Australia has claimed its first gold medal of the Paris Olympics in stunning fashion, with cyclist Grace Brown dominating the women’s road time trial in horrid conditions.
Day 1 began with a sensational performance from Australians in the swimming heats, capped off by a thrilling clash between Australian champion Ariarne Titmus and American rival Katie Ledecky in the women’s 400m freestyle – effectively an entree before their finals main course on Sunday morning.
The Boomers beat Spain, before the Kookaburras beat Argentina in their own opening match a couple of hours later.
Australia narrowly missed a medal in the diving in heartbreaking fashion, while the men’s rugby sevens team lost to two-time reigning champs Fiji in the semi-final.
But there were a host of other Aussies in action, with Opening Ceremony flag-bearer Jess Fox headlining the canoe slalom heats and other Australians competing in the beach volleyball, equestrian, rowing, tennis and water polo just to name a few!
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3am — AUSSIE VOLLEYBALLERS CLINCH WIN
Australian duo Mariafe Artacho del Solar and Taliqua Clancy, who won silver in Tokyo three years ago, have started their Olympic campaign with a tense victory in the women’s beach volleyball.
Facing Chinese pair Chen Xue and Xinyi Xia, the Australians won in three sets 22-20, 14-21, 16-14.
They will next face America’s Kristen Nuss and Taryn Kloth on Tuesday at 6am AEST.
1.04am — FLAGBEARER FOX STARTS HOT
Aussie flag-bearer Jess Fox has successfully qualified for the semi-finals after recording the fastest time in the heats of the K-1 women’s slalom campaign.
Fox, who has a silver and two bronzes in the K-1 category (kayak), was second in her first heat with a 95.20s run. French hope Camille Prigent topped the times with a 94.67s.
However, the Australian notched the fastest time in the second run, blitzing the course in 92.18s.
The semi-final gets underway on Sunday at 11.30pm AEST.
12.22am — SEVENS SMASHED BY GIANTS FIJI IN SEMI
Australia will have to settle for a chance at bronze in the men’s rugby sevens after falling to heavyweights Fiji in their semi-final.
Australia, already enjoying their best-ever men’s Olympic result in the sport, scored first before conceding 31 unanswered points to the two-time reigning Olympic champions.
After Fiji spilled the ball, Ben Dowling raced to the ball and soccered it forwards. His initial dive to ground it missed – as did a Fijian defender’s desperate attempt – but Dowling recovered to get the ball down.
But after an apparent Fiji knock-on near their own line was missed by the referee, they went the length of the field in a searing end-to-end try from Joji Nasova to level the score.
Australia had defended exceptionally in the first half until that point. But a missed tackle gave Fiji’s Iosefo Baleiwairiki the chance to score early in the second stanza for a 14-7 lead.
A tackle-busting run and a no-look pass to Kaminieli Rasaku added to the advantage soon after and took the game out of Australia’s reach. Fiji stretched the lead – and ran down the clock – with a penalty to make it 24-7. Fiji iced the game on the buzzer with a try to Selesitino Ravutaumada off the restart after Australia failed to deal with the kick-off.
Australia will now play South Africa for bronze on Sunday morning AEST, while Fiji face hosts France for the gold.
11.15pm — AUSSIE CLAIMS EPIC GOLD IN WET AND WILD CHAOS
Grace Brown has delivered Australia’s first Olympics medal in Paris with a dominant victory in the women’s road cycling time trial – a 32.4km ride around the very wet streets of Paris.
Brown – who finished fourth in Tokyo despite racing with a broken shoulder – is a two-time world championship silver medallist but finally claimed the top step on the podium with a simply incredible ride in torrid conditions.
It was Australia’s first-ever win in the event.
Cycling commentator Coreen Mazzochi wrote on X (formerly Twitter): “Grace Brown that was INSANE”.
Cycling writer Katy Madwick posted: “Grace Brown absolutely SMASHED that!!! Made up for Anna Henderson what a brilliant result for her too”.
Australian journalist Gareth Davis wrote: “Grace Brown [on] another planet. Blew ’em away. What a story”.
