST) to make the round of 16.
The Boomers had to battle back from two slow starts to put themselves in contention to win, after conceding an 8-0 run to start the game and a 10-0 run to start the fourth quarter.
Patty Mills led Australia once again, scoring the Boomers' first 10 points of the match and finishing with 21 points, six assists and five rebounds. Germany's team leader and point guard Dennis Schorder dominated with 30 points, eight assists and four steals.
Opals v China
A young Opals squad is currently in China for a five-match friendly series designed to prepare the team for their Paris 2024 Olympic qualification campaign.
Australia lost the opening match against the world's no.2 ranked nation, 70-65, on Friday and then beat them 78-71 on Sunday.
Cycling - Road - Brown wins 'Battle of the North'
Olympian Grace Brown won the 'Battle of the North' stage four of the Tour of Scandinavia, bumping her up 12 positions in the overall rankings. She finished the five-stage tour in 5th position, ahead of her fellow Aussie teammates.
After covering a distance of 172km, Aussie cyclist Kaden Groves is placed 2nd after the second stage in the Vuelta Espana. With nineteen stages remaining across the next three weeks, Groves has a lot of ground left to cover in the race.
Shooting - World Championships conclude with mixed trap teams
The last Aussies have competed at the ISSF World Championships in Baku, Azerbaijan in the mixed trap teams event.
Penny Smith and James Willett secured Australia's top result in the event, hitting 139/150 targets to finish 7th, while Nathan Argiro and Catherine Skinner finished 41st (128/150).
Cycling - Mountain Bike - McConnell finishes 12th in World Cup
Aussie mountain bikers headed to Pal Arinsal, Andorra to compete in the MTB World Cup. Rebecca McConnell was the top placed Australian, finishing 12th in the women's cross country event.
Rhythmic Gymnastics - World Champs come to a close
Ainsley Barker, Ashleigh Law, Charlotte Wong, Laura Gosling and Tahlya Smith placed 23rd in the group all-around final for Australia at the 40th FIG Rhythmic Gymnastics World Championships in Valencia, Spain.
Alexandra Kiroi-Bogatyreva finished her individual routine in 37th place overall.
Golf - 28th for Day in the Tour Championship
The PGA Tour's prestegious final event of the season is over and Australia's sole participant in the 30-player field, Jason Day, landed himself in 28th position.
Tennis - Tomljanovic to make long-awaited return at US Open
Aussie Alja Tomljanovic is set to play at her first Grand Slam of the year after completing her knee rehabilitation and faces Hungarian Panna Udvardy (world no. 122) on the opening day of the US Open (Tuesday morning AEST).
She is one of seven Australians to contest the first round of the men's and women's singles on Tuesday, alongside Daria Saville, Alexei Popyrin, qualifier Olivia Gadecki, lucky loser Kim Birrell and wildcards Storm Hunter and Rinky Hijikata.
Storm Hunter has drawn the toughest assignment, facing off against no.10 seed Karolina Muchova (CZE).
The US Open is broadcast in Australia on the Nine Network and Stan Sport, with coverage starting from 1am AEST Tuesday.
