It is official. The Sharks are giant killers.
Australia’s men’s water polo team has backed up its stunning win over defending Olympic champions Serbia with another upset victory, this time over host nation France 9-8.
The Sharks dropped their opening game of the tournament against Spain but have since recorded back-to-back wins as they hunt their first-ever Olympic medal.
As it stands, fifth place is the Sharks’ best finish at the Olympics, achieving that feat at the 1984 Games in Los Angeles and 1992 Games in Barcelona.
Their latest win over France was particularly sweet given the French eliminated the Sharks in the playoff phase of the last two World Championships.
Australia was first on the board through Angus Lambie and took a 1-0 lead into the second quarter, with keeper Nic Porter impressing in goals as was the case in the win over Serbia.
France made a quick start to the second though to jump ahead 2-1, scoring two quickfire goals, although the Sharks answered back through Milos Maksimovic and Matthew Byrnes.
The momentum then swung back in France’s favour as the host nation took advantage of a short period where the Sharks played with only five men, down Lachie and Blake Edwards, scoring through Emil Bjorch before Blake Edwards responded for Australia.
That was halftime, with the Sharks up 4-3 and a few quick goals after play resumed in the third had Australia eyeing another boilover and in a nice position, leading 6-3.
Luke Pavillard then threaded the needle to extend the buffer to four goals, although the French refused to go away as they made it a 7-5 game entering the final quarter.
The home crowd started to really get into the game down the stretch as France threatened a fightback, reducing the gap to 8-7 and then earning a penalty to tie the game up.
But Porter came up with a stunning save and then another one soon after in open play, trying to inspire a Sharks side that was now playing without both Edwards brothers, who had fouled out.
He did just that, with his heroics in goal the difference late as the Sharks scored late through Chaz Poot to seal their second win of the group stage.
Australia currently sits second in Group B behind undefeated Spain (3-0), with the top four groups through to the quarter-final.
MONTAG’S BRONZE MEDAL TRIUMPH
Australia’s Jemima Montag has matched Jane Saville’s feat from Athens 2004, claiming bronze in the women’s 20km race walk.
The Aussie sat in the chasing pack for most of the race behind the fast-starting Chinese world record holder Yang Jiayu, who went on to claim gold with a 1:25:54 (over two minutes off her record).
But in the final three kilometres Montag made her move, even pushing within seconds of Spain’s Maria Perez (1:26:19) as she gapped the chasing pack, but she could not quite make the overtake for silver – instead finishing third (1:26:25).
Montag then showed incredible sportsmanship, crossing the line and going to the silver medallist to help her as she fought exhaustion.
Both race walks were delayed due to thunderstorms and once they got underway with the men’s event, Australia’s Declan Tingay and Rhydian Cowley found themselves in the lead group with 11 of 20 kilometres complete.
But with a few kilometres to go, they had fallen away with Ecuador’s Brian Daniel Pintado, Brazil’s Caio Bonfim, Spain’s Alvaro Martin and Italy’s Massimo Stano the leading contenders as Tingay pushed for a top-10 finish.
Pintado eventually claimed gold in 1:18:55 and celebrated with the Ronaldo ‘SUIIII’ move.
Tingay (1:19:56) came home to finish 11th with Cowley 12th (1:20:04).
WOMEN’S 3×3 BASKETBALL
The Gangurrus registered their maiden Olympic victory in Paris on Wednesday, a tense 21-19 win over Germany at La Concorde.
And now they can’t stop winning, downing China 21-15 and the USA 17-15 on Thursday night.
Against the Germans, Alex Wilson nailed the match-sealing shot to get the Australian team off the mark after a tough loss to Canada on Tuesday.
“I live for these types of moments,” Wilson said.
“You practice growing up, and as you get older, they are the type of shots you want to take. I felt confident taking the shot to win.”
Sitting 3-1 with three more matches to come as part of a complete round-robin, the Aussies are in the mix for automatic semi-final qualification.
With the top six teams of the eight competing making the play-offs, they are in a very strong position to at least feature in a play-in game.
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ROWING
Australia has missed its first rowing medal of the games though it’ll get more chances with Tara Rigney into the final of the women’s single sculls.
Rigney finished second with a 7:23.58, narrowly behind Dutch star Karolien Florijn, in the semifinal on Thursday evening to easily qualify for the A final, which will be held on Saturday at 5:30pm AEST.
The men’s and women’s eight teams are also into their A finals, with the women racing for gold at 6:50pm on Saturday, and the men just after at 7:10pm.
