Australia added to its medal tally on Day 13 of the Paris Olympics with a pair of bronzes in the boxing, an epic silver in the Seine and another in the kayak sprint while the men’s 4×100 relay team set a national record.

There will be more chances to move up the leaderboard on Friday too, with Tom Green and Jean van der Westhuyzen winning their canoe sprint kayal double 500m semi final heat in style.

Their time of 1:26.85 was an Olympic best, placing them in a prime position to take gold in the final which is set to take place at 9:30pm.

The previous record was held by Germany’s Tim Wieskotter and Ronald Tauhe who recorded 1:27.04 two decades ago.

Six-time Olympian, triple gold medallist and Australian team flag bearer James Tomkins said: “Cruising to the line. Perfect. That’s fantastic… a beautiful start, really worked that middle part of the race and cruised to the finish line”.

Alongside the Aussies, Spain, Portugal, Germany, a second spain duo, Canada and two serbian teams have qualified.

Green and van der Westhuyzen’s time sits 0.39 seconds ahead of the next best, being Spain’s Adrian del Rio and Marcus Cooper.

Meanwhile, pairing Ella Beere and Ally Bull qualified for the final in the same event. They finished in fourth in their semi final heat, with a time of 1:40.26.

The top three, Germany (1:39.51), Belgium (1:39.74) and Hungary (1:39.76), all finished within a second of our athletes.

Meanwhile, in the second heat, New Zealand came out victorious alongside a second German duo, the Netherlands and Hungary ahead of the final at 9:10pm.

Elsewhere, Maddison Keeney will be looking to compete for a medal in the Women’s 3m Springboard Final at 11pm, having finished with the second-best score in the semi-finals.

Later, in the early hours of Saturday morning, the Opals are aiming to cause a massive boilover in the women’s basketball as they face the USA for a spot in the gold medal game.

The US women’s basketball team is on a 59-game Olympic winning streak. If the Opals lose, they will still have a chance to go for bronze against either France or Belgium.

Then, Tokyo silver medallists Mariafe Artacho del Solar and Taliqua Clancy will be going for bronze at 5am after falling to world number one Brazil in the semi-final.

Nick Sloman and Kyle Lee finished in 11th and 13th respectively in the men’s 10km marathon swimming event which finished earlier this evening, being the first Aussies to compete on Day 13.

On the track, heptathletes Camryn Newtown-Smith and Tori West will look to build on a strong start to their Olympic campaigns in the long jump.

Newton-Smith recorded a best of 5.78 metres, the seventh best of any athlete which sees her drop down to 15th on the overall leaderboard.

West, meanwhile, notched up a best jump of 5.41 and now sits in 21st.

Prior to Friday’s events, Newtown-Smith ran 13.46 seconds in the 100m hurdles and cleared 1.80 in the high jump to sit in eighth position with 2034 points.

West completed the hurdles in a personal best time of 13.62s and cleared 1.71m on the high jump to sit 20th after the same point.

If that isn’t enough sport for you Minjee Lee and Hannah Green will be looking to move up the leaderboard in the golf.

Elsewhere, there is more diving, cycling, water polo and weightlifting while Connor Murphy and Lauren Ryan feature in the triple jump and women’s 10km finals in the early hours of Saturday morning.

Plus, breakdancing makes its Olympic debut at midnight, with Australian B-girl Rachael Gunn at 12.13am.

OPALS PREVIEW: DAUNTING TASK FACES AUSSIES IN PARIS

The US women’s basketball team is riding a 59-game Olympic winning streak into their semi-final showdown with Australia on Friday, eyeing two more for a record-setting eighth straight Olympic gold medal.

“We didn’t come this far to go home,” two-time WNBA Most Valuable Player A’ja Wilson said after the Americans ended Nigeria’s fairytale run in the quarter-finals.

“We’re slowly starting to get our legs under us and (improve) the chemistry. We’re starting to grow together,” Wilson said.

That’s an ominous sign for Australia, but Opals coach Sandy Brondello, who coaches US stars Breanna Stewart and Sabrina Ionescu at the WNBA’s New York Liberty, says the Australians won’t be intimidated.

“Most of us play in the WNBA,” Brondello said.

“We face these players day in, day out. They’re humans. They’re basketball players. Anything can happen at one time.

“You have got to believe it. It’s got to be a positive mind set, knowing on any given day you can come out, and you can beat them … we’ve got to go in with the mindset that they have to stop us, as well.”

US coach Cheryl Reeve says her players are laser-focused on their Paris mission and not on the fact that a victory would see them break a tie with the US men’s basketball team, who won seven straight Olympic titles from 1936-68.

During the women’s gold rush, launched at the 1996 Atlanta Games, the Australians have come up with silver against them three times — in 2000, 2004 and 2008.

Looking for their first medal since earning bronze in London in 2012, Australia have been building momentum since a shock loss to Nigeria in their Olympic opener.

“It’s taken a lot of blood, sweat and tears to get here, so we’ve still got a lot of fight in us,” Aussie forward Alanna Smith said.

France and Belgium booked a semi-final meeting with dominant quarter-final victories.

European champions Belgium are in the semi-finals for the first time while France are hoping a raucous home crowd can carry them through to a chance to improve on the bronze medal they won at the pandemic-delayed Tokyo Games three years ago.

“Both teams know each other’s coaches, all the players,” France coach Jean-Aime Toupane said.

“It’s going to be a big battle and hopefully we’re going to take it.”

AUSSIES IN ACTION — Day 14 highlights (All times AEST)

FRIDAY PM

15:30 Marathon Swimming Men’s 10km (Kyle Lee, Nick Sloman)

17:00 Women’s Golf Round 3 (Minjee Lee)

18:00 Diving Men’s 10m Platform Prelims (Cassiel Rousseau, Jaxon Bowshire)

18:50 Canoe Sprint Women’s Kayak Double 500m Semifinals (Ella Beere, Ally Bull)

19:10 Canoe Sprint Men’s Kayak Double 500m Semifinals (Tom Green, Jean van der Westhuyzen)

21:10 Canoe Sprint Women’s Kayak Double 500m Final (Beere, Bull)

21:30 Canoe Sprint Men’s Kayak Double 500m Final (Green/van der Westhuyzen)

22:41 Cycling Track Men’s Sprint Semifinals (Matthew Richardson, also at 23:29 and 23:52)

23:00 Diving Women’s 3m Springboard Final (Maddison Keeney)

23:00 Weightlifting Men’s 89kg (Kyle Bruce)

SATURDAY AM

01:30 Women’s Basketball Semifinal AUSTRALIA vs USA

02:00 Men’s Water Polo 5th-8th Classification AUSTRALIA vs Greece

02:00 Cycling Track Men’s Sprint Finals Race 1 (Matthew Richardson, other races 03:02 and 03:38)

03:30 Weightlifting Women’s 71kg (Jacqueline Nichele)

04:13 Athletics Men’s Triple Jump Final (Connor Murphy)

04:57 Athletics Women’s 10km Final (Lauren Ryan)

05:00 Women’s Beach Volleyball Bronze Medal Match (Mariarfe/Clancy, Australia)