Here’s all you need to know about today’s action at the Paris Olympics across Thursday, August 1 and heading into Friday morning.
New Zealand has a good chance for a possible five medals between the hours of 9.18pm and roughly 1am. And another later in the morning.
It all kicks off with four rowing finals featuring black singlets. At 9.18pm, Lucy Spoors and Brooke Francis race in the women’s double sculls final. They set the fastest time in the semifinals and will start in lane three. Both are former world champions and Olympic medallists. Spoors was in the women’s eight in Tokyo, while Francis won silver in this event three years ago. Both athletes took time out after Tokyo to start families and returned to international competition last year with a fifth at last year’s world championships. Their biggest threat looks to be the defending champions from Romania and the pair from Great Britain.
They will be followed by the men’s double sculls final at 9.30pm, which features Robbie Manson and Jordan Parry in lane six. They had the fourth-best time in the semifinals.
The men’s four of Logan Ullrich, Matt Macdonald, Tom Murray and Oliver Maclean race at 10.10pm from lane four. Fastest in the heats, they could be New Zealand’s best chance for a gold on day six. The team features two gold medallists from the 2020 eights crew in Macdonald and Murray. USA and Great Britain are expected to be their biggest threats.
And finishing off the rowing medal hopes at 10.30pm, Jackie Gowler, Davina Waddy, Phoebe Spoors and Kerri Williams line up in the women’s four final in lane two. They won a World Cup event earlier this year, however the world champion Dutch crew weren’t in that final. They are in lane four tonight. New Zealand were second in the heat behind Great Britain.
The men’s 49er crew of Isaac McHardie and Will McKenzie have bounced around the top three spots, sitting first again before dropping to third in this morning’s last race. They are three points behind the Irish duo in second and eight adrift of Spanish leaders Diego Botin and Florian Trittel. A gold is certainly on the cards if they can finish high up the leaderboard. The 49er FX crew of Jo Aleh and Molly Meech have bounced back well to reach the medal race in seventh place but are out of medal contention, sitting 27 points off the podium.
To round off the medal hopes, Finn Butcher features in the men’s kayak slalom semifinals at 1.30am, with the one run for the medals beginning at 3.30am.
Also in action:
Ryan Fox starts his round at 7.22pm alongside Emiliano Grillo (Argentina) and Alex Noren (Sweden). Fellow Another Kiwi, Daniel Hillier, makes his Olympic debut an hour later in a grouping with Adrien Dumont de Chassart (Belgium) and Guido Migliozzi (Italy). Ten minutes before Hillier is the star threesome of Scottie Scheffler (USA), Rory McIlroy (Ireland) and Ludvig Åberg (Sweden).
Both Emma Twigg and Tom Mackintosh look to continue their fine starts to the regatta and advance to their respective finals.
She faces German-born Guinea athlete Marie Branser in a first-round match-up. Branser has previously represented Germany and the Democratic Republic of Congo. She is the current African champion but lost in the first round at the Tokyo Games.
Kosta is coming off a serious injury in April suffered in the bronze medal final at the Pan American Games.
The New Zealand men’s hockey team face Australia in a must-win pool match, after losing their first three games, all tight affairs. To have any chance to finish in the top four, they need to beat the Aussies and Ireland in their last two pool games.
Lewis Clareburt features in the 200m IM medley heats, Taiko Torepe-Ormsby is in the splash-and-dash 50m freestyle men’s heat while the women’s 4x200m freestyle relay team, led by Erika Fairweather, eye a spot in the finals, to be raced tomorrow morning.
Josh Armit and Veerle ten Have continue their final races before the medal knockout phase. Both look in touch of qualifying the next phase. Meanwhile, Tom Saunders and Greta Pilkington begin their dinghy events with their first two races.
Rico Bearman and Leila Walker begin their respective BMX competitions, starting with the first round of racing.
Thursday August 1
7.22pm: Golf – men’s first round (Ryan Fox)
7.30pm: Rowing – single sculls women’s semifinals (Emma Twigg)
7.50pm: Rowing – single sculls men’s semifinals (Tom Mackintosh)
8pm: Judo – women’s 78kg round of 64 (Moira Koster v Marie Branser GUI)
8.22pm: Golf – men’s first round (Daniel Hillier)
8.28pm: Judo – women’s 78kg round of 32 (Moira Koster) (if qualified)
8.30pm: Hockey – Black Sticks men v Australia, pool B game
9pm: Swimming – 200m IM medley men’s heat (Lewis Clareburt)
9pm: Swimming – 4x200m freestyle relay women’s heat
9pm: Swimming – 50m freestyle men’s heat (Taiko Torepe-Ormsby)
9.18pm: Rowing – women’s double sculls final (Lucy Spoors and Brooke Francis)
9.30pm: Rowing – men’s double sculls men’s final (Robbie Manson and Jordan Parry)
10.10pm: Rowing – four men’s final (Logan Ullrich, Matt Macdonald, Tom Murray and Oliver Maclean)
10.30pm: Rowing – women’s four final (Jackie Gowler, Davina Waddy, Phoebe Spoors and Kerri Williams)
10pm: Sailing – one-person Dinghy men’s races 1-2 (Tom Saunders)
10.20pm: Judo – Women’s 78kg round of 16 (Moira Koster) (if qualified)
11.16pm: Judo – women’s 78kg quarter-final (Moira Koster) (if qualified)
Friday August 2
12.43am: Sailing – 49er medal race (Isaac McHardie and William McKenzie)
1.03am: Sailing – women’s foil (Veerle ten Have)
1.35am: Sailing – one-person Dinghy women’s races 1-2 (Greta Pilkington)
1.30am: Canoe slalom – men’s kayak semifinals (Finn Butcher)
1.43am: Sailing – 49er FX medal race (Jo Aleh and Molly Meech)
1.53am: Sailing – men’s foil (Josh Armit)
2.51am: Judo – Women’s 78kg semifinal (Moira Koster) - if qualified
1.30am: Canoe slalom – men’s kayak semifinals (Finn Butcher) (if qualified)
4.09am: Judo – women’s 78kg medal bouts (Moira Koster) (if qualified)
6am: BMX racing – men’s quarter-final (Rico Bearman) (if qualified)
6.20am: BMX racing, women’s quarter-final (Leila Walker) (if qualified)
6.44am: Swimming – 50m freestyle men’s semifinals (Taiko Torepe-Ormsby) (if qualified)
7.34am: Swimming – 200m IM medley men’s semifinal (Lewis Clareburt) (if qualified)
7.48am: Swimming – 4 x 200m freestyle relay women’s final
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