As Paris Olympics 2024 heads into the second week, New Zealand sits 15th on the medal table with two golds, four silvers and one bronze.
There are still plenty of Kiwi athletes to compete at the Games, including the likes of Dame Lisa Carrington and fellow Olympic medallists Eliza McCartney and Ellesse Andrews.
With quite a few late nights and early mornings ahead, here’s your guide to the rest of the action:
6pm: Triathlon - Team relay (Dylan McCullough, Hayden Wilde, Ainsley Thorpe, Nicole van der Kay)
Silver medallist Wilde leads the New Zealand team in the relay for all four taking part in a leg of the sprint triathlon distance. New Zealand were fourth at the Commonwealth Games in 2022. Defending champions Great Britain go in as the favourites with men’s gold medallist Alex Yee and women’s bronze medallist Beth Potter in the team.
2.55am: Canoe slalom – KX women’s big final (Luuka Jones) – if qualified
3am: Canoe slalom – KX men’s big final (Finn Butcher) – if qualified
Both the Kiwis have impressed so far as the event continues with the knockout phases, the quarter-finals beginning at 1.30am. Jones won the test event last year but will be up against Germany’s Ricarda Funk and Australia’s Noemie Fox, sister of multi-gold winner Jessica, for a spot in the semis. Butcher races in the men’s quarter-finals from 1.52am.
5.53am: Cycling track – Women’s team sprint bronze final – if qualified
5.59am: Cycling track – Women’s team sprint gold final – if qualified
The 2024 Olympics marks the first time that the women will compete with three riders. Germany will be favourites along with Great Britain and China. The New Zealand team finished fifth in qualifying at last year’s world championships before losing to Netherlands for a spot in the medals. Based on that they sit just outside the medals but that was a year ago. Sixth at World Cup event in March. Qualifying begins at 3am.
10pm: Sailing – Nacra medal race (Micah Wilkinson, Erica Dawson) – if qualified
Micah Wilkinson and Erica Dawson are sitting second midway through the regatta after finishing second, second and third overnight. The Kiwis are on 15 points, six clear of third. The Italian leaders look tough after having won five of the six races so far for a perfect score of five.
4.23am: Cycling – Track men’s team pursuit bronze final (Aaron Gate, Keegan Hornblow, Tom Sexton and Campbell Stewart) – if qualified
4.33am: Cycling – Track men’s team pursuit gold final (Aaron Gate, Keegan Hornblow, Tom Sexton and Campbell Stewart) – if qualified
Bronze at last year’s world champs with Hornblow replacing Nick Kergozou but the defending champion British team did not finish after a crash. Fourth the year previously. A likely chance to race for a medal but it might be for bronze.
5am: Athletics – Women’s pole vault final (Eliza McCartney, Imogen Ayris, Olivia McTaggart) – if qualified
Bronze medal eight years ago, McCartney has battled injuries to get back among the top vaulters. Season-best of 4.84m at indoor event in France on the back of second at World Indoor Championships. 4.84m and above should mean medal contention. McTaggart has a season-best of 4.63m, with a world ranking of 28th, while Ayris, bronze medallist at the Commonwealth Games, is appearing at her first Olympics. A season-best of 4.57m leaves her ranked 33rd in the world this year.
5.17am: Cycling – Track women’s team pursuit bronze final (Ally Wollaston, Bryony Botha, Emily Shearman, Nicole Shields) – if qualified
5.28am: Cycling – Track women’s team pursuit gold final (Ally Wollaston, Bryony Botha, Emily Shearman, Nicole Shields) – if qualified
The team were second at the world championships last year. Won the recent World Cup event in Hong Kong. Another track contender to reach a medal race.
11.50pm: Kayak sprint – K4 500m women’s final (Lisa Carrington, Olivia Brett, Alicia Hoskin, Tara Vaughan) – if qualified
Fourth in Tokyo. Once again led by Carrington with three new teammates from the last Olympics. Second at the most recent World Cup in Poland behind China. Fourth in Hungary World Cup.
5.11am: Cycling – Track – Women’s keirin final (Ellesse Andrews, Rebecca Petch) - if qualified
World champion and Commonwealth Games gold medallist in the event, Andrews was superb to claim silver in Tokyo and has grown in strength on the track since.
5.27am: Cycling - Track men’s Omnium points race (Aaron Gate)
Gate is fourth in the omnium on UCI Olympic rankings. The Commonwealth Games star earned his rainbow stripes in the individual Points Race, which is the core discipline in the Olympic omnium. Won the March World Cup event in Hong Kong.
11.10pm: Kayak sprint – Women’s K2 500m final (Lisa Carrington and Alicia Hoskin, Aimee Fisher and Lucy Matehaere) – if qualified
Carrington won the event with Caitlin Regal in Tokyo. With Hoskin they have won two golds in World Cup events this year, including winning the Poznan final by more than a second over German duo Lema Roehlings and Pauline Jagsch. Possibly Carrington’s best shot at a sixth gold. Fisher and Matehaere were eighth at the most recent World Cup, more than six seconds back from winners Carrington and Hoskin.
4.09am: Cycling – track – Women’s Madison final (Ally Wollaston, Bryony Botha, Emily Shearman, Nicole Shields)
The New Zealand team are ranked second in the Olympics rankings in the two-person race after Botha and Shearman claimed silver at the Track Cycling Nations Cup event in Hong Kong.
5.40am: Athletics – Women’s shot put final (Maddi Wesche) – if qualified
Six women will go into the Games having cleared 20m this year and Tokyo gold medallist Lijao Gong only just joins the list with 20.00m. So it’s very tight at the top of women’s shot put post Val Adams with Canada’s Sarah Mitton the in-form favourite. Wesche is on the outer, with the ninth-best effort in 2024 of 19.63m, a PB. That would have got bronze in Tokyo.
11pm: Kayak sprint – Women’s K1 500m final (Dame Lisa Carrington, Aimee Fisher) – if qualified
Two golden chances in the same event. New Zealand have a very strong chance, two of them, to claim the gold in the K1. Carrington and Fisher battled it out over recent months with Fisher winning the past two World Cup events.
3am: Women’s golf round four (Lydia Ko)
Ko has claimed silver and bronze at the last two Olympics. Can’t rule her out from completing the set in Paris.
3.59am: Aaron Gate and Campbell Stewart, Men’s Madison cycling
The fun and games of the Madison, the cycling event where you throw your teammate up the track. The Kiwi duo won bronze at world championships last year, though are ranked best in the world after winning the Track Cycling Nations Cup event in Hong Kong earlier this year.
5.10am: Athletics – Men’s high jump final (Hamish Kerr) – if qualified
Second-best in the world this year and an indoor world champion. Matched his personal best outdoor height to claim victory at a Diamond League track and field meet in Monaco last month backing that up with another win in London.
11.44pm: Cycling – Track – Women’s sprint final (Ellesse Andrews and Shaane Fulton) – if qualified
Andrews claimed bronze at the world championships last year and gold at the Commonwealth Games.
11.56pm: Cycling – Track – Women’s omnium points race (Ally Wollaston)
Was sitting strong on the standings at the world championships last year until the points race, which is the final event.
Hear it as it happens with live commentary of the Olympic Games Paris 2024 on GOLD SPORT & iHeartRadio, plus comprehensive coverage on Newstalk ZB.
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