Key events
Kieran Pender
Women’s basketball: This bronze medal encounter between Australia and Belgium is continuing to thrill at the Bercy Arena. Holding a one-point lead at the half, the Australian Opals extended that advantage to nine points minute through the third, before the Belgians went on a charge. At the final break, the Belgium team hold a one-point lead. This bronze medal is very much still up for grabs.
Alexandra Topping
Weightlifting: It is going OFF at the South Paris Arena for the women’s heavyweight weightlifting competition, for my money, the best event of the Olympics. We’ve just got to the end of the first half of this medal battle, the snatch, and after three lifts Great Britain’s Emily Campbell’s is in the bronze medal spot, with Korea’s Hyejeong Park in silver and the Chinese powerhouse Li Wenwen in gold.
Wenwen, who honestly makes lifting these ridiculous weights look so easy, is on 126kg, 5kg ahead of Park on 131kg, Campbell in third on 126kg.
Incredible atmosphere here with each of these three competitor’s urged on by sizeable contingents from their home countries. One of the great joys of this sport though is that every person in this arena wants the competitor to make their lift when they walk on the stage. It’s so intense; I’ve already cried about four times.
Men’s keirin: The second semi-final is a keenly contested one, and it ends in calamity for Britain’s Hamish Turnbull, who’s overhauled in the final lap and collides with Luca Spiegel of Germany. Both are out. Turnbull looks OK but needs treatment. Matthew Richardson of Australia wins to qualify for the final, alongside Harrie Lavreysen of the Netherlands (second) and Kaiya Ota of Japan in third.
Modern pentathlon: We’ve not dipped into that for a bit, and France’s Elodie Clouvel is leading on 844, ahead of Hungary’s Michelle Gulyas. South Korea’s Seung-min Seong is third on 813. Britain’s Kerenza Bryson is back in seventh place with 783. The laser run’s up next.
Men’s kierin: The first of two semi-finals of six, the first three go through. Jack Carlin goes in the first race. Carlin tucks himself in at the front behind the motorised bike, but Glaetzer hits the front as soon as it goes, but Carlin’s judged this perfectly and romps clear in the last lap to seal a place in the final in style. Glaetzer of Australia is second and Nakano of Japan third. All qualify.
Women’s weightlifting: And here comes China’s Li, the defending champion, at 130kg. She nails it, not easily, but she gets there and that’s a statement opening.
Women’s weightlifting: Emily Campbell’s looking in fine fettle, lifting 123kg then 126kg confidently. Three from three in the snatch. But the Korean Park Hye-jeong goes one better, lifting 127kg, and we still haven’t seen the Chinese powerhouse Li Wenwen.
Men’s water polo: Always a good watch, the water polo, and the US have taken bronze with a hard-fought 11-8 win over Hungary. The gold medal match, between the defending champions, Serbia, and their neighbours Croatia starts at 1pm BST. Water polo’s a huge deal in that part of the world.
Women’s sprint: the decider between Van de Wouw and Friedrich for a place in the final against New Zealand’s Andrews. And experience tells – Van de Wouw leads from the front, but Friedrich attacks down the back straight in the closing lap and though the Dutch woman sticks doggedly at it, Friedrich takes it by a wheel length, condemning Van de Wouw to a bronze medal contest with Emma Finucane.
Marathon medal ceremony delayed
Tumaini Carayol
Women’s marathon: There has been a protest regarding the women’s marathon (I think regarding elbows being out in the final metres) so the medal ceremony and media conference are all delayed
Kieran Pender
Women’s basketball: Another buzzer beater from Australia has kept the Opals ahead of Belgium in the basketball bronze medal match, with a one-point lead at the half-time break. Australia’s Isobel Borlase made a last-second bucket at the first break, before team veteran Sami Whitcomb again hit home in the last second of the second quarter, to maintain Australia’s slender advantage in this closely-matched encounter, 37-36.
Women’s omnium: Right, so here are the scores on the doors after two events. the US’s Jennifer Valente leads on 78 points, from Georgia Baker of Australia on 70. Maggie Coles-Lyster of Canada is third on 60, from Denmark’s Amelie Dideriksen on 58. Ally Willaston of New Zealand is fifth on 56, ahead of Ireland’s Lara Gillespie on 52. Neah Evans of GB is back in 20th with seven points.
Women’s omnium: Ireland’s Lara Gillespie goes first and goes alone to snag the first points, almost lapping the main bunch with 24 laps still to go for an extra 20 points. Valente ups the pace on 10 laps for points, Baker and Vikulik of Poland go with her. They’re properly strung out with 12 to go. Niaih Evans goes off the front of the main group in the final 10 laps, but the front three are way out front. And Evans is reeled in by Lopecky. Valente finishes first, ahead of Pikulik and Baker third. But Gillespie tops the points tally courtesy of her earlier burst.
Women’s omnium: Thanks Sarah, and we do indeed go straight into the tempo race of the omnium. GB’s Neah Evans looking to recover from the fall that kiboshed her first race and condemned her to last.
