Jess Fox and our women’s rugby 7s team proudly wore gold around their necks after impressive World Cup and World Series wins to highlight the weekend in Olympic sport.
Rugby 7s – Levi the hat-trick hero as women win SVNS title
Maddi Levi’s heroics have led Australia to win the SVNS World Series Grand Final with a win over France in Madrid, Spain.
Tied 7-7 with France at half-time, Maddi Levi’s three second-half tries in a four-minute stretch opened the floodgates for the Aussie women’s team to remarkably claim their first trophy of the year.
In a testament to the side’s consistency to be on of the top placed nation’s at each of the women’s events this year, they edged New Zealand to win the overall series title as well with the Paris 2024 Olympics looming in less than two months.
It almost wasn’t to be, as in the Madrid semi-final New Zealand led Australia when time expired, but a last gasp Maddi Levi try brought scores level and Tia Hinds’ sideline conversion gave Australia a 21-19 win.
Maddi was a try scoring machine on the weekend, scoring 13 of the 21 women’s Aussie Sevens team’s tries which took the 22-year-old Olympian’s season tally to 69 tries.
The men’s Aussie Sevens team won one of their three pool matches in Madrid against Great Britain, and sustained a narrow defeat to South Africa in the fifth-place semi-final.
They bounced back with another victory over Great Britain in the seventh-place playoff 21-0. On the final season standings, the men’s Aussie Sevens team finished fourth.
Canoe Slalom - Jess Fox wins World Cup season-opener
Olympic champion Jessica Fox issued a timely reminder of her class 55 days out from the Paris Games, winning canoe (C1) gold at the first World Cup of the season in Augsburg, Germany.
Coming off a disappointing kayak final on Friday, where she missed a gate and finished ninth, Jess bounced back to take gold in the women’s C1 final by more than eight seconds.
The Olympic champion picked up an early gate touch but put together a perfect run for the rest of the race, claiming the 75th World Cup medal of her career.
“I’m just so relieved to finally put down a good run,” Jess said. “It’s been a tough weekend, it’s been wet and harsh, I’ve been trying to manage the nerves that come with the first World Cup of the season, but now I’m thrilled to be back on the podium, and to be on the top step.”
Fellow Paris 2024 Australian Olympic team member Tristan Carter finished sixth in the men’s canoe final.
The tour now moves to Prague, Czech Republic for the next World Cup which starts on Thursday where the final three Olympic Games quotas for kayak cross will be decided.
Athletics – Denny and Griffith grab silver in Stockholm
A blockbuster weekend of Diamond League action was capped off with two podium performances by Australians in Stockholm, Sweden.
Celebrating his 28th birthday in style, Australian discus record holder Matt Denny continued to produce both quality and quantity in 2024, launching to yet another Diamond League podium with a 66.75m throw for second place.
He put the finishing touches on his sixth and final stop on the Diamond League tour with a clutch final throw to overtake Olympic champion Daniel Stahl (SWE) for silver, and now returns to Australia to prepare for the Olympic Games. The competition was won by world record holder Mykolas Alekna (LTU) with a 68.64m effort.
“Competing the way I did today is really important. To be the last thrower and do my best throw of the series was great,” Matt said.
Backing up her 3000m Australian record and Diamond League triumph in Oslo on Friday, Georgia Griffith kept her form rolling in Stockholm when racing to third place in the women’s 1500m, stopping the clock in 3:59.17 – the second sub four-minute performance of her career.
Defeated by only Olympic silver medallist Laura Muir (GBR, 3:57.99) and Edinah Jebitok (KEN, 3:58.88), Georgia made it back-to-back Diamond League podiums.
“I’m still working on my timing and my kick. I think I had a little bit of a kick but I was too far off to come back, but I’m pretty happy with that. It’s my second time on the podium so I definitely will take that,” Georgia said.
Tennis – French Open fourth round awaits de Minaur
No Australian had progressed to the fourth round of the men’s singles at Roland Garros since Lleyton Hewitt in 2007, that was until Alex de Minaur defeated Jan-Lennard Struff (GER) in four sets on Sunday.
With the Olympics just around the corner, to be played on the same famous clay at Roland Garros, Alex’s 4-6 6-4 6-3 6-3 win has booked him a place in the second week of the Grand Slam.
The world no.11 was down a set and in a 1-3 hole, but rallied to turn the match into his favour and didn’t look back. Thanasi Kokkinakis almost joined Alex in the round of 16 after going the distance against no.12 seed Taylor Fritz (USA) and losing 3-6 2-6 7-6(4) 7-5 3-6.
