Paris Olympics, day 9: Everything you need to know

Daniel Wiffen will be aiming for a second gold medal when he takes to the water for the 1500m Freestyle final while Rory McIlroy will be looking to be in the medal shake up.

Sun, 04 Aug, 2024 - 06:00

Examiner Team

What you might have missed yesterday

Rhys McClenaghan has added Olympic gold to complete the set having already European and World titles under his belt.

Three years ago he finished seventh in the final in Tokyo, a slight but significant slip costing him a place on the podium. There were no slips or stutters on Saturday afternoon. He nailed it with a score of 15.533 that none of the other seven could match.

“Listen, everybody at home, see this as an example of finding a dream that you love, chase it and enjoy that journey, because I can tell you if I fell off that Pommel today I still would have loved this journey, every single second of it. But I didn’t and today I’m walking away with an Olympic gold medal.

Kellie Harrington defeated Beatriz Ferreira in the 60kg semi-final to secure at least a silver medal for Ireland. She is now one victory away from becoming a two-time Olympic champion.

Harrington won the fight by split decision (4-1) following a superb third round which swung a tight fight further in the direction of her corner.

Rory McIlroy has propelled himself into Olympic medal contention with his bogey-free, five-under par round on Saturday that leaves him on the coattails of the tournament leaders.

Jon Rahm and Xander Shcauffele are the joint leaders on 14-under, while Tommy Fleetwood is a further shot back. McIlroy sits at -10.

Daniel Wiffen is into the 1500m Freestyle final after winning his heat and he believes it will take a world record time from him to win his second Olympic gold in the Paris La Defense Area pool on Sunday night.

The Irish 4x100 Medley Men's and Women's teams both finished sixth in their heats and both broke the Irish record. Olympic bronze medallist Mona McSharry hinted in her post race interview that this could be her last Olympic Games sending shockwaves around the country.

Cathal Doyle has won the first heat of the 1500m repechage in a time of 3:34.93 just outside his personal best of 3:34.09. He will now go into the semi-final. Luke McCann finished in seventh place in a time of 3:36.50.

There was disappointment for Andrew Coscoran as he fails to make it through to the semi-final as he finishes 12th in the second heat of the 1500m repechage in a time of 3:39.45.

Ben Healy finished tenth in the 272.1km men’s road race to record Ireland’s best-ever finish in Olympic cycling after an impressive attacking performance from the Irish duo of Healy and Ryan Mullen.

Mullen went on the attack with three other riders just 70km in, and bridged to the leaders who were eventually distanced by the power of the Irish rider.

Catch up all the action from yesterday here.

Who else is making headlines

After winning gold in the individual all-around and helping the US to a dominant win in team all-around, Simone Biles picked up her third gold medal in five days at the Paris Olympics in the vault on Saturday.

Biles put on a stunning performance at Bercy Arena. She earned a score of 15.700, nailing her namesake vault the Yurchenko double pike, or Biles II, the hardest vault in women’s gymnastics.

Your schedule for Sunday

(Irish time)

10.17am: Golf, Men’s Individual, Final Round, Shane Lowry

10.45am: Women’s Hammer Throw, Qualification Group B, Nicola Tuthill

11.05am: Sailing, Men’s Dinghy, Finn Lynch, Race 7

11.28am: Golf, Men’s Individual, Final Round, Rory McIlroy

12.13pm: Sailing, Men’s Dinghy, Finn Lynch, Race 8

1.00pm: Cycling Road, Women’s Road Race, Megan Armitage

1.35pm: Sailing, Women’s Dinghy, Eve McMahon Race 7

2.35pm: Men’s Kayak Cross Heat 2, Liam Jegou

2.45pm: Sailing, Women’s Dinghy, Eve McMahon Race 8

3.00pm: Men’s Kayak Cross Heat 7, Noel Hendrick