The Guardian

Paris 2024 Olympics day 13: athletics, taekwondo, diving, golf and more – live

By Geoff Lemon and Angus Fontaine (earlier) with James WallaceTaha Hashim (now),

1 day ago

https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=3gmQr2_0urDbwVE00 — Britain’s Bradley Sinden on his way to the semi-finals of the taekwondo. Photograph: Ed Alcock/The Guardian

4.13pm BST

The best grabs of the day. My personal favourite? India’s keeper, face on the floor, after securing bronze in the men’s hockey.

4.09pm BST

Thanks, Jim. Hello, all. Please keep me company with your thoughts, queries, advice on what I should be watching. Here’s another identity thief messaging in.

Just another non-Olympian George Mills emailing in. Friends and family have been keeping me abreast of my progress in the games!
Somewhat ironically I’m looking at running the Hackney Half next year (though surely in the bottom half).

4.02pm BST

Righto, that’s me done for today , thanks for your company and comments. The thrill-seeking Taha Hashim is settling into the live-blogging armchair with the women’s kitesurfing final about to get grooving. Over to you Taha!

3.50pm BST

This is a really good idea (and execution) for a piece by Elle Hunt:

“The goal is to win a medal and secure a place in history. So how do athletes cope when they are denied that dream by a tiny margin?”

Bruno Fratus, Brazilian swimmer, 35

Placed fourth in the 50m freestyle at London 2012. Won bronze at Tokyo 2020

“It was 15 years ago, but it feels like yesterday. I was so confident, so that fourth place threw me to a place of frustration and disappointment. Until I finally got my medal [eight years later], I felt like I was going through this really dark valley, trying to see the light.
Looking back, I don’t think I was overly confident in what I could achieve – I was just banking on something that doesn’t really get you the race. My training had been so painful, I thought there was no chance that anyone could have worked harder than I did – which is a little bit arrogant.
But that’s the thing about the Olympics: what’s the line between failure and success? For me, it was two-hundredths of a second. That’s why it’s so important that we’re talking about athletes’ mental health. I think if that conversation had been common 15 years ago, that fourth place wouldn’t have been so painful.
I’ve thought about quitting the sport many times, but after the disappointment of 2012, it was the opposite – I felt the urge to get back in the water the next day. It was just a matter of needing to get better, faster, stronger – to find ways of reaching the wall before everybody else.
For eight years, I was working towards this one goal. I learned to enjoy the process and have fun doing it, and not to focus on the outcome so much. My attitude towards the Olympics also became a little less romanticised. In London 2012, it had felt like: “I’m sure as hell supposed to be here.” In Tokyo 2020, it almost felt too big for me.
Winning the bronze felt like getting home after a long day at work, wearing tight shoes, and finally getting barefoot: it was the greatest feeling of relief ever. Fourth place at the Olympics is not a bad result, but the medal gave me peace of mind. It was almost like the universe aligned to give me permission to carry on with whatever else I wanted to do with my life.”

Updated at 3.57pm BST

3.42pm BST

Men’s Diving: Jordan Houlden speaks to the BBC after coming fifth in the men’s 3 metre diving final :

It’s a great achievement to finish fifth and to be in the finals as well - that’s what my main aim was - to be in the finals and I did it .
I came in here with just, guns blazing I got a little bit nervous, nerves kicked in and I got a bit edgy but I think I did alright with the nerves I had but yeah - great.
I know I can do a lot better in there, there are some dives I could have been a lot sharper, better, cleaner on the end as well and but I’m still going be happy with fifth. Fifth in the Olympics is not too bad.”

3.31pm BST

This is excellent live-blog fodder courtesy of another George Mills:

“Hi James, as a non-Olympian George Mills I’ve had a funny few days as all of a sudden a lot of people have been coming up to me telling me about how someone with my name is running in the Olympics. Sadly my running prowess is limited and I’m a humble accountant from London.

I’d be interested to know if anyone else reading your live blog shares a name with an Olympian and is therefore dealing with lots of people asking them how their Olympics are going.”

Any petrol-station attendant Chris Hoy’s out there? Let’s be having ya.

Updated at 3.33pm BST

3.28pm BST

Men’s Diving: It’s all over in the Men’s 3 metre diving final. Our man Ewan Murray is poolside in the aquatic centre where it was a tough afternoon for Great Britain and a golden one for China.

Disappointment for the Team GB duo Jack Laugher and Jordan Houlden after they fell - pun intended - well short of the medals in the men’s 3m springboard. The gold medal quickly became a straight fight between China’s Siyi Xie and Zongyuan Wang. Only Mexico’s Osmar Olvera Ibarra threatened to gatecrash the party.
Xie edged out his compatriot for the top prize. Mexico took bronze. Holden finished fifth, there were no tears of Laugher for Jack... who finished seventh.

3.24pm BST

Men’s Hockey: India claim bronze!

Spain took the lead at the blue-hued Yves-du-Manoir Stadium but India came back and pipped them. Harmanpreet Singh popped up to notch two penalty corner goals to secure India’s place on the podium.

Germany will take on the Netherlands in the gold medal ding-dong later this evening, a 6pm tap off in that one.

Updated at 3.44pm BST

3.19pm BST

Weightlifting:

“Could a caffeine-fueled 20-year-old from Georgia who doesn’t have a driver’s license and trains out of his family’s garage be at the fore of an American weightlifting resurgence? It might be too early to say, but there’s a smouldering optimism about the US camp which only grew on Wednesday when Hampton Morris became the first men’s lifter from the United States to win an Olympic medal in four decades by taking bronze in the men’s 61kg division.”

Only seven coffees? Pah – lightweight . I’m on my third cafetière of the day after being rudely awoken by a toddler at 5am… *oh yep just remembered* I can barely lift an earthenware mug. As you were.

3.13pm BST

Team GB's Bradly Sinden through to Taekwando semi-final!

It was a closely fought thing, (forgive me…is all that I can say) after he lost the second round 11-9 to Marko Golubic of Croatia but Sinden took the decider and the man from Doncaster is now just win away from a guaranteed silver medal.

