3 August 2024 • 12:12pm
11:59AM
Men reach relay swim final, women miss out A brilliant race by Team GB in the 4x100m medley relay as they finish second to USA in heat two to reach Sunday night’s final.
The Brits raced well, particularly Matt Richards, going fourth, securing a finishing time for the team of 3min 32.13sec, behind the Americans’ 3min 31.62sec.
A special mention too to Adam Peaty, who shook off Covid to help out the team.
Not such a good day’s work for Spain, who were disqualified for an early takeover.
In the women’s equivalent the British girls came fifth in their heat, despite a remarkable second leg by Angharad Evans, which means they miss out on the final.
11:42AM
Hinchliffe: ‘Job not done’ Louie Hinchliffe posted an impressive time in beating Noah Lyles in the first heat of the 100m, but he isn’t taking anything for granted.
“I had to get my game back from London so it felt great but the job’s not done,” he told the BBC. “I don’t want to get too ahead of myself.”
“I don’t really think much about the time. I just try and execute my race.”
Louie Hinchliffe crosses the line ahead of Noah Lyles to make a powerful statement in heat 3 of the 100m Credit: Reuters/Sarah Meyssonnier He’s certainly done that so far. What an Olympic debut!
11:37AM
Lyles won’t underrate rivals any more Interviewed after the race Noah Lyles, the favourite to win the 100m, has suggested the might not be able to take the heats too lightly going forward – or get involved in too much opposition-baiting.
“It is difficult [timing your pace in the heats],” said Lyles, who came second in the heat. “I downplayed my competitors for sure, you know coming in with a new 60m best and being like, OK, there’s no reason to really put any emphasis on it [running a fast time in the heats] but these guys proved to me that they’re ready to compete and I said, ‘alright, I can’t do that [take them lightly] any more’ so I promise you that will not happen again.”
11:23AM
Hinchliffe stuns Lyles in 100m Mightily impressive from Louie Hinchliffe, beating world champion Noah Lyles in running 9.98sec in his heat.
Just outside his 9.95sec personal best.
The one caveat is that he ran through the tape, finishing strongly, while Lyles and Kishane Thompson were certainly easing up.
But looks good for coach Carl Lewis’s expectation of his reaching Sunday’s final.
Read more about ‘Manny Trackiao’ here.
11:19AM
Azu hopeful he can run again Jeremiah Azu has just spoken about his disqualification and the reason he false-started in his 100m first heat.
Believe it or not, he thinks he might get a second chance to run:
“I’m feeling great, so it’s a shame,” he said. “There’s a lot of crowd noise, the pole vault’s going on, and I reacted to the sound [of that- and they’re saying I can’t run under protest, so I’m going to go back to the team and, hopefully, they can sort it out.
“They said maybe I can run by myself after, but, yeah, I’m just going to wait it out and see.
“It’s an Olympic crowd, they’re so excited. I don’t fault them, but we’re on the start line and somebody’s reacted to something that’s going on [in the pole vault] and it set me off — so I’m going to see what happens now.”
11:07AM
British sprinter disqualified! Drama in the heats — Jeremiah Azu has been announced as a false start in the heat and listed as DQ on the big screen.
Jeremiah Azu is shown a red card and disqualified after false-starting Credit: Reuters/Phil Noble The days of second, or even third, chances are long gone and, after prolonged discussions with the officials, he is now making his way off the track.
It’s an awful start to the men’s 100m for Team GB, although Azu was considered very much Britain’s third-best chance of winning a medal behind Zharnel Hughes and Louie Hinchliffe.
10:55AM
Road race off and running In the outskirts of Paris the men’s road race in under way.
Around 20km in Mikkel Bjerg leads the way for Norway, with the Netherlands’ Dylan van Baarle on his shoulder.
But the lead is chopping and changing with 240km of the 273 still to go, and they are currently on a bit of a climb of a course, which has an elevation of 2,800m.
Plenty of time yet for British hopefuls Tom Pidcock and and Josh Tarling to mount a challenge.
10:42AM
Defeats in hockey and archery Not such good news in the archery, I’m afraid, where Megs Havers has been knocked out at the quarter-final stage.
In truth she was no match for Lin Sih-yeon who won by a convincing 7-1.
And there was also a defeat for the women in the hockey where Argentina ran out 3-0 winners.
The British girls held their own until the 34th minute but once ahead the Albiceleste never looked back.
10:34AM
Moody off to a flyer Over to the Palace of Versailles where Becky Moody kept her cool to take Great Britain top of the leaderboard in the dressage.
