In rowing, Jess Morrison and Annabelle McIntyre secured a bronze medal, bringing Australia’s total medal count to 22: 11 gold, six silver, and five bronze.
Saya Sakakibara roars to glorious BMX race triumph
Watched by her family, including brother Kai who suffered a life-changing brain injury after another crash in a World Cup race in Bathurst in 2020, Sakakibara delivered the race of her life in the final to become the first Australian BMX racer to win Olympic gold.
Saya Sakakibara won gold after completing the 400m course in 34.231 seconds. Source: AP / Thibault Camus
Sakakibara roared away at the start to reach the first tight corner first for her seventh consecutive race.
From there, no-one was going to catch her as she blitzed away on the 400m course to win in 34.231 seconds, way clear of all of her seven rivals, with Dutch racer Manon Veenstra finishing a distant runner up in 34.954 with Zoe Claessens taking the bronze.
Kaylee McKewon makes historic win
She kept her 200m backstroke title in stunning style, clocking an Olympic record time of two minutes 03.73 seconds, some 0.59 seconds shy of her world record set last year in Sydney.
McKeown is also the first swimmer to successfully defend 100m and 200m backstroke titles in Olympic history. Source: AP / Natacha Pisarenko
McKeown was third after at the midpoint and second at the final turn before powering to victory ahead of American Regan Smith (2:04.26) and Canada’s Kylie Masse (2:05.57).
On Saturday night, the 23-year-old is hunting more gold in the 200m individual medley – she qualified for that final just one hour after her historic 200m backstroke triumph.
Cameron McEvoy’s ‘splash and dash’ triumph
McEvoy triumphed in 21.35 seconds in the one-lap dash ahead of Great Britain’s Ben Proud (21.30) and Frenchman Florent Manaudou (21.56).
McEvoy’s Friday night victory in the 50m freestyle is his first Olympic gold. Source: AAP / Dave Hunt
The victory helps erase his lingering disappointment from the Rio Games eight years ago when he entered the 100m freestyle medal race as hot favourite but finished seventh in a final won by compatriot Kyle Chalmers.
“It’s hard to explain the two-year process that it took to get here and the route I took,” he said.
Bronze in rowing for Jess Morrison and Annabelle McIntyre
The pair had a solid start but were soon outperformed by the crew from the Netherlands, and left in third place after a fast finish from Romania.
Morrison McIntyre claimed bronze after finishing the race in a time of 7:03.54. Source: AP / Ebrahim Noroozi
This is the second Olympic podium for the Morrison-McIntyre partnership, who were part of the gold medal-winning four crew in Tokyo.
Source Agencies