Not a bad spot for it either:

3.05pm BST

Women’s Shot put: Bad news for Team USA. Beau Dure has the story:

In one of the biggest shocks to Team USA so far in the Stade de France, two-time world shot put champion Chase Jackson has failed to qualify for the final.
Jackson didn’t qualify for the Tokyo Olympics, falling short in the ever-difficult US trials after a bout with Covid. This year, she has the fourth-best throw in the world at 20.10 meters. She would have advanced to the final with a throw of 18.17 meters, but after fouling twice, she only managed 17.60.”

Updated at 3.11pm BST

3.01pm BST

Drama! Accreditation shenanigans and Taxi rank squabbles. Ewan Murray has the scoop:

More drama has emerged from the Indian wrestling community in Paris after the sister of one of their competitors was detained by police for attempting to enter the athletes’ village with her sibling’s accreditation. The same wrestler had to deny speculation her coaches got into a serious dispute with a Parisian taxi driver.”

“ How funny were that sketch earlier? Up near that Taxi rank? Oh no you would have missed it think it was when you went to the bank to the Olympic village using your sister’s accreditation ”

2.55pm BST

Taekwondo: Men’s 68kg quarter-final Eeeesht. I think Croatia’s Marko Golubic just dislocated his finger during his bout with GB’s Bradly Sinden… and his coach just nonchalantly popped it back in and patted him on the back. “Off you go”.

It’s enough to put you off your afternoon packet of Jaffa Cakes. Thank the high heaven I’m not on the Cadbury’s chocolate fingers. That was hardcore.

Sinden starts well, taking the first round 8-6.

Updated at 2.55pm BST

2.45pm BST

Golf: Women’s Round Two

Our US colleague and live-blogger supremo Beau Dure sends this update from the Parisian links:

French golfer Céline Boutier held a three-shot lead after the first round and had a solid front nine in the second round at 1 under. Then it all unraveled. Double bogey on 13, bogey on 14, double bogey on 15.
If she had played those three holes at par, she’d still be in the lead. Instead, she’s five shots back. I’m obliged by the rules of my alma mater to note that she played college golf at Duke.
In other news, they finally have enough wind in Marseille to hold the medal races in kite sailing, which is wild stuff.”

Updated at 2.50pm BST

2.43pm BST

Diving: Men’s 3m Final: “ Noooooo ” groans Leon Taylor on the BBC commentary as Jack Laugher fluffs his third dive and sends up an almighty splash upon entering the pool. The camera pans to his friends and family in the crowd and they heave their heads in their hands. It was a bad dive, the pressure telling in this final, the judges score it with… a 35.70. Cripes. That could well be curtains for Laugher’s medal hopes.

Updated at 2.47pm BST

2.37pm BST

Taekwondo: Men’s 68kg quarter-final

Team GB’s Bradly Sinden is just about to duke it out with Croatia’s Marko Golubic for a spot in the Taekwondo semi-finals. Will be keeping an eye on it but there is drama unfolding in the diving pool…

2.31pm BST

Diving: Men’s 3m Final: China’s Wang Zongyuan nails his second round dive and scores a towering 91.00 from the judges!

He overtakes his team-mate Xie Siyi to go top of the standings, Siyi is now in bronze position with Mexico’s Osmar Olvera in silver.

Jack Laugher is currently in fourth place, seven points off the medals. Three rounds to go!

2.26pm BST

Diving: Men’s 3m Final: Huge cheers as the majority French crowd cheer their man Jules Bouyer on. A hush as he starts his bounce on the board… and an explosion of noise as he pulls of a beauty of a dive and enters the water with barely a splash!

Team GB’s Jack Laugher is up next and he improves on his first round, no edge of the board drama this time and a decent execution on a high level of difficulty. He scores an 84 and goes up to second position, for the time being.

2.18pm BST

Thanks Geoffles. I’m trained on the aquatic centre and the final of the men’s 3m diving . Can I just tell you something – I love watching the diving. As someone who can barely jump in from the side of a pool without ‘issues’ it boggles my mind. The commentary on the BBC is always fantastic too.

They’ve just finished the first round and the two Chinese divers have immediately headed to the top of the standings. Xie Siyi is in the gold medal position with a score of 86.70 and fellow countryman Wang Zongyuan is in second on 81.60.

For Team GB, Jordan Houlden is tied for fourth on 76.50, with Jack Laugher jumping slightly skewiff off the corner of the board to finish round one in joint sixth position - on 74.80.

2.08pm BST

Alright, I’m out of here. Spain up 10-5 in the water polo semi. The men’s 3m diving final is about to start. Enjoy your time with Jimmy Wallace.

Updated at 2.13pm BST

2.06pm BST

Hockey: India are back in it! Harmanpreet Singh has scored twice in three minutes, once to end the second quarter and once to start the third. Both penalty corners. Does anyone score in hockey in any other way? A couple of other penalties have been saved each way. Spain now need to respond to challenge for bronze.

2.04pm BST

“I might have missed it in the liveblog – did you or whoever was on earlier see that two-time gold medallist and media favourite Jade Jones lost her first bout?”

I did not see this, Beau Dure. There were about 500 taekwondo matches earlier that were beyond my ken to summarise. You can find the results in here , though.

Related: Paris Olympics 2024: results

Updated at 2.07pm BST

2.01pm BST

“Fitting that Germany wins the Men’s K4 blue riband gold medal,” writes in Jeremy Boyce. “In much the same way that it was the British who invented competition skiing, it was the Germans, in the 20s and 30s, who first popularised the sport of canoeing as a leisure pursuit, rather than being a functional activity, for making necessary journeys, hunting, fishing. My friend Volker’s dad was still eskimo rolling into his 80s.”

Volker’s Dad is a good band name.

2.00pm BST

Golf: Some more context on Morgane Metraux’s card – she shot two under in her first round, with four birdies and two bogeys, then a much more dramatic second round: three bogeys, but also two eagles and five birdies. Hence the six under. I think that adds up? Golf is not my sport and never will be.

Yin and Korda have gone to 5 under with birdies on the 11th, by the by.

1.52pm BST

Some more context on that Italian sailing gold from earlier, with a British medal hope dashed by officials.

1.45pm BST

Golf: Second round of four in the women’s comp today, a few golfers have finished up but most are still out there. Morgane Metraux is the clubhouse leader at 6 under, the Swiss finished up on 66 for the round and is done. Lydia Ko for New Zealand is 6 under and currently playing her 16th hole.

Nelly Korda and Yin Ruoning (USA and China) on 4 under while playing the 10th of their second round, nobody else is better than three under, including several who have finished their round.

