Paris Olympics 2024: The big moments from day 10, including Noemie Fox, Armand Duplantis and Jack Robinson
There was a world record set in the pole vault final and more Australian gold as some WA athletes went hell for leather in pursuit of Olympic medals. Here’s our pick of the action from day 10.
1. Golden Fox - again!
After Jess Fox was eliminated in the second heat it was up to Noemie to carry the Fox name into the finals of the Kayak Cross.
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By continuing you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy.She stepped out of her sister’s shadow to blitz both the quarterfinal and the semifinal, before winning the gold medal in the final.
An ecstatic Jess - the holder of two Paris gold medals of her own - jumped into the water post-race to celebrate with her sister, creating one of the most touching moments of the tournament, while their father fought back tears on live TV.
2. Long Jack’s silver
It was a case of close but no cigar for the Margaret River surfer as he fell agonisingly short of an Olympic gold medal in Tahiti.
The day began promisingly for Robinson as he was overcame Brazilian Gabriel Medina in the semifinal, a benefactor of some fortunate luck as the Brazilian was left stranded by flat conditions waiting on a wave which never came.
Against Tahiti’s Kauli Vaast, Robinson produced a tidy opening round score of 7.83 — only for the Frenchman to respond with a belter of a performance, to score 9.5.
Robinson then found himself in the same boat Medina was in earlier, needing a near-perfect score, but mother nature failed to provide the waves for him to mount a serious challenge as the gold medal slipped away.
3. The Mondo show
Steve Hooker put it best: there were two finals going on in the pole vault — one involving Armand Duplantis and the world record, the other involving the rest of the field.
Part of the field was WA’s Kurtis Marschall, and while he will be disappointed to miss out on a medal, his 5.85m jump was good enough for sixth.
He will be proud of his improvement on his Tokyo campaign, where he failed to clear a bar in the final.
Duplantis barely raised a sweat, waiting for opponents to falter before clearing an Olympic record 6.10m on his first attempt.
With the crowd and even his rivals cheering him on, Duplantis attempted a world record 6.25m and while he failed his first two attempts, he cleared the bar on the third count to beat his own record before racing off into the crowd as the stadium erupted in jubilation.
4. Double hockey failure
The Hockeyroos made it double heartbreak for Australia’s hockey teams as they were upset in the quarterfinals by China.
It means the Aussie women have now been knocked out of the Olympics at the quarterfinal stage six times in a row.
Australia scored first but held the lead for just one minute, China seizing control in a boilover reminiscent of the Hockeyroos’ shock loss to India at the same stage in Tokyo three years ago.
To make matters worse a crucial video review decision went against the Hockeyroos with the referees failing to notice the ball brushing a Chinese player’s leg in the build-up to their third goal.
5. Velodrome Aussies on fire
Australia made a stunning start to action in the Velodrome as the men’s team pursuit set a new track record.
West Aussies Oliver Bleddyn, Sam Welsford and Conor Leahy teamed up with Kelland O’Brien to qualify for the semifinals ahead of giants Denmark and Italy, who they will face first up, in a blistering time of 3:42.958.
Fellow Sandgroper Matthew Richardson then set the tone for a great start in the men’s team sprint, helping the Aussie trio qualify third.
6. 5000m controversy
It was a Kenyan one-two in the women’s 5000m — until it wasn’t.
Faith Kipyegon thought she had snared the silver medal, only to watch on in disbelief as it was announced she had been disqualified post-race, with Italian Nadia Battocletti bursting into tears as she realised she had been promoted to a bronze medal.
Officials noticed a tangle between Kipyegon and Ethiopia’s Gudaf Tsegay and deemed the former was guilty of pushing, although video evidence suggested the decision was extremely harsh on the medallist.
Thankfully, reason prevailed as Kipyegon appealed and officials sided with her, reinstating her as a deserved silver medalist.
7. Wearn-ing it
Perth’s Matt Wearn is zeroing in on back-to-back gold medals, and can do no worse than silver as he enters the medal race in the men’s dinghy competition.
The Tokyo champion leads the competition, but did not enter the water on Monday afternoon due to poor weather conditions.
Wearn has a 14-point lead over Cyprus’ Pavlos Kontides, meaning a shock, bad result coupled with a strong showing from Kontides, would topple him from first place.
8. Mixed day for Biles
Another event, another medal for the golden girl of gymnastics — but this time, she had to settle for silver.
Simone Biles wrapped up her Paris campaign with her fourth medal of these Games and her 11th overall with a second-place finish in the floor exercise finals.
It was not one of Biles’ best performances as she made a few costly mistakes she otherwise would not have, but the rest of her routine was good enough for a deserved silver medal.
It came after Biles has fallen in the beam final earlier on Monday, ruining her chances of medalling in that event.
9. Easy does it for Nina
Nina Kennedy was so confident of making the final she passed on the first qualification jump height in the pole vault.
The tactic proved successful as she needed just two jumps to cruise into the final, where she will be gunning for gold on Thursday.
And Kennedy’s medal case will be strengthened by the absence of two British rivals, with Molly Caudrey and Holly Bradshaw both spectacularly crashing out in the heat.
10. Aussies upset
It was a much-needed reality check for the Aussie Sharks as they went down to a previously winless Japan in the men’s final water polo group game.
Australia coughed up a 4-0 lead to lose 14-13, although thankfully it did not effect their group placing as they finished second.
They will be hoping for an improved showing against the USA in Wednesday morning’s quarterfinal as they look to win a first Olympic gold for either a men’s or women’s Australian team since the Sydney 2000 Games.