Things were so nasty that an American star crashed three times alone – and her mechanic even fell over as he tried to get her a new bike.
Brown had a small wobble off the starting line – costing her around a second, commentators said – but soon got into her rhythm. At the 13.1km checkpoint, she was almost 21 seconds ahead of the next-best rider in the live standings and doubled that at the 22km point.
With just one rider behind her – two-time world title winner Chloe Dygert – the signs were promising for a top-two finish. Then Dygert crashed in the brutal conditions as she transitioned from bitumen to cobblestones on a corner.
But Brown was unmatched. She overtook the rider who started 90 seconds in front of her, and nervelessly raced around the course and finished in 39m 38.24s with an average speed of 49km/h.
“I didn’t really know that a lot of my competitors were crashing,” Brown said.
“So it sounds like I was lucky to stay upright in the end. Sometimes that is just bad luck, or luck to me this time.
“So I’m glad that was the case for me. And I’m sorry for my competitors.”
Brown’s mother, watching trackside in Paris, told Channel Nine: “She watched the Sydney Olympics and said ‘I want to be an Olympian’.”
Now, at 32, she’s a gold medallist – and she still has the road race to come.
Meanwhile, in one of the best stories of this Olympics, local hope Audrey Cordon Ragot was roared on by the crowd all the way home. She suffered a stroke a couple of years ago and also needed surgery for a hole in her heart, but finished second in the live standings when she came in and ended up in the top 10.
“It’s just the most amazing thing,” Tony Brown, Grace’s father, told ABC Sport.
“To watch your daughter achieve her dreams after many years of hard work and all the injuries and all the separation from the family and all our late nights watching her and just coming over to Europe every year to watch her race for the world champs.
“It’s just amazing.”
11.20pm — AUSSIE EBDEN AVOIDS NIGHTMARE NADAL CLASH … BY GETTING DJOKOSMASHED
Matt Ebden has won a Wimbledon doubles crown and peaked as high as 39 in singles, but the Aussie veteran knew before stepping on to Court Philippe-Chatrier at Roland Garros on Saturday night that he had basically no chance against Novak Djokovic.
The Western Australian was offered an opportunity in the singles event in Paris as an alternate and opted to use the chance for some match practice ahead of his doubles and mixed doubles outings, where he shapes as a legitimate medal contender.
He drew applause on social media with his humorous reaction to drawing Djokovic, who is seeking the only crown to elude him in tennis in the Paris Olympics having failed in previous bids to win gold, and then potentially Rafael Nadal in the second round.
He drew more laughter on the world’s most famous clay court when showing good humour in his clash with Djokovic despite the 6-0 6-1 trouncing, at one stage offering his racquet to fans in the stands and later celebrating wildly after breaking through for a game.
To be fair to the Davis Cup star, he has not played a singles match for two years and will not be the only Olympian outmatched over the next fortnight. Ebden won 21 of the 76 points played during the match.
Credit, too, to Djokovic, who returned to the court where he injured a knee just two months ago in good fashion. Should Nadal prevail in his opening round clash against Marton Fucsovics, one of the early highlights of the Olympics will occur in Round 2 of the event.
Carlos Alcaraz, who appears to have taken selfies with almost every athlete in the Olympic village, opened his first gold medal campaign with a 6-3 6-1 win over Lebanon’s Hady Habib, while four-time French Open champion Iga Swiatek and Jasmine Paolini, who lost to the Pole in the recent Roland Garros final, also progressed in straight sets in matches played under the roof on a wet day in Paris.
10.40pm — KOOKABURRAS GET HUNT FOR GOLD UNDERWAY WITH WIN
A goal on the brink of halftime got the Kookaburras off to a perfect start in their men’s Olympic group stage, claiming a 1-0 win over Argentina.
Led by Eddie Ockenden – who carried the flag for Australia in the opening ceremony at his fifth Olympics – the Kookaburras and their array of moustaches struggled to break down Argentina and their unusual tactical approach.
But with halftime looming, the Australians launched a fizzing low ball into the box from long range. It was deflected clear by an Argentine defender’s stick – but flew close to an Australian head.