Updated at 1.56pm BST

1.41pm BST

Water polo: The women’s semi-final is starting, between Netherlands and Spain, who are leading it early 1-0.

Australia and the USA women play the second semi at 18:35 Paris time. The American men beat Australia a day or two ago for a semi-final spot, so there’s a score to settle.

1.30pm BST

Hockey: Spain into the lead against India, Marc Miralles scores from a penalty corner after 18 minutes. India have had a player come off after being struck in the head with the ball as an attacking cross came in, which was nasty.

1.08pm BST

For the KJT enthusiasts, here’s more detail from Alexandra Topping on site.

“Katerina Johnson-Thompson has started brilliantly in this heptathlon, and has gone into first place after the first two events here at the Stade de France.
The reigning world champion, who was not fully fit coming into these games because of a persistent tendonitis problem, pulled out a season’s best of 13.40 seconds in the first event, the 100m hurdles.
It wasn’t looking great in the high jump, but an effort of 1.92 metres, again her best of the year, put her in pole position. After the first two events Johnson-Thompson leads with 2197 points after two events, with her Belgian rival Nafi Thiam on 2173. There is still the shot put and the 200m to come tonight, with the long jump, javelin and 800m coming tomorrow.
The increasingly tense high jump competition showed what this event is all about, as KJT and Thiam, 29, battled it out for the highest jump. Thiam looked in great form, sailing over each height perfectly until 1.95 metres, at which point she failed her three attempts.
Johnson-Thompson, 31, looked less assured, needing a couple of attempts to clear the bar at 1.86, 1.89 and 1.92. After sailing over on her third attempt at the latter she hit the mat repeatedly with her hands. At 1.95 she pulled out of her first attempt before knocking off the bar on the next two.
American Anna Hall is the young challenger coming into this event. The 23-year-old was left in third place after the first two events, after a weak hurdles race, usually one of her strengths. A season’s best jump of 1.89 metres in the high jump put her up to third place overall with 2164.
Johnson-Thompson’s team-mate Jade O’Dowda is currently in ninth after hitting a ceiling at 1.80 metres in the high jump. She has 2024 points.”

Updated at 1.26pm BST

1.04pm BST

Hockey: The bronze medal men’s game has begun, with India versus Spain. No score.

The gold game between Netherlands and Germany is 18:00 local time today. Five hours from now.

1.00pm BST

Germany pip Australia in the K4

Canoe sprint: What a microscopic margin! Four hundredths of a second between gold and silver after the Aussie men surged at the end.

Spain goes out hardest at the start, tries to do what New Zealand did in the women’s race, but can’t quite hold on. Germany push up past them after the halfway mark, then Australia from a fair way back in third come up to challenge the Germans. They go bow by bow through the final stages, but it never looked like Australia quite headed them. The Germans hold it by a fraction at the close.

Max Rendschmidt, Max Lemke, Jacob Schopf and Tom Liebscher-Lucz will top the podium ahead of Riley Fitzsimmons, Pierre van der Westhuyzen, Jackson Collins and Noah Havard.

12.54pm BST

Canoe sprint: A false start in the men’s K4 500 metres. Annoying Schoolteacher Award goes to the race official who keeps yelling into a bullhorn, “Gentlemen, return to the start line. Paddlers, come around to the start line.”

Dude, they know. They’ve done this before. Shut it.

12.49pm BST

Rhythmic gymnastics: We take a break there after two rotations, with 90 minutes or so until the other two take place.

Sofia Raffaeli is currently in the lead for Italy, ahead of Boryana Kaleyn for Bulgaria and Taisiia Onofriichuk of Ukraine.

12.46pm BST

New Zealand gold in the K4!

Canoe sprint: New Zealand boss that race from start to finish. They go out hard and put a big lead on the opposition from the start. The Germans choose to let that happen and then attack in the second half of the course. It looks like Germany will catch them but then the Kiwis find something in reserve, and pull away in the final stretch, finishing perhaps a metre clear in the end.

A sixth Olympic gold and a seventh Olympic medal for Lisa Carrington, who was up front in this boat, leading Alicia Hoskin, Olivia Brett and Tara Vaughan.

“Thanks girls, well done,” one of them shouts in low-key Kiwi fashion to one of the departing teams as they disembark.

Germany silver, Hungary bronze. The Australians bombed out and finished dead last by almost a second.

Updated at 12.59pm BST

12.40pm BST

Canoe sprint: The women’s K4 final is coming up. Norway, China, Spain, Germany, NZ, Hungary, Poland, Australia, with Beere, Bull, Clarke and Steinepreis who won their semi convincingly.

12.38pm BST

Sailing: The kite semi-finals have been delayed due to bad weather at Marseille, for all you kite freaks out there. Don’t lie, we know about you.

12.37pm BST

Canoe sprint: China win the men’s double 500 metres race by a distance, with Liu and Ji finishing two seconds behind their Olympic record that they set two days ago, but most of two seconds ahead of Italy. Spain just claim the bronze, though they don’t know until a couple of minutes later when the close finish is formalised. Fourth are the unaffiliated Russians.

Romania, France, Kazakhstan won the B final earlier, which despite a lot of attempted research I still can’t figure out the point of. Feel free to let me know.

12.32pm BST

Rhythmic gymnastics: Well, we’ve seen Brazil make an impact on artistic gymnastics in the last two Olympics via Rebeca Andrade, who won gold in the vault in Tokyo and another beating Simone Biles on floor this year.

Might be an influence in rhythmic as well, with Barbara Domingos pulling up the third-best score of qualifying with her hoop routine. It’s a lot of fun: Lion King themed in the music, and she has a lion’s face stitched into her green leotard and is channelling that through her dance moves. That’s a good time.

12.13pm BST

Sailing: Gold for Italy in the mixed multihull race, ahead of Argentina and New Zealand.

Updated at 12.37pm BST

12.05pm BST

Gold for Indonesia in the speed climbing!

There has been a strong Indonesian presence at this event, and Veddriq Leonardo clinches it with a gold medal in a brilliant men’s final. Two hundredths of a second separate him Wu Peng of China, 4.77 to 4.75.

They’ve both clocked career best times in a head-to-head gold medal match. And in a lovely moment once they reach the ground, Wu Peng beams at his opponent and embraces him with sincerity.