In the mixed doubles, Aussies Ellen Perez and Matt Ebden have teamed up as the no.1 seeds of the French Open and won their round of 32 clash against a wildcard pairing from France.
Matt is also in the men’s doubles as the no.2 seed with Ravindra Bopanna (IND), who are through to the round of 16 after their opponents withdrew from the tournament.
Event Coverage:
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Beach Volleyball – Top 10s at penultimate Olympic qualifying event keeps Olympic dreams alive
Top 10 results for two Australian teams at the weekend's Beach Pro Tour event in Poland keep their Olympic qualification prospects open with just one tournament remaining.
Mariafe Artacho del Solar & Taliqua Clancy went into the Challenge tournament sitting 13th on the provisional Olympic rankings, with a quarter-final appearance getting them one step closer to the potential of defending the Olympic medal they won in Tokyo.
Zachery Schubert & Thomas Hodges were 16th on the rankings going into the weekend's event, and need to retain a place in the top 18 by the end of next weekend to score an Australian quota in the men's field in Paris.
Weightlifting – Commonwealth record broken by Paris-bound Eileen
Two hours after Eileen Cikamatana was one of three weightlifters selected to Australian Olympic Team for the Paris 2024, she broke the women’s snatch Commonwealth record at the Oceania Weightlifting Elite International Tournament in Melbourne.
Eileen snatched 116kg to set the Commonwealth record, on a day where Commonwealth Games silver medallist Kyle Bruce and Jacqueline Nichele were also selected to make their Olympic debut.
Hockey - Penalty shootout drama denies Kookaburras retribution
The Kookaburras have ended their FIH Pro League campaign in Belgium in dramatic fashion going down to the Belgium, Tokyo 2020 Olympic gold medallists, 4-4 (3-2) in a penalty shootout overnight in Antwerp.
While the Hockeyroos also lost by the narrowest of margins to Belgium just hours earlier.
The rematch between the Tokyo Olympic gold and silver medallists, in front of a hostile Belgian crowd, was always going to be a fiery affair. Australia held a lead over the hosts for much of the match and with less than 10 minutes on the clock, the Kookaburras found a way to regain the lead again through Lachlan Sharp.
With less than two minutes remaining Belgium levelled the scores and sent the match to a shootout. The Kookaburras got off to a clean start with two goals from Tim Brand and Flynn Ogilvie heaping the pressure on Belgium after Aussie goalie Andrew Charter saved the first shot.
But after a few misses and a VAR call that didn't go Australia's way, Belgium sealed the win.
Earlier in the day the Hockeyroos were entering the match against Belgium with the confidence from a 1-0 win over Argentina.
Buoyed by their 1-0 win over Argentina a day prior, the Hockeyroos felt they were in a better position to be on the winning side of a close match against the hosts, just a few days after they lost in a nail-biting penalty shootout.
Alice Arnott put the Hockeyroos up in the 17th minute and Belgium responded with goals in the 28th and 50th minutes to close the match.
"We've had a few disappointments, but we're showing we're taking the learnings from them and I think we're building well,” Alice said.
“London will be really interesting for us and hopefully, we can get a few more wins on the board and increase our confidence before we go into Paris."
Both teams now head to London for the last leg of Season 5 of the FIH Pro League next weekend.
Football – Heyman's late equaliser secures Matildas draw against China
The Matildas recorded a 1-1 draw with Asian champions China PR at the Adelaide Oval in the first of a two-match series in Australia.
Zhang Liyan opened the scoring in the first half before Michelle Heyman continued her goalscoring form with a late equaliser in the 95th minute to the delight of the majority of the 52,912 fans in attendance.
Australia and China PR will take to the pitch in game two on Monday, 3 June 2024 from 7:40pm AEST at Stadium Australia. It will be the last match before the Matildas Team for Paris 2024 is announced.
Event Coverage:
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Golf – Top-16 US Women’s Open placings for Australia
A wild final day at the US Women’s Open in Lancaster, Pennsylvania saw Minjee Lee’s chance at a third Major slip, as she finished tied for ninth place.
Coming into the fourth round as the outright tournament leader, Minjee finished the first hole with a birdie but went on to complete an eight-over 78 final round in a tournament where only two golfers completed the Open with a score under par; Yuka Saso (JPN) on four-under and Hinako Shibuno (JPN) at one-under.
Hannah Green’s fortunes were reversed on the final day, she completed a four-under 66 to jump up to a tie for 16th.
