Australians enjoyed another successful day at , with John Peers and Matthew Ebden becoming only the second Australian tennis champions at the Olympics and Ariarne Titmus claiming silver in the 800m freestyle.
Sydneysider Grae Morris won silver for windsurfing — Australia’s first Olympic medal for the sport in 32 years — and the first for the 2024 sailing squad in Marseilles.
Looking to day nine, Australia has high medal hopes in high jump, as other Australian athletes try to make their mark in boxing, cycling and hockey.
Athletics
Nicola Olyslagers and Eleanor Patterson will compete in the women’s high jump finals at 3.55am AEST on Sunday.
The pair will take on the new record holder, Ukranian Yaroslova Mahuchikh, who beat the previous mark of 2.09m by 1cm last month at the Paris Diamond League — a record that had stood for 37 years.
Olyslagers took home silver at the Tokyo Games and Patterson, who was in recovery from a broken foot earlier this year, impressed in the qualifying round with a single miss at 1.92m.
Nicola Olyslagers said the recent new world record was motivating to see. Source: Getty / Cameron Spencer
Mahuchikh, Patterson and Olyslagers were on the podium at last year’s world championships in Budapest and Olyslager said watching the Ukranian beat the record was motivating.
“The more I jump against Yaraslova, the more I learn from her and the more we can both build each other up,” she said.
On the track, 21-year-old Reece Holder is up in the men’s 400m, while Claudia Hollingsworth and Abbey Caldwell will represent in the women’s 800m.
The men’s 100m final will be taking place at 5.50am AEST, although no Australians will be competing. Rohan Browning and Joshua Azzopardi were knocked out in round 1.
US track star Noah Lyles has a chance to land the title and restore pride to US sprinting, after in the rainy women’s 100m final on day eight.
The 100m men’s record is still held by Usain Bolt, who ran a record 9.63 seconds at the London Games in 2012.
Swimming
Australians Shayna Jack and Meg Harris will race in the women’s 50m freestyle final at 2.30am AEST, trying to match Cameron McEvoy’s gold medal effort.
The pair have already taken home gold in Paris for their efforts in the women’s 4×100 freestyle relay.
They ranked fourth and fifth respectively in the semi-finals the 50m event.
Shayna Jack (second from left) and Meg Harris (far right) took home golds in the 4x100m freestyle relay. Source: Getty / Xavier Laine
Boxing
Caitlin Parker will face Khadija Mardi of Morocco in the quarter final of the women’s 75kg boxing at 7.48pm AEST.
Parker’s appearance at Paris makes her the first Australian woman to box at two Olympics, with females only on the schedule since London 2012.
Amid fears that Paris would be the last appearance of boxing at the Olympics earlier this year, Parker spoke out against the potential decision saying that the dreams of kids starting out in the sport “could be shattered” and that it would be particularly devastating for women “who are just starting to create history in this sport”.
Caitlin Parker is the first Australian woman boxer to appear at two Olympic Games. Source: Getty / Matt King
Hockey
The Kookaburras will face a tough quarter-final clash against Netherlands after the team lost in a frustrating 3-2 game to India.
The silver medallists from Tokyo had a 19 shots on goal and five penalty corners but ultimately lost to the team that took bronze in Tokyo.
Their path to gold now involves the face-off with Netherlands and later, Belgium.
Cycling
Australians Grace Brown, Lauretta Hanson and Ruby Roseman-Gannon will compete in the women’s road roace at 10pm AEST.
Roseman-Gannon proved the unpredictability of road cycling earlier this year in the final stage of the Tour of Britain when she passed Luxembourg’s Christine Majerus, who had started celebrating her victory too early at the line.
Paris is Roseman-Gannon’s first Olympic Games.
Tennis
Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz will face long-time dominant force Serbian Novak Djokovic at 8pm AEST in a dream match for the Olympic final.
Alcaraz, at 21-years-old, hopes to become the youngest man to win an Olympic tennis gold. Meanwhile, Djokovic has the chance to be the oldest at 37-years-old.
The Olympic gold is the only major tennis victory that Djokovic has failed to claim so far.