It will leave mixed feelings for Sam Watson of the USA, who set a new world record a few minutes earlier… while winning bronze.

He already had the world record of 4.79 before today. He climbed a 5.03 to win his quarter-final, then lost his semi in 4.93.

Only to somehow, climbing for bronze, pull out a 4.74 to win, in a faster time than silver or gold.

Updated at 12.26pm BST

11.56am BST

Heptathlon: The shot put will be tonight at about 18:30 local time, if you’re wondering.

11.54am BST

Heptathlon: Thiam and Johnson-Thompson both top out at 1.92, with three fails at 1.95.

Jade O’Dowda was sixth for GB on 1.80 after the Belgian Noor Vidts plus Dokter and Hall.

Johnson-Thompson leading the overall standings from Thiam, Hall, and Vidts after the hurdles and the high jump.

Still the shotput, 200 metres, long jump and javelin to go.

11.50am BST

Rhythmic gymnastics: Time to once again put this on the record: this sport must be the one that people hang shit on the most often, either this or synchronised swimming.

But it doesn’t deserve that at all.

A real mystery why people say “not a real sport” about something that only women compete in, and something that has a style element. Wonder why that could be…

But athletically it’s extraordinary. The level of co-ordination to control not just your own movement but the apparatus as well. We lose our minds when some footballer volleys the ball to themselves, but they don’t do it with a 10-metre elevation while doing a couple of back handsprings.

Anyways, been watching some of the all-around qualification this morning, where gymnasts take a turn at all four apparatus – clubs, hoop, ribbon, ball. Exceptional skill on display as usual.

Updated at 12.23pm BST

11.43am BST

Heptathlon: Johnson-Thompson jumps 1.92! On her third and final attempt, she pulls it out and the crowd goes nuts.

Anna Hall bumps off the bar on her third attempt.

Then there were two. And they’ll attempt 1.95.

Updated at 12.22pm BST

11.40am BST

Gold in the sailing for Austria

No, that’s not a typo, it’s not supposed to say Australia. A landlocked country has won the mixed dinghy medal race ahead of famously maritime nations Japan and Sweden.

Updated at 11.57am BST

11.37am BST

Heptathlon: Drama in the high jump! Sofie Dokter withdraws after two failed attempts at 1.89.

Hall and Johnson-Thompson both clear it to catch up with Nafissatou Thiam.

So Thiam gears up again and jumps a 1.92.

Updated at 11.43am BST

11.34am BST

Some more from the field, as in the one next to the track.

11.33am BST

Heptathlon: Interesting results in the high jump section. A lot of competitors have bombed out at 1.74, Australia’s Tori West a jot lower at 1.71.

But four have gone on to 1.86: Sofie Dokter, Anna Hall, Katarina Johnson-Thompson, and Nafissatou Thiam. The latter has now cleared 1.89, and the others are trying to catch up.

So that top group is the order above is Netherlands, USA, GB, with Belgium leading.

Updated at 11.43am BST

11.25am BST

A much-asked question answered: about those who finish fourth.

11.24am BST

And from the men’s 100m relay heats: “Oooooo that was close for the Team GB men. It was a photo finish, but GB sneaked into the third spot and will automatically qualify for the final tonight.”

11.23am BST

Women’s 100m relay: The latest from Alexandra Topping.

“Team GB’s women have smashed their heat of the 100m relay, coming in pole position with 42.03 (the World and Olympic record belongs to the USA, who ran it in 40.82 at London 2012). Big smiles from Bianca Williams, Imani Lansiquot, Amy Hunt and Desiree Henry. Huge wall of noise here for the French team who finish the heat in second place.”

11.17am BST

Diving: Qualification for the women’s 3 metre springboard final is done. The dozen going through include a couple of British hopes and the Australian Maddison Keeney who finished second.

Chen Yiwen, China
Maddison Keeney, Australia
Chiara Pellacani, Italy
Chang Yani, China
Alejandra Estudillo Torres, Mexico
Julia Vincent, South Africa
Grace Reid, Great Britain
Nur Dhabita Sabri, Malaysia
Saskia Oettinghaus, Germany
Valeria Antolino, Spain
Emilia Nillson Garip, Sweden
Yasmin Harper, Great Britain

11.09am BST

Table tennis: China have swept France 3-0 to go into the final of the men’s team event, up against Sweden. France will play Japan for bronze.

11.06am BST

Canoe sprint: It’s a cruel qualification process in the men’s K4: five entrants in the semi, four of them will go through. So you’re competing to not come last, and only last place gets knocked out.

That’s Canada in semi one, and Denmark in semi two.

Australia qualify first in the first semi, and set a new Olympic record in the process. 1:19:22, two seconds outside the world record but they eased up when they had the race won.

Germany win semi two. The other qualifiers are Hungary, Lithuania, New Zealand, Serbia, Spain and Ukraine.

11.05am BST

Lead climbing: So McNeice for GB and Mackenzie for Australia go through, 7th and 6th respectively, ahead of South Korea’s Seo. Then from fifth up, Bertone for France, Mori for Japan, Raboutou for USA, Pilz for Australia, Garnbret who topped both boulder and lead points to finish top by nearly 40 points. She’s totalled 195.7 compared to Pilz with 156.9. Talk about dominance.

There are your finalists. The final is on Saturday.

11.02am BST

Lead climbing: Last, we have the best of the best. Janja Garnbret, who won gold for Slovenia in the three-part combined event in Tokyo in an incredible performance.

She’s such a presence on the wall, taller and more powerful than some of the wiry climbers. You can see the muscles rippling across her shoulders as she works across the sideways section near 45 points, then through the 60 with no problem at all, fingertipping a hold of her entire weight.

Right to the top, gets her hand into the 100 point hold but doesn’t quite hang on! Falls there as Mori Ai did, but what a route.

10.56am BST

Lead climbing: Two climbers to go, and Mori Ai nearly gets a perfect 100 on the lead wall! Just falls going for the final hold. What a run from the diminutive Japanese climber. At one transition she swung her whole body weight out in almost a scorpion kick, then used the momentum to shift to the next hold.

10.49am BST

Lead climbing: Incredible climb from Jessica Pilz, the Austrian climber who was prominent in Tokyo and also won the combined world champs in 2021. She very nearly clocks the whole wall, ending with an 88.1 in lead alone, and naturally shoots to the top of the rankings.