The Aussie side was rated a solid chance of reaching the podium in the men’s fours final, having dominated the event along with Great Britain for years, but the USA burst out of the blocks along with New Zealand and held on for gold.
The Brits were a solid third with the Aussies well behind, sixth and last.
GOLF
Jason Day and Min Woo Lee have gotten their golf campaigns underway but with mixed results.
Lee made an unfortunate start, falling to +4 after 10 holes and sitting at the same score in outright last – two back of the next-worst – after 14.
Day opened much better, sitting -2 after five holes to move into equal-second before the likes of Joaquin Niemann (-4 through 8) and then Hideki Matsuyama (-6 through 10) pulled ahead.
Matsuyama was an impresive -8 through 14, threatening the course record of 62, with Niemann (-6 through 16) and a fast-starting Viktor Hovland (-5 through 7) trailing.
Matsuyama finished one off the course record with an 8-under 63, with Sami Valimaki (-6 through 14), Xander Schauffle (-6 through 13) and Carlos Ortiz (-6 through 11) not far behind. Day posted a 2-under 69 with Lee carding a disappointing 5-over 76.
ANOTHER MEDAL HOPE
Tim Anderson will compete in the canoe slalom K1 final after finishing the semifinal with a time of 94.95 seconds. The final is scheduled for 1.30am AEST.
WOMEN’S BASKETBALL
The Opals have bounced back from Monday’s 75-62 loss to Nigeria, defeating Canada at Lille Stadium.
The opener was a shocking result for the fancied Aussies but a solid result has kept them in the mix of a quarter-final spot.
22-year-old Frenchman storming the Games | 03:43
ELSEWHERE…
The Kookaburras routed New Zealand 5-0 in their pool match to seal a spot in the quarter-finals, with the Hockeyroos facing Argentina later tonight, while the Sharks return to the pool to face local heroes France.
In the swimming, Kaylee McKeown and Cam McEvoy were among the Aussies in action in Thursday night’s heats.
And if that’s not enough for you, Australians are also featuring in the beach volleyball, archery, boxing, artistic gymnastics, sailing and surfing.
In other news, Laura Paeglis was knocked out in her women’s archery elimination final.
AUSSIES IN ACTION — HIGHLIGHTS FROM DAY 6
All times AEST
4pm — Men’s Athletics: 20km Race Walk (Declan Tingay, Kyle Swan, Rhydian Cowley)
5pm — Women’s 3×3 Basketball: China vs Australia (Gangurrus)
5pm — Men’s Golf: Round 1 (Min Woo Lee, Jason Day)
5pm — Men’s Beach Volleyball: Australia vs Germany (Thomas Hodges and Zachery Schubert)
5.50pm — Women’s Athletics: 20km Race Walk (Jemima Montag, Olivia Sangery, Rebecca Henderson)
6pm — Men’s Beach Volleyball: Australia vs Qatar (Mark Nicolaidis and Izac Carracher)
6.30pm — Men’s Hockey: Australia vs New Zealand (Kookaburras)
7pm — Swimming Heats (including Kaylee McKeown, Cameron McEvoy)
7.32pm — Women’s Boxing: 50kg, Australia vs Colombia (Monique Suraci)
8.10pm — Men’s Rowing: Fours Final (Timothy Masters, Jack Robertson, Fergus Hamilton, Alex Hill)
9pm — Women’s 3×3 Basketball: USA vs Australia (Gangurrus)
9.30pm — Women’s Basketball: Australia vs Canada (Opals)
11pm — Men’s Water Polo: France vs Australia (Sharks)
11.30pm — Men’s Canoe Slalom: K1 Semifinal (Tim Anderson)
11.43pm — Women’s Sailing: Skiff Medal Race (Liv Price, Evie Haseldine)
11.56pm — Women’s Archery: Australia vs France (Laura Paeglis)
12am — Women’s Beach Volleyball: Australia vs Canada (Mariafe Artacho del Solar and Taliqua Clancy)
12.18am — Women’s Boxing: 66kg, Australia vs Hungary (Marissa Williamson)
1.30am — Men’s Canoe Slalom: K1 Final
2.15am — Women’s Artistic Gymnastics: All-Around Final (Ruby Pass)
4am — Cycling BMX Racing: Quarterfinals (Izaac Kennedy, Lauren Reynolds, Saya Sakakibara)
4.15am — Women’s Hockey: Australia vs Argentina (Hockeyroos)
4.30am — Swimming Finals
4.48am — Men’s Surfing: Quarterfinals (Jack Robinson, Ethan Ewing)
Source Agencies