Moody may have been a late stand-in for Charlotte Dujardin but she lives and breathes this sport. The 44-year-old from Yorkshire has represented her country at various age groups and levels throughout her career and was ready when her moment came. The bond with Jaegermeister, the horse she bred herself, was clear to see.
Moody was in complete control and so are Team GB after round one, with only Germany still to go.
10:21AM
Gold for Team GB Back on the water and it’s a brilliant gold for Team GB in the men’s eight!
The Dutch started like a shot out of a gun but the British boys kept their cool and reined them in with a measured display of power and rhythm.
Sholto Carnegie, Rory Gibbs, Morgan Bolding, Jacob Dawson, Charles Elwes, Tom Digby, James Rudkin, Tom Ford and Harry Brightmore take gold. Credit: Reuters/Yara Nardi That’s a third gold medal for this British rowing team. Hats off!
1. Great Britain 5min 22.88sec
2. Netherlands 5min 23.92sec
3. USA 5min 25.28sec
10:16AM
Moody going well The British women are two-down to Argentina in the hockey, with those quickfire goals coming at the start of the third quarter.
Over at Versailles Becky Moody, Charlotte Dujardin’s replacement, is putting her horse Jaegermeister through his paces and it’s a case of so far, so good.
Moody seems to be in complete control at this stage and looking well-set to close in on the current leaders, the Netherlands, who are ahead of Belgium and third-placed France.
10:02AM
Bronze for women’s eight Over on the lake and Team GB have won bronze in the women’s eight.
Romania put in a stunning performance to lead from the front and hold off the threat of Canada, who finished three-quarters of a second ahead of the British girls.
1. Romania 5min 54.39sec
2. Canada 5min 58.84sec
3. GB 5min 59.51sec
9:54AM
Bach plays down women’s boxing controversy Back to Bach’s press conference. Following around 20 minutes of the usual platitudes and back-slapping, the IOC president was grilled by a handful of journalists around the ongoing row that has overshadowed women’s boxing.
Bach discussed the culture wars, social media and hate speech and the boxing competition being in the Olympic spirit.
”Every woman who is, according to the rules, [a woman] then has to be allowed [to compete],” he said. “When you speak about human rights then you have [to speak about] the human rights of every woman to participate in a woman’s competition — and I would like to quote the Italian boxer, who was competing against the Algerian [Imane Khelife]:
[Angela Carini said:] “These controversies have definitely made me sad and I feel sorry for my opponent who is here also only to fight. I have nothing against Khelife — if I met her again I would hug her.”
Back continues: “And I think this explains it all and this is what the Olympic spirit is all about. The respect for your opponent, whether you win or whether you lose and, by the way, both of these women have lost a number of fights.
“Imane has lost nine fights in international competition and there was never an issue about this. She has even been invited by the Italian Boxing Federation to train with her fellow Italian athletes in Italy and there was no issue.”
9:37AM
Rowing update Over on the water Alexandra Foester, of Germany won the women’s single sculls B final, with Karolien Florijn taking gold in the A final.
In the men’s equivalent USA (C final) and Romania (B final) claimed firsts, while it was gold for Greece the A final.
British interest will be trained on the women’s eight at 9.50am.
9:30AM
Dressage begins Team GB are goalless in the early stages of their Pool B match with Argentina, as they vye for a place in the last eight of the women’s hockey.
At the Palace of Versailles, meanwhile, the Dressage Team Grand Prix has begun, with Finland posting the best score early on, with Australia in second.
This event involves two women and two men attempting to coax their charges into displaying graceful trots, transitions, passages and half-passes.
Austria are in action at present but Stefan Lehfellner is struggling to convince his charge to play ball — or canter in the right direction anyway.
Apparently, the judges won’t be impressed by the horse, Roberto Carlos, keeping his mouth open. This seems a bit harsh — it is quite hot out there.
Anyway, as expected, Austria are bringing up the rear in third for now.
Next up: la France.
9:12AM
Bach hails ‘Seine-sational’ Games Thomas Bach, president of the IOC, speaking in his Saturday morning media briefing, has hailed the way the Games has been organised so far.
“France and the French people have welcome the world with open arms and open hearts and have given the world a glimpse of the passion of the French people for sport,” he said. “This is France completely in love with the Olympic Games
“There has been an unrivalled atmosphere at the swimming, the rugby and the fencing. You have never seen fencing until you have seen it at Le Grand Palais, with thousands of people, cheering in this unique and magnificent setting.