Brooke Raboutou for the USA gets a 72.1, up into that final patch of yellow holds near the top. She’s second now.

Two climbers to go.

10.46am BST

Canoe sprint: Australia’s women go through to the final in the K4 500 metres – that’s four paddlers in a kayak.

Ella Beere, Aly Bull, Alexandra Clarke and Yale Steinepreis burn through their semi to win it comfortably from Norway after leading the whole race.

Updated at 11.04am BST

10.35am BST

Alexandra Topping is at the athletics.

“There is an amazing atmosphere here at the Stade de France, where we have a brilliant day of track and field ahead. Including - for my money - its best event: the heptathlon!
I’ll be following Liverpool’s favourite daughter Katarina Johnson-Thompson over the next two days as she attempts to achieve her Olympic potential - she finished 14th at her debut Olympics in 2012, came sixth in 2016 and failed to finish in 2020 because of injury.
The 31-year-old, who has once again struggled with injury in the lead up to the Games, is not the favourite, but she’s an athlete of huge talent and in the next 48 hours, British fans will hope she will be in the running.
After becoming world heptathlon champion again in Budapest last year , she pulled out of the European championships heptathlon at the start of June after only three events. She missed a fortnight of training and had a number of injections in her achilles.
We’ve finished the 100m hurdles, and we’re deep into the high jump - at this stage there is a lot of moving up and down the ranks so there is not much point looking at the leaders in the field this early on. Following the heptathlon requires quite a lot of board watching as every event - basically how fast you are, how high you jump, how far you throw - is translated into points. And points make prizes (sorry).
The Belgian Nafissatou (Nafi) Thiam, 29, is the one to beat here. She only came 5th in her heat with a time of 13.56 (she’s quite tall, which isn’t an advantage in the hurdles). But Thiam really dominates in the field events and she’s also strong at the 800m - she’s the ultimate all-rounder, which, of course, is what this event is all about. Emma Oosterwegel from the Netherlands came first in this one.
The youngster Anna Hall, 23, from Team USA is also among those to watch in the heptathlon - in the third heat she came only 6th but with a decent time of 13.36.”

10.33am BST

Lead climbing: Nonaka Miho of Japan, taking on the wall with her hair full of coloured streaks, falls a couple of moves short of McNeice, ending in fifth spot. She’ll have to rely on other results if she’s going to qualify. Remember the top eight go through to the final.

10.29am BST

Lead climbing: Home-town hope Oriane Bertone goes to the top of the rankings with a strong climb, though she falls like so many approaching that 60-point transition. Her huge bouldering score is enough to go to the final though. Erin McNeice for GB is third – she’ll go through if one more climber falls, or be knocked out if they all pass her combined score of 123.7.

10.24am BST

Lead climbing: A barnstorming climb for Seo Chaehyun of South Korea, who gets across the 60-point section transition that has seen a lot of athletes fall. They basically have to jump at that point to catch another hold, and it’s extremely hard. She does it, notches 72 for the lead, and into third spot.

There are still seven climbers to go, which means Mackenzie has qualified for Australia. The final seven could qualify, or if they fall, could send another of the current top eight through.

10.17am BST

Lead climbing: These are the women’s semi-finals, by the by. Molly Thompson-Smith for Team GB just put up a really strong lead climb, finally stacking it at 57 points, but she had a very low boulder score so she’s well back in the pack.

On the other hand, Oceania Mackenzie for Australia attacks the wall confidently but falls with a 45.1, but in her case that’s enough to take the lead because of her excellent boulder score of 79.6, she just about topped that discipline.

Updated at 10.28am BST

10.12am BST

Thanks Wal. For me, the timing is perfect, because we’re into one of my very favourite Olympic disciplines, the lead climbing.

If you haven’t been watching so far, the Tokyo Olympics had all three climbing disciplines combined. This time they have split speed climbing off on its own, which is a straight race up a wall. They’ve left combined the bouldering, which is about technical moves on obstacles low to the ground, and the lead, which is way more awesome.

You have one massive wall of different holds, with different possible ways to tackle them, and each climber gets one shot at it, on their own, roped for safety, and they get points for each marker they pass on the way up the wall. They have six minutes to take their time over the route, and there are no second chances. It’s gripping, literally.

10.01am BST

The Women’s 10km marathon sprint swim was an amazingly gruelling watch this morning, imagine what it was like to actually do. Tip of the swimming cap and twist of the nose peg to all the competitors.

With Geoff Lemon’s arrival my stint for now is done, lots going on, over to you Geoff!

Updated at 10.05am BST

9.55am BST

Women’s Heptathlon 100m hurdles:

Heat three is a scorcher, the fastest of the trio we’ve seen this morning. Annik Kaelin of Switzerland looked mightily impressive, finishing with a personal best time of 12.87 seconds, she sits top of the table overall after round one.

USA’s Taliyah Brooks is second in 13.00 seconds flat and Belgium’s Noor Vidts third in 13.10 seconds. Anna Hall, the current World number one finished in sixth place in 13.36 seconds.

There’s not a lot to split them after the hurdles – Johnson-Thompson is currently in 79 points off the lead in eighth position. There’ll be lots of to-ing and fro-ing in the standings over the next six events.

Women’s Heptathlon Events Today:

10:05: High jump

18:35: Shot put

19:35: 200m

Then tomorrow things head towards a climax, the 800 metres always a magnificent spectacle to close it out.

09:05: Long jump

10:20: Javelin throw A

11:30: Javelin throw B

19:15: 800m

Updated at 12.14pm BST

9.41am BST

Diving: women’s 3m springboard semi-final: Just before we bring you the results of the third heat of the Heptathlon hurdles there’s been a bit of a, erm , twist in the women’s 3 metre springboard final with China’s Chang Yani – one of the synchro gold medalists – placing way down in 17th after the first round of dives.

Team GB’s Yasmin Harper and Grace Reid have had more solid first rounds but will have to improve to threaten the podium positions, they sit in 8th and 13th respectively. Four more rounds to go.

