14yo skate sensation stuns in medal push; Demon’s Olympic dream ends — Aussies LIVE
- by Admin
- July 28, 2024
Teen skate sensation Chloe Covell recovered brilliantly from a wobbly run in her Olympic debut with the 14-year-old set to qualify for the women’s street final.
Skating with two fractured fingers, Covell came in as atop medal hope for Australia and started her first run excellently, only to make a mistake and fall late in the piece. She scored a 68.14 (of 100), but pulled off a brilliant – and clean – second run to score 78.89.
That left her with the second-best score in the opening heat’s run phase, then opening the trick phase with a brilliant 82.26.
After an unusual fall in her third trick attempt, her fourth was even better, an 85.58 putting her only behind China’s Cui Chenxi.
Covell (246.73 total score) eventually finished second behind Cui (254.34), with Australia’s second competitor Liv Lovelace unfortunately struggling.
After mistakes in both of her runs Lovelace was chasing a big score in the trick round but only recorded one complete score, meaning a 0 was added to her total, leaving her last in the heat.
The top eight skaters of 22 competitors across four heats, based on their combined run and two best trick scores, will advance into the final early Monday morning.
DEMON’S SINGLES DREAM OVER
Alex de Minaur has been forced to withdraw from the Olympic tennis singles due to the injury he suffered at Wimbledon.
De Minaur was set to face Jan-Lennard Struff in the opening round tonight but the hip injury which forced to withdraw from a quarter-final against Novak Djokovic in London has struck again.
He will instead focus on the doubles where he’ll partner childhood friend Alexei Popyrin.
The Aussie team will face American No.4 seeds Austin Krajicek and Rajeev Ram in the opening round.
De Minaur was the No.5 seed in the men’s singles.
AUSSIES IN ACTION ON DAY TWO
Australian flag-bearer Jessica Fox has successfully qualified for the K-1 women’s slalom semi-finals after recording the fastest time in the heats on Saturday.
The 30-year-old, who has a silver and two bronzes in the K-1 category, was second in her first heat with a 95.20s run as France’s Camille Prigent topping the times at 94.67s.
However, the Australian notched the fastest time in the second run, blitzing the course in 92.18s to send an early statement to her rivals.
Fox, who has a French mother, declared that she “definitely felt the love” from the Paris crowd on Saturday.
“Camille Prigent, the French athlete was a couple of paddlers in front of me. The atmosphere for her was just incredible,” Fox told Channel 9.
“I could feel it in my chest. Then there was another paddler between us and the intensity died down a bit and I felt it ramp up for me.
“I’m feeling the love. There are some Aussies here which is amazing.”
The semi-final gets underway on Sunday at 11.30pm AEST before the final on Monday at 1.45am.
Elsewhere, fellow Australian Tristan Carter also qualified for the semi-finals of the men’s C-1 canoe slalom with a time of 94.19, the ninth fastest of the heats.
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MATILDAS’ MUST-WIN
The Matildas face a virtual must-win match against Zambia at 3am AEST with their hopes of a first-ever Olympic medal on the line.
After being soundly beaten by world number four Germany 3-0 in their opening match, Australia needs to rebound against a team that cannot be taken lightly given the attacking threat of players like star striker Barbra Banda. The Matildas will face global heavyweights USA in their final group-stage clash.
But they’ve received a huge boost, with reigning gold medallists Canada slapped with a stunning six-point deduction for a spying scandal after they were caught using a drone to film first opponents New Zealand at training. Head coach Bev Priestmann has been banned from football for a year while two other staffers were also sent home.
Canada’s six-point deduction boosts the Matildas’ chances of qualifying as one of the two best third-place teams (across the three groups), should Australia fail to finish in the top two of their group.
10.17PM – HOCKEYROOS OFF TO STRONG START
The Hockeyroos have followed in the footsteps of the men’s Kookaburras team yesterday by winning their first pool match, beating South Africa 2-1.
After scores were tied at half-time, a third-quarter penalty corner was rocketed home by Tatum Stewart via a deflection. Australia won a second short corner soon afterwards only for South Africa to successfully review it. The Hockeyroos’ ball movement and composure was praised by commentators as they looked increasingly comfortable. Their advantage became further entrenched when a South African player received a yellow card and was sent to the sin bin for the last five minutes of the match. Australia’s dominance was not reflected on the scoresheet, with the ball frequently getting into strong positions but chances at a premium.
9.45PM — AUSSIES’ DEVASTATING BLOW … BUT MEDAL DREAM STILL ALIVE
Australia’s equestrian eventing team has suffered a major blow that ended their dream of standing on the podium together at the Palace of Versailles. The team had won silver in Tokyo and were considered a strong chance of backing that up.
After a solid effort from the three riders in yesterday’s dressage put Australia eighth, the trio took to the cross country section of the competition – with jumping still to come tomorrow.
But Australia’s Kevin McNab was forced to withdraw when his horse, Don Quidam,, appeared to be struggling with an off foreleg (front right leg) tendon issue. His failure to complete the course rules Australia out of medal contention in the teams event.
But there’s still a chance for an individual medal, after Chris Burton finished equal third among all riders in the dressage on 14-year-old gelding Shadow Man.
The Rio bronze medallist gave up eventing in 2021 to focus on showjumping, only to backflip on that decision earlier this year.
That decision could pay off in stunning fashion should he back up his fine day one performance with equally impressive rides in the cross country and jumping.
AUSSIES IN ACTION ON DAY 2
* All times AEST
5pm — Rowing Heats
6.30pm — Men’s Water Polo: Australia vs Spain (Sharks)
7pm — Swimming Heats
8pm — Women’s Skateboarding: Street Prelims (Chloe Covell, Liv Lovelace, Haylie Powell)
8.45pm — Women’s Hockey: Australia vs South Africa (Hockeyroos)
10:10pm — Cycling Mountain Bike: Women’s Cross-Country (Rebecca Henderson)
11.30pm — Women’s Canoe Slalom K1 Semi-Finals (Jess Fox)
12am — Women’s Rugby Sevens: Australia vs South Africa
1am — Women’s Skateboarding: Street Final (Chloe Covell, Liv Lovelace, Haylie Powell)
1.45am — Women’s Canoe Slalom K1 Finals (Jess Fox)
3am — Women’s Football: Australia vs Zambia (Matildas)
3am — Women’s Surfing: Round 2 (Tyler Wright, Molly Picklum)
3am — Women’s Singles Tennis — Ajla Tomljanovic (AUS) vs Coco Gauff (USA)
3.45am — Women’s Rugby Sevens: Australia vs Great Britain
4.30am — Swimming Finals
7.48am — Men’s Surfing: Round 2 (Jack Robinson)
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