The Australians challenged the referee’s call and won a short corner right on the buzzer. Blake Govers slammed his shot into right side of the net, the perfect way to head into halftime in rainy conditions.
Olympic debutant Jake Harvey copped a green card – a two-minute sin bin – midway through the third period.
Despite being a man down, Tim Brand won a short corner with a deft bit of stickwork to draw a foul, but Argentina defended it well.
Australia was forced to defend a dangerous attacking raid in the final 90 seconds of the term, but Ockenden was calm under pressure to clear the danger.
Early in the fourth, a diving Tom Wickham came agonisingly close to doubling the advantage, but his desperate lunge to get on the end of a cross wasn’t enough to guide the ball goalward.
The game exploded into an end-to-end contest, before Australia went a man up with seven minutes to play as Flynn Ogilvie was bundled over harshly by Santiago Tarazona – who earned a green card.
And Ogilvie won a short corner with his stellar ball-handling, lifting the ball into the air and balancing it on his stick before finding an Argentine foot.
But Blake Govers lashed his thunderous attempt from the top of the circle marginally wide of the goal. And Argentina nearly made the Australians pay immediately afterwards when a blocked shot nearly went straight to an Argentinian player in front of goal.
But with just 45 seconds left in the match, a brilliant cross struck the foot of Australia’s Weyer, earning the South Americans a penalty corner. Australia was forced to defend desperately, but Brand raced off the line to shut down the shot and the Kookaburras emerged victorious.
They are seeking a second-ever Olympics gold medal, after narrowly missing out in Tokyo 2020 in a heartbreaking penalty shootout defeat in the final.
10pm — REPERCHARGE BECKONS FOR AUSSIE QUAD SCULLS AFTER TESTING OPENING
Tara Rigney started things off for Australia in brilliant fashion in rowing but it was a more testing morning for her compatriots in the quadruple sculls, which have been forced into a repechage on Monday after finishing last in a heat on Saturday.
The crew of Caitlin Cronin, Laura Gourley, Rowena Meredith and Ria Thompson finished fifth in its heat in a time of 6:25.88, some eight seconds behind the Dutch foursome which recorded a time of 6:17.12 to beat home Ukraine, China and Romania.
But the Australian pair of Amanda Bateman and Harriet Hudson performed well when second in a heat of the women’s double sculls, recording a time of 6:49.21 when edged by a French combination by .32 of a second in a thrilling finish.
The Australian duo recorded the third fastest time in the heats behind Romania and France and shape as a medal prospect.
7.55pm — HEARTBREAK FOR AUSSIE DUO AS FINAL-DIVE MISTAKE COSTS MEDAL
A mistake on the final dive has cost Australia what looked a certain medal on the first morning of competition, but Maddison Keeney and Anabelle Smith are putting on a brave face despite the disappointment.
Smith and Keeney, competing in the Women’s 3m Springboard Synchronised event, started a little slow in their first two of five dives before ramping things up in a big way at the third and fourth dives.
They entered the final round of diving in third place behind the dominant Chinese pair of Chang Yani and Chen Yiwen (almost untouchably clear in front) and the USA’s pairing of Sarah Bacon and Kassidy Cook.
The Aussie pair – who won a bronze medal at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro – then turned to the final dive from that very competition as they sought to improve and claim silver.
But a poor take-off from Keeney saw the pair’s medal dreams came crashing down in gutting fashion.
“We’ve seen a slight mistake from Anabelle coming off the board. I’m not entirely sure what happened there,” Wide World of Sports commentator Sam Fricker said.
“They’ve just missed out on a medal.”
Smith was left in tears as the podium dream slipped away, but said later “that’s life”.
“We’re good. We are healthy. We move on,” she said.
In a separate interview, she told the ABC that she had a “bad hurdle and landed on the side of the board” which had an impact on the rest of the dive.
“I screamed underwater. It is obviously going to hit me a bit after this, but I don’t want to … I’m not dying, so I’m alright,” she said.
“I just feel back for letting the team down. I’m fine with myself, but you don’t want to let someone down in the process.”
Smith will also compete in the individual springboard event and said she cannot afford to dwell on the mistake.