Updated at 9.42am BST

9.35am BST

This is a fascinating read from Sean Ingle on artistic swimming – the sport previously known as synchronised swimming:

Great Britain has never won an Olympic medal in artistic swimming – the sport previously known as synchronised swimming. But Kate Shortman, 22, and Izzy Thorpe, 23, are intent on making history – and defying glib misconceptions – in Paris.
This year they won Britain’s first world championship medals in the sport. And while artistic swimming may seem graceful and effortless, making it look easy is far from simple. The pair spend at least 40 hours a week working on their swimming, gymnastics, flexibility, yoga and routines – as well as lifting weights.
As they spend much of their three minute routine under water, the pair also do apnoea – or breathwork – training and can hold their breath for three minutes and 30 seconds.
“I can’t stress how hard the sport is,” says Shortman. “Because it’s so glamorous and we put on costumes, it’s a distraction from how hard it is. You have to be very athletic, very fit, flexible and strong. It encompasses everything really. And, just to say, the smile is fake.”
Thorpe adds: “We’re supposed to be smiling so you can’t see the pain.”

9.28am BST

Women’s heptathlon 100m hurdles: Oh no! There’s a delay before the second heat in the heptathlon hurdles as Germany’s Sophie Weissenberg has injured herself in the warm up. It looks like she clipped a hurdle with her trailing leg, that looked extremely painful.

This does not look good for the German, she stays down for a long time and will not be able to take part. Will bring you more news on that as it comes through but that could well be her competition over before it has started. What heartbreak, stuff of nightmares for the number nine ranked competitor.

The gun goes on heat two with a sombre mood in the air. Netherlands’ Emma Oosterwegel takes first place with 13.41 seconds with Germany’s Carolin Schaeffer in second. Belgium’s Nafissatou Thiam of Belgium – the defending champion – crossed the line fifth in 13.56 seconds.

Updated at 9.35am BST

9.14am BST

Women’s heptathlon 100m hurdles: Strong run from Johnson-Thompson as she crosses the line second with a season’s best of 13.40 seconds, Poland’s Adriana Sulek-Schubert took first place in 13.32 seconds.

Team GB’s Jade O’Dowda was third, also chalking up a season’s best of 13.53 seconds and Ireland’s Kate O’Connor came seventh in 14.08 seconds.

Colin Jackson on the TV commentary is pleased with what he saw from KJT:

You want to have a real confident start to these seven events. It takes a solid seven events to get that medal. Katarina Johnson-Thompson will be happy with a season’s best. It always helps when you arrive and achieve something you haven’t so far this season. A great start.”

Updated at 9.34am BST

9.11am BST

Ok, here we go with KJT at the start of the Women’s Heptathlon.

It’s the 100 metre hurdles first up and Team GB’s Jade O’Dowda is running in heat one alongside her, so too Ireland’s Kate O’Connor.

Jess Ennis in the BBC studio is sounding confident:

“I think Katarina is looking good. She had a fantastic year last year, becoming world champion for the second time.

She has got some great speed and is very good over the hurdles. It will be a good indication after the hurdles as to how her last few weeks have gone, going into the Olympic Games.”

Updated at 9.13am BST

9.00am BST

Before our attention firmly turns to Katarina Johnson-Thompson getting underway in the heptathlon just after 9am let’s catch up with the women’s Basketball quarter final where the USA are 88-74 to the good against Nigeria but they aren’t having it all their own way in the final quarter and have looked a bit ragged in places. It’s a spirited performance from Nigeria, they are the first African team to reach this stage of the competition in the Olympics, they go down eventually with the klaxon sounding the end of the match.

8.49am BST

That’s the second Olympic gold in this event for Sharon van Rouwendaal after she won at Rio in 2016.

Play it loud for Sharon’s everywhere.

‘Everytime the sun comes up she’s winning medals’

Shout out to Team GB’s Leah Crisp who finished 20th.

Updated at 9.05am BST

8.42am BST

Van Rouwendaal wins women’s 10km marathon sprint swim

GOLD for Sharon van Rouwendaal! She made the decisive move after two hours of battling the brutal current and brown waters of the Seine and it paid off in spades. She slaps the finish line with gusto and lets out a roar/exhausted sigh.

Spare a thought for Australia’s Moesha Johnson who led all of the way apart from those crucial final metres. It’s silver for her and bronze for Italy’s Ginevra Taddeucci!

I’m exhausted after just watching from my sofa. Time for some (well deserved? pah!) ochre hued liquid of my own in the form of a strong coffee. What a race!

Updated at 8.50am BST

8.33am BST

Sharon van Rouwendaal takes the lead with a hundred metres to go! The Dutch swimmer has been biding her time and pounces at the last! They’ve been at it for over two hours!

8.30am BST

Safe to say the words ‘Marathon Sprint’ fill me with a particular kind of dread. This Women’s 10km marathon sprint swim has been a gruelling watch, the tide is so strong that they are basically swimming on the spot and there’s just two seconds separating the leading three women, everything is going to hinge on the final turn!

The camera zooms in on one of the competitors ripping the top off a protein pouch without breaking stroke and downing the contents. The sun is beating down on the brown waters of the Seine and the crowd lining the banks are cheering them home…

Australia’s Moesha Johnson is still in the lead, The Netherlands’ Sharon van Rouwendaal and Italy’s Ginevra Taddeucci are right on her shoulder with a couple of hundred metres to go!

Updated at 8.30am BST

8.21am BST

Thanks Angus and hello everyone. Plenty going on already in a particularly golden looking Paris this morning. We’ve got less than an hour before Great Britain’s Katarina Johnson-Thompson gets underway in the Heptathlon, with the 100 metre hurdles, high jump and shot put taking place today.

KJT has experienced more than her fair share of Olympic heartbreak in the past decade and will be desperate to bring a medal home this time around.

Let’s hope she’s had her Weetabix pancakes or eggs benedict this morning…

Updated at 8.21am BST

8.06am BST

We have entered the final quarter of this women’s 10km marathon and the lead pack has broken away from the chasers. It’s still Moesha Johnson from Australian leading Sharon van Rouwendaal from the Netherlands and Italy’s Ginevra Taddeucci in third. Those three are taking that tough turn for the uphill leg of this penultimate lap.

But here’s some drama! Johnson has collided with a tyre and again the uphill turn has chewed into the leader’s margin. What a finish we have ahead of us in this most gruelling of Olympic swim events. And to bring you home and bring you up to speed on the women’s golf and taekwondo just getting underway…. here’s James Wallace!

Updated at 8.13am BST

7.55am BST

Like van Rouwendaal – whom she currently leads by two body lengths – Moesha Johnson spearheads a new wave of Australian open water stars at the Paris Olympics.

