Paris Olympics 2024: Mackenzie Little, Jessica Hull among Aussies in medal hunt for track and field events
Jessica Hull lived up to the hype as she produced a rare Aussie track medal on the penultimate day of the Paris Olympics.
Recap all the action from the penultimate day in Paris in our live blog.
What’s to come?
There’s still plenty of Australian medal hopes to come on day 15 in Paris.
Track and field will take centre stage over the next couple of hours, with Jessica Hull our headliner in the women’s 1500m final which is 90 minutes away.
Before that, Mackenzie Little and Kathryn Mitchell will take on the women’s javelin throw final and Stewart McSweyn will compete in the men’s 5000m final.
Madison halfway done
We are now past the halfway stage of the men’s track cycling madison final.
Australian pair Sam Welsford and Kelland O’Brien are currently sitting in sixth, with Italy and Denmark setting the pace.
Weightlifter Cikamatana just misses medal
Australia’s Eileen Cikamatana has just missed out on a medal in the women’s 81kg weightlifting, finishing fourth.
She was in the mix for a medal after lifting 117kg in the snatch segment, but failed to complete 149kg twice in the clean and jerk after an earlier successful lift of 145kg.
In case you missed it
Earlier tonight, our Stingers won a women’s water polo silver medal but fell short in their gold medal match with Spain.
Back at the velodrome
Australian pair Sam Welsford and Kelland O’Brien are about to take to the velodrome for the men’s madison final.
Bear with us because the format is complicated — the basics are it is a race completed by two riders with only one riding at a time over 200 laps with a sprint every 10 laps scored on points rather than times.
Earlier, both Matthew Richardson and Matthew Glaetzer progressed to the next round of the keirin.
J Attack bows out
It was not to be for J Attack, who was beaten 2-0 by Phil Wizard in their breaking clash.
Like Raygun, he will exit the competition in Paris without a win.
Breaking has not been included on the initial list of sports for the Los Angeles Games in 2028.
Don’t break our hearts
After Rachael ‘Raygun’ Gunn’s showing in the breaking yesterday which has divided the country, her male compatriot is about take to the stage.
Jeff ‘J Attack’ Dunne is about to compete against Phil ‘Phil Wizard’ Kim of Canada.
The 16-year-old lost his opening two matches to Dany ‘D Civil’ Dann of France and Oleh ‘Kuzya’ Kuznetsov of Ukraine.
Gold for Ko, Green misses medal places by one stroke
New Zealand’s Lydia Ko shot a birdie on the final hole to win the women’s golf gold medal, finishing two strokes ahead of Germany’s Esther Henseleit in silver and three ahead of China’s Janet Xiyu Lin in bronze.
Her strong showing on 18 ended any hope of Hannah Green coming back out of the clubhouse for a bronze medal playoff.
After making a blistering start, Green largely played well in shooting a three-under 69 on the final day but will be left to rue some key errors, including a missed putt from an intermediate distance on 17 and a tee shot on 18 which found the bunker.
Being in the mix for a medal is still a brilliant result given she was sitting in a tie for 46th after day one, having shot five over par.
‘Trolls and keyboard warriors’
Australia’s Olympic chief has slammed critics of breakdancer Rachael Gunn as typical of misogynistic abuse which female athletes endure.
Chef de mission Anna Meares says Gunn should be applauded for her courage, rather than pilloried for her performance at the Paris Games.
Gunn, known as Raygun, failed to score a point when breaking made its debut as an Olympic sport in Paris on Friday.
At the velodrome
The heats are underway for the track cycling men’s keirin.
Australia’s Matthew Glaetzer is currently on the velodrome, with individual sprint silver medallist Matthew Richardson’s heat about five minutes away.