6.26pm — STAR SCULLER PUTS RIVALS TO THE SWORD IN OPENING HEAT
Dual-World Championship medallist Tara Rigney has opened her bid for gold in the women’s singles sculls in style with a devastating heat win at the Varies-sur-Maine Nautical Stadium.
The 25-year-old is considered a leading gold medal contender and put her rivals to the sword when clocking a winning time of 7.30:71 to win by several boat lengths.
The Sydney University representative, who won bronze medals in the 2022 and 2023 World Championships in the Czech Republic and Belgrade, is through to the quarterfinals and has reportedly been training extremely well according to Olympics rowing legend James Tomkins.
6.20pm — BIG ‘CONCERN’ HOVERS OVER DEMON
Alex de Minaur has been an active participant in all the Olympics have to offer to date after missing out on the Tokyo games after coming down with COVID-19.
But whether the world No. 6 can produce his best form in Paris when he takes on tough German Jan-Lennard Struff in his Olympic debut at Roland Garros will be among the points of interest in the tennis event.
While the presence of tennis in the Olympics is often a point of conjecture, its significance to the Paris games was on show during the Opening Ceremony on Friday.
After four-time major winner Naomi Osaka lit the Olympic flame in Tokyo in 2021, legends Rafael Nadal and Serena Williams had prominent roles in the ceremony along the River Seine in Paris on Friday.
Reigning US Open champion Coco Gauff was a flag bearer for America alongside LeBron James, while Elina Svitolina had the honour of waving the Ukrainian flag in an emotional moment for a nation at war with Russia.
De Minaur, who is under an injury cloud, and teammates including Ajla Tomljanovic and Rinky Hijikata were among those revelling in the festivities despite the rain.
The singles focus will be on de Minaur, who has faced a race against the clock to be fit for Paris after suffering a hip injury which forced him to withdraw from a Wimbledon quarterfinal against Djokovic earlier this month.
The 25-year-old said when withdrawing on July 10 that specialists had advised him his recovery period would be between three to six weeks.
It will be 18 days since that diagnosis should de Minaur take to the court against Struff, who he defeated in four sets on route to the Roland Garros quarterfinals in June.
His Davis Cup teammate John Millman, in a podcast for the ABC, said he was not certain yet whether the Australian No. 1 will take his place on the clay in singles.
“It is going to come down to how Alex’s body is. He will be refreshed mentally, but it’s whether he’s ready to go physically,” he said.
“I spoke to Matt Reid (part of de Minaur’s team) and it is a concern still. Obviously it was going to be touch-and-go with that type of injury.
“He doesn’t want to risk re-injuring that, and he still potentially could be an alternate for the doubles or mixed doubles.
“He’s going to give himself every chance. I love seeing him there, he’s obviously there to play, but there’s still a little bit of time to tell whether he will be able to take to the court.”
DAY 1 — KEY AUSSIE EVENTS
5pm — Rowing Heats
5.30pm — Equestrian, eventing dressage individual and team (Shane Rose, Chris Burton and Kevin McNab)
7pm — Men’s basketball: Australia vs Spain (Boomers)
7pm — Diving: Women’s Synchronised 3m Springboard Final (Anabelle Smith/Maddison Keeney)
7pm — Swimming Heats
8pm — Women’s Tennis: Daria Saville vs Qinwen Zheng
9.15pm — Men’s Hockey: Australia vs Argentina (Kookaburras)
10.30pm — Cycling Road: Women’s Individual Time Trial (Grace Brown)
11:50pm — Canoe Slalom: Women’s Kayak Single Heats 1st Run (Jessica Fox)
12am — Rugby Sevens Men’s semi-final: Australia vs Fiji
1am — Skateboarding: Men’s Street Final: POSTPONED
2am — Canoe Slalom: Women’s Kayak Single Heats 2nd Run (Jessica Fox)
3am — Rugby Sevens: Men’s Bronze Medal Match (Australia)
3:45am — Rugby Sevens: Men’s Gold Medal Match
4:05am — Women’s Water Polo — Australia vs China (Stingers)
4.30am — Swimming Finals
Source Agencies