Johnson won her way to Paris via the World Aquatics Championships in Doha, where the Gold Coast swimmer claimed fourth in a frantic finale. There Johnson surged into the lead in the final kilometre but was swamped by van Rouwendaal in the final metres. Can the 26-year-old Australian avenge that loss here in Paris?

As lap four draws to a close, Johnson is maintaining that two metre lead over her Dutch rival with Italy’s Ginevra Taddeucci hanging tough in third. Despite being a two-hour race, in Tokyo the distance between gold and silver in the 10km was 0.9 of a second!

7.45am BST

As predicted the uphill leg has eaten into Sharon van Rouwendaal’s lead and now a combination of luck, guile and daring at the turn has swept Australia’s Moesha Johnson to the front. Italy’s Ginevra Taddeucci must have caught the same current because she has moved into third place and Australia’s Chelsea Gubecka is cruising in fourth. Japanese swimmer Airi Ebina has suffered most at that turn and has slipped back to eighth, 15 seconds from the lead pack.

7.36am BST

Our leader in the 10km marathon swim is Sharon van Rouwendaal , a legend of open swimming. The Dutch woman started as a short-form swimmer, cracking the Netherlands Olympic team in 2012. However a shoulder surgery at those Games hampered her efforts to make the finals in the 100m and 200m backstroke.

By redefining herself as a distance swimmer, the 30-year-old from Baarn did much better. At the 2016 Rio Games van Rouwendaal missed the finals of the 400m and so decided to withdraw from the 800m to focus on the 10km event. The decision paid off as conquered the turbulent Fort Copacabana to win gold in 1:56:32.1.

In that 2016 race, van Rouwendaal made her move at the 6km mark to streak away from the field. We are getting to that stage here in Paris and van Rouwendaal has reprised the tactic. She has opened up a handy lead on Johnson. That lead will condense when they turn for the uphill leg but as the swimmers breach the hour mark and refuel with their chosen gels, it’s the Dutch swimmer setting the pace.

Updated at 7.39am BST

7.23am BST

Catherine Ding has emailed me an intriguing line of inquiry:

Dear Angus, Nepo babies have got a lot of attention in the Guardian, usually accompanied by a sense of injustice and chastisement for a perceived lack of acknowledgement by the baby in question. However, that does not seem to apply to the Olympics. Leon Marchand, Jessica and Noemie Fox’s parentage are cited like evidence of their sporting pedigree. Is it just a matter of the relative hard work required in sport relative to the arts?

I’m not touching that one with a barge pole, Catherine. However, a barge pole would be handy in prising some of these marathon swimmers from being buffeted against the rough walls of the Seine. As the third lap gets underway the down-current leg finds Sharon van Rouwendaal still leading . However she now has two gold caps in her wake with Australians Moesha Johnson in second joined by compatriot Chelsea Gubecka who has surged to sit third. Japanese swimmer Airi Ebina has also made up ground to sit fourth.

There is now a 15-20m gap between this pack and the chasers but a long way to go.

Updated at 7.23am BST

7.08am BST

Here in the 10km marathon we’re at the half-hour mark and only into lap two. It’s the Dutch swimmer Sharon van Rouwendaal who has snatched the lead. Ginevra Taddeucci is second and Ana Marcela Cunha from Brazil has snuck up into third. Early leader Moesha Johnson is now in fourth.

Along with all the bacteria in the water, there is also blood. By hugging the rutted concrete walls of the Seine to offset the swirling currents, the athletes are sometimes tangling themselves in the weeds attached to the walls and slicing their knuckles, forearms and feet open.

Some might consider that bloodshed “sacrifice”, others call it “chum”. I just hope none of them flicked on this film to decompress last night…

Updated at 7.09am BST

6.56am BST

As the first lap of the women’s 10km marathon draws to a close, the pack has spread significantly in the 10km swim. That return leg ticked us over the 22 minuyte mark meaning it took 16 minutes compared to the SIX minutes of the “downhill” leg!

It’s Moesha Johnson in the gold cap leading with the Italian pair of Ginevra Taddeucci and Giulia Gabbrielleschi close behind and riding the Australian’s wake.

6.44am BST

Australia are cheering on Chelsea Gubecka and Moesha Johnson in this gruelling 10km event but there are plenty of Aussies chasing glory on Day 13.

Updated at 6.49am BST

6.40am BST

Of course the bigger issue for competitors hasn’t been getting a serving of E.Coli with their broccoli or bumping into a “Seine Cigar” – it has been the turbulence of the currents which have proved unexpectedly powerful. These swimmers are swimming with the current but as they hit the first turn, the return leg will find them stroking against it.

This is when tactics come into play. Although most of these competitors are heading for the reed-fringed river’s edge and the walls of the Seine to nullify as much of the current as possible, the swirling undertow is already having an impact on the pack. It took about 6.5 minutes for the first leg but the race pace has now slowed noticably and swimmers are digging deep to essentially swim uphill.

Updated at 6.57am BST

6.34am BST

Time for some live Olympic action! The women’s 10km swim is about to splash down in the Seine. As has become the custom, Paris’s most controversial venue has endured a barrage of testing for water quality. But under sunny skies, organisers have confirmed that bacteria levels in the river are at a level that is considered safe for the athletes. And so the swimmers are on their marks and ready to paint the town brown…

6.28am BST

The skateboarding events at these Games have features some of the youngest (and sweetest) athletes in competition. In this world of pimply prodigies, 51-year-old Andy Macdonald is a glorious anomaly. The “Rad Dad” and Team GB skater ruthlessly crushed a 12‑year‑old boy to qualify for these Games and provided endless entertainment iun competition despite missing the men’s park final yesterday.

As Barney Ronay says:

By the end, watching him work the crowd, beaming unstoppably, it was hard to avoid the sense he was representing another nation here. And that nation is the nation of 51-year-old men in cargo shorts.

6.13am BST

When Gustave Eiffel began cobbling together the 2,500,000 rivets and 7,300 tonnes of iron required for Paris’s most famous landmark, he wanted it to embody

not only the art of the modern engineer, but also the century of Industry and Science in which we are living, and for which the way was prepared by the great scientific movement of the 18th-century and by the Revolution of 1789, to which this monument will be built as an expression of France’s gratitude.”

