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Australia’s best-ever start to an Olympics, more medals: What you missed while you were sleeping

Australia’s best-ever start to an Olympics, more medals: What you missed while you were sleeping

PARIS: Australia ends day eight in Paris fourth on the medal tally, with the most golds in the country’s history at this stage of an Olympics.

After the tally grew with the country’s first tennis gold medal since 1996, a likeable 20-year-old nabbed a silver in the windsurfing and the swimmers added three more medals in the pool.

Meanwhile, at the Stade de France track, the marquee women’s 100m sprint was run and won by an outsider after a legend’s bizarre scratching.

Catch up on below what you missed while you were sleeping.

Ledecky holds off Titmus, DQ hands Kaylee bronze

It was another rapid-fire end to the night in Paris, with three medal races in the pool in quick succession featuring high drama and a world record.

Chasing a third individual gold of this Olympics and fifth overall, Australia’s Kaylee McKeown touched the wall in fourth in the 200m medley.

She was quickly upgraded to the podium after third-placed US swimmer Alex Walsh was disqualified for an illegal turn.

The Ariarne Titmus-Katie Ledecky rivalry then added a new chapter in the 800m final, with the Australian taking the fight to the US champion from the outset.

Ledecky touched the wall first, winning the event for the fourth-straight Games. Titmus won silver and later spoke of her admiration for the champion.

Team USA then pegged another gold back on the Aussies with a world-record swim in the 4x100m mixed medley relay.

The Australian team of Kaylee McKeown, Josh Yong, Matt Temple and Mollie O’Callaghan won bronze.

It leaves Australia one gold medal ahead of the USA – seven to six – at the pool in Paris, with one night to go.

Drama at the track

The blue riband women’s 100m sprint at the Stade de France was rocked by the news Shelly-Anne Fraser-Pryce had suddenly withdrawn from her semi-final.

It appeared the Jamaican great was denied entry to the venue, with injury being the reason seeming unlikely after Fraser-Pryce was named to run in her country’s 4x100m relay team.

The race was won by Julien Alfred, who gave St Lucia its first-ever Olympic medal in 10.72 second (-0.1 wind), in a major upset.

Favourite Sha’Carri Richardson of the US was second.

Earlier, two brutal disqualifications for false starts in the men’s 100m ended the Olympic hopes of Jeremiah Azu of Great Britain and Canada’s Aaron Brown.

Australia’s sprint king and cult hero Rohan Browning was eliminated in the heats by teammate Josh Azzopardi.

Tennis gold drought broken

Australia claimed its first tennis gold medal since the Woodies in 1996 after Matt Ebden and John Peers came back from a set down to win the doubles title at Roland-Garros.

US pair Rajeev Ram and Austin Krajicek took the first set and went up a break in the second but the Australians clawed their way back to win in a gripping match tiebreaker 6-7 (6), 7-6 (1), 10-8.

‘It was sick’: Windsurfer stoked with silver

Grae Morris, a 20-year-old from Sydney, won Australia’s first windsurfing medal in 32 years on Saturday with silver in the final in Marseille.

Morris had been the top-ranked competitor going into the final, which was delayed after still conditions, but was pipped by Israel’s Tom Reuveny.

“That was awesome,” he told Nine’s Olympic coverage from the Marseilles Marina.

“The best racing we’ve ever done. It was sick.”

Jess Fox upstaged by younger sister

Noemie Fox upstaged her gold-medal-winning sister, Jess, as both siblings cruised into the elimination round of the women’s kayak cross.

Jess took second place in her heat before Noemie stormed home once her number was called, crossing the finish line while her three opponents were stuck battling each other at the final upstream gate.

Biles wins again

Another day, another Simone Biles gold medal- the seventh of her career.

This time it was in the individual vault, with two more events to come on Monday for the US great.

Algerian boxer back in the ring, Australia guaranteed medal

Algerian boxer Imane Khelif broke down in tears after winning her quarter-final in the women’s 66kg category amid intense media and public interest over her gender.

Khelif defeated Hungary’s Anna Luca Hamori at the North Paris Arena and was overcome with emotion.

She’ll move into the semi-finals, where she is guaranteed at least a bronze medal; Olympic boxing awards bronze medals to losing semi-finalists.

In great news for Australian boxing fans, Charlie Senior also guaranteed himself an Olympic medal with a win in his 57kg quarter-final.

Senior will now fight Uzbekistan’s Abdumalik Khalokov in the semi-finals, with the loser awarded a bronze medal under Olympic boxing rules.

Senior celebrated again with a backflip in the ring after he took another step towards winning Australia’s first-ever boxing gold.

Elsewhere…

The Sharks knocked off Olympic champions Hungary 9-8 in the water polo:

The Hockeyroos booked a quarter-final spot after a 3-1 win over Spain:

And Australia’s rowers missed out on the medals with a a bout of gastro causing a late shake-up to the men’s eight crew while there was a heartbreaking fourth-placed finish in the women’s single sculls:

Watch every moment, every medal of the Olympic Games Paris 2024 live and free on Channel 9 and 9Now. Plus, every event streaming ad free, live and on demand with 4K on Stan Sport.