“The triathlon was sensational, or should I say, Seine-sational.”
No, really.
8:44AM
Rowing under way The first rowing race has been decided and it’s first place for Jovana Arsic in the C final of the women’s single sculls.
The Serb came through in 7min 26.09sec. The men’s equivalent is taking place.
8:31AM
Good start for Rutter In the first round of the skeet (shooting) it’s good news for Jo Amber Rutter, who leads the way at the midway point of the first round of qualifying with 25 points, level with Germany’s sharp-shooter Nele Wissmerl.
7:47AM
Pidcock gold-prospecting Team GB’s women are in action in the hockey with Argentina their Pool B opponents at 9am in what promises to be a hard-fought contest.
There is also more rowing today too with the British women hoping for gold in the eight — the A final is at 9.50am.
Team GB’s best chance for gold, perhaps, is in the men’s road race where Tom Pidcock, who, after his spectacular mountain-bike victory, is going for second gold medal of these Games.
Tom Pidcock is bidding for his second gold medal of these Games after a memorable mountain-bike triumph Credit: Panoramic/ProSportsImages/DPPI /Federico Pestellini Josh Tarling will also fancy his chances over the 273km circuit and the 20-year-old will have extra fire in his belly after a puncture cruelly put paid to his medal prospects in the time trial earlier this week. The road cyclists set off at 10am.
In the pool Anna Hopkin will be competing in the 50m freestyle, also at 10am, Daniel Jervis goes in the 1500m freestyle at 10.30 and there’s the always compelling men’s (11.40am) and women’s (11.50) 4×100 medley relay.
Don’t let’s forget the athletics resumes with the 100m heats worth keeping an eye on.
So, plenty to keep us glued to the action this morning, with all the latest updates coming to right here.
7:09AM
Team GB shooting and golf Also today there is British interest in the golf, where Tommy Fleetwood is going great guns at the halfway stage.
A superb 64 yesterday at Le Golf National has given him a share of the lead.
Tommy Fleetwood feels the love as he walks to the 15th tee during his 64 in the second round Credit: AP Photo/George Walker The popular 33-year-old is on -11 along with Japan’s Hideki Matsuyama and the irrepressible Xander Schauffele, who is hunting his second Olympic gold medal, having also clinched two majors in a remarkable calendar year.
Before that, though, over at Chateauroux, Amber Jo Rutter will be setting her sights on success in the shooting, in the women’s skeet qualification round.
At 9am Megs Havers takes on South Korea’s Sihyeon Lim in the archery elimination round. Havers has so far knocked out Spain (round of 32) and edged out local favourite Amelie Cordeau 6-5 to reach the last eight
Also at 9am the dressage gets under way, without of course Charlotte Dujardin, who has been replaced by Becky Moody. Moody join Charlotte Fry, Carl Hester and Andrew Gould – as the equestrian team bid for a third gold medal these Games, having already clinched the big gong in eventing and the team jumping.
6:46AM
Good morning, it is day eight of Paris 2024 Hello, and welcome to our live rolling coverage from day eight of the Paris Olympics. Following what was a ‘fabulous Friday’ for Team GB, its athletes will be hoping to add further medals to its tally today.
Quick overview of yesterday: Great Britain won three golds and are fifth in the overall medal table.
Rowers Emily Craig and Imogen Grant landed the first gold medal of the day winning the lightweight women’s double sculls. The win came after Oliver Wynne-Griffith and Tom George were agonisingly pipped to gold by Croatia in the men’s pair.
Later, Bryony Page won gold in the women’s trampoline. It was an emotional triumph for the 33-year-old who had, in the build-up to the Games, explained to Telegraph Sport how she had endured “the twisties”.
Harry Charles, Ben Maher and Scott Brash secured Britain’s second team equestrian medal of the Games with gold in the show-jumping arena in Versailles.
There were silver medals for swimmers Ben Proud and Duncan Scott. Scott’s silver – behind France’s man-of-the-moment Léon Marchand in the 200m individual medley – moves him above Sir Chris Hoy in Britain’s all-time medal list, although the track cyclist won four more gold medals than the swimmer’s two.
There was huge disappointment for BMX riders Kye Whyte and Bethany Shriever. Whyte crashed out during the men’s semi-final, before Shriever, who won the title in Tokyo three years ago, finished dead last in the women’s final despite winning all six of her quarter and semi-final races.
Today there will be rowing medals up for grabs, while the gymnasts, cyclists, swimmers and track athletes will also be hoping to land themselves some bling. Read our full schedule with key events to watch here.