Hosting beach volleyball under the Eiffel Tower wasn’t on Gustave’s wishlist but the event has been a magnificent success. In tonight’s women’s semi-finals, the Brazilians will face Australian’s Mariafe Artacho del Solar and Taliqua Clancy – silver medalists at the Tokyo Games three years ago – while the Canadians take on Nina Brunner and Tanja Hüberli of Switzerland.

For the USA, the event hasn’t gone to plan…

Updated at 6.14am BST

5.56am BST

For every rise there’s a fall and these Olympics have given us plenty of spills amid the chills. One of the scariest came last night when Ethiopia’s Lamecha Girma, the world record holder in the 3000m steeplechase, suffered a terrible fall in the Olympic final.

Girma hit his head on the track after his knee clipped a barrier on the final lap. The crowd at the Olympic stadium held their breath as the Tokyo siulver-medallist then lay motionless before being put in a neck brace and taken off on a stretcher by medics.

5.46am BST

Team GB’s Matt Hudson-Smith missed out on a 400m gold medal yesterday by just four-hundredths of a second. The bittersweet finish was magnified by the fact it would’ve been the first British gold in the men’s 400m since “the Flying Scotsman” Eric Liddell in 1924, a race made even more famous by its depiction in the 1981 classic Chariots of Fire.

Updated at 5.58am BST

5.30am BST

While it was a golden Day 12 for Australia, Team GB enjoyed a day of silver linings.

5.26am BST

That victory was all the more special for the incredible odyssey endured by the Australia team’s coach Tim Decker who has overcome more than most to steer the cyclists in his charge to great heights on and off the track. Tim told Kieran Pender:

For me, coaching has always been about more than writing a program on a bit of paper. Coaching is the connection and belief you instil in your athletes. Coaching is not shying away from challenges, making a result happen that an athlete thought wasn’t possible.

5.20am BST

One of the great boilovers of these Games came at the velodrome yesterday when the Australian men’s team pursuit pipped Team GB for gold in one of Olympic cycling’s greatest events. As Kieran Pender so vividly described, both teams traded millisecond-long leads in a high-speed, high-pain duel to the finish that ultimately delivered Australia’s first track cycling gold since 2012.

It is a race of extreme endurance, across 4,000 painful metres. It is a race where man and machine combine – with the aerodynamic benefits of equipment as closely scrutinised as individual training plans. It is a race where seconds are measured to the third decimal, to the single millisecond. And it is the race where, at long last, Australia are Olympic champions.

Updated at 5.33am BST

5.12am BST

One of the great things about Olympic Games is how they inspire fascinated spectators like you and I. Amidst all the gold medal-winning journalism and elite photography, the champions at The Crunch gift us amazing data visualisation about the Paris Games.

Updated at 5.12am BST

5.05am BST

Much is made of the athletic feats of competitors at these Paris Olympics. Not so much about the mental agility and psychological resilience required to scale such heights.

Jess Thom, the lead psychologist for Team Great Britain , told the Guardian’s Madeleine Finlay how she prepares her athletes for failure and success – and the challenges that arise when the games are over and they have to return to normal life.

Updated at 5.05am BST

5.02am BST

Simon Burnton reckons these are the other Day 13 highlights to look for…

Climbing
This is the last day with men and women in action. The women’s boulder and lead semi-final will be followed by the men’s speed final (the one event for each gender in Tokyo, combining all three disciplines, has since fissured into two). Since 2021 speed climbing has got a lot, well, speedier: the men’s world record has been broken 11 times since then, with Indonesia’s Veddriq Leonardo becoming the first person to go under five seconds last year and the USA’s Sam Watson bettering that mark twice on a single day in April.
Track cycling
Two of the great velodrome events conclude today, with the quarter-finals, semis and final of the women’s keirin – where riders follow a speed-controlled electric bike for a few laps before launching a wild sprint for the line – breaking up the four events of the men’s omnium, each of greater drama than the last, concluding with the brilliant, chaotic, bewildering and wonderful points race. The schedule is reversed, with men’s keirin and women’s omnium (plus the women’s sprint finals), on Sunday.
Athletics: women’s 400m hurdles
The anticipated showdown between Femke Bol of the Netherlands and Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone of the USA, the two fastest women of all time over this distance, could be one of the highlights of this year’s athletics competition. The American spent 2023 focusing on the flat and returned to the hurdles in Atlanta in May with the fastest time of the year so far, a mark that Bol beat 12 days later. Bol has also impressed on the flat in the last couple of years, breaking the world indoor record twice, but this is where they are best.

5.02am BST

The medal tally shows 72 nations have stepped onto the podium at the Paris Games.

Related: Paris Olympics 2024: results

5.01am BST

So what can we look forward to on Day 13?

Here are the medal events in play today (all times AEST)

15:30
🥇 Open Water Swimming Women’s 10km
🥇 Open Water SwimmingWomen’s 10km

20:54
🥇 Climbing Men’s Speed Small Final

20:57
🥇 Climbing Men’s Speed Big Final

21:30
🥇 Canoe Sprint Men’s C2 500m Final A
🥇 Canoe SprintMen’s C2 500mFinal A

21:40
🥇 Canoe Sprint Women’s K4 500m Final A

21:50
🥇 Canoe Sprint Men’s K4 500m Final A

22:00
🥇 Hockey Men Bronze Medal Match: India v Spain

23:00
🥇 Diving Men’s 3m Springboard Final
🥇 Weightlifting Women’s 59kg

To be rescheduled – Sailing Mixed 470 Medal Race & Mixed Nacra 17 Medal Race

5.00am BST

Preamble

Hello everybody and welcome to live coverage of the 13th official day of competition at the Paris 2024 Summer Olympics.

If Day 11 belonged to the USA, with Gabby Thomas and Cole Hocker excelling on the track and Amit Elor winning on the mat, then Day 12 was all Australia. The wizards from Oz surged to 18 gold on the back of a new record for most gold medals in a single day .

What made the green and gold army’s four-gold strike all the more remarkable was the diversity of disciplines from whence it sprang. There was gold in the field , gold at the skate park , gold on the high seas and gold inside the velodrome .

Already sitting third behind the superpowers of US and China, it extended Australia’s lead over France (13 gold) and Team GB (12) and lifted the dynamos from Down Under to the greatest gold medal tally in its history.