Well I am heading to grab a bite to eat but I’ll return for some more Olympic action this afternoon. I handover to Tom Davies now who will take you through the second event in the women’s omnium, among other sports.
Women’s sprint: It is now GB’s Finucane who needs to win here to level her semi against New Zealand’s Andrews.
Finucane leads early, Andrews is completely staring her down and is on her shoulder. The Brit trying to get some pace into her lead but Andrews is really coming through here and she takes over! Andrews is through to the final and Finucane will compete for a bronze later today.
Kieran Pender
Basketball: The Belgium team, nicknamed the Cats, roared out to an early lead in the bronze medal match at the Bercy Arena. But Australia’s Opals steadied midway through the first, improving their defensive pressure, before a buzz-beater from Isobel Borlase gave Australia a one-point lead at the initial break.
Women’s sprint: Friedrich needs to win here to keep her gold medal hopes alive.
Van de Wouw is ahead early on, a flip of the first race where she chased Friedrich instead. The German tries to attack before they hit the final lap but the Dutch rider maintains her lead. Friedrich stays in the slipstream and then sprints to the line to level this semi-final.
Women’s sprint: The second race in both heats are about to get underway.
A reminder Hetty van de Wouw won the first race against Germany’s Lea Friedrich and New Zealand’s Ellesse Andrews pipped GB’s Emma Finucane.
Men’s keirin: The third and final heat in the quarter-finals now and Australia’s Matthew Richardson is targeting a semi spot.
New Zealand’s Sam Dakin makes an early break but was that an error? He’s used a lot of energy with that move and soon Richardson is ahead.
The Aussie takes the win with Dakin, Poland’s Mateusz Rudyk and Germany’s Luca Spiegel all joining him in the semis.
Kieran Pender
Basketball: The women’s basketball bronze medal match is about to tip off at the Bercy Arena. It features Australia, a long-time heavyweight who have won five Olympic medals previously (albeit none gold) and Belgium, a relatively Games newcomer – playing in only their second Olympics. The Australian team, nicknamed the Opals, are favourites – but will they be deflated from their heavy defeat in the semi-finals against the United States? The gold medal match, team USA against local favourites France, is up this afternoon.
Men’s keirin: In the second heat there is another GB athlete with Hamish Turnbull in this one.
The Netherlands’ Harrie Lavreysen, who has already won gold this week, is also in this heat and he is leading early on. Canada’s Nick Wammes makes a move to the start of the pack but he is soon swallowed up in the field.
It is Lavreysen who wins it and Turnbull, Colombia’s Cristian David Ortega Fontalvo and Japan’s Shinji Nakano are all through.
Men’s keirin: In the first heat there are six riders facing one another, including GB’s Jack Carlin and Australia’s Matthew Glaetzer. Remember the top four riders will progress.
A fairly steady start but with three laps to go it is Glaetzer who makes an initial move and Carlin looks in danger but somehow he comes through to win that heat – wow. Carlin, Glaetzer, Malaysia’s Sahrom and Japan’s Kaiya Ota are all through. Second heat coming up.
Modern pentathlon: The majority of athletes have either scored 300, 293 or 283 in the riding show jumping but some athletes have been eliminated.
France’s Marie Oteiza and Spain’s Laura Hereida have failed to score in the first event. Next up is the fencing event.
Men’s keirin: So there are three heats in this quarter-final and the first four riders will progress to the semi-finals.
Women’s sprint: GB’s Finucane and Andrews in a battle now. Andrews stares down Finucane on the start line and she leads in the first lap. Finucane makes an attack on lap two but can’t get ahead. The Brit does all she can but Andrews is just too fast.
Women’s sprint: I find this event so intriguing, it really is all about tactics and reading your opponent well. Freidrich takes an initial lead but what an absolutely blistering attack from Van de Wouw and she gets the win in the first of three between these two. Heat two coming up.
Women’s sprint: So there are two heats in the semi-finals and the athletes will face each other in a best of three. The races decide who will compete in the gold medal contest and the bronze medal contest. Heat 1 sees Germany’s Lea Friedrich go up against the Netherlands’ Hetty van der Wouw. Heat 2 is GB’s Emma Finucane against New Zealand’s Ellesse Andrews. Heat one about to get underway.
Cycling: Next up in the velodrome we have the first of the women’s sprint semi-finals, then it is the men’s keirin quarters. Strap in!
Women’s omnium: The USA’s Jennifer Valente has won the scratch race with Canada’s Maggie Coles-Lyster in second and Australia’s Georgia Baker in third.
In the last 10 laps everyone was being quite cagey with the pace impressive from all of the field. They started to stretch out a bit with six laps left, when the cameras go to the bike view you can see just how close these athletes are to one another. It takes such skill to race and maintain the safety of themselves and their competitors.
Norway’s Stenberg is the first to make a move but once she goes it gives the green light for everyone else. It’s coming down to the final lap and Valente manages to put the after burners on to take it.
GB’s Neah Evans finishes last after coming off her bike, she looks okay to continue in this competition.
Women’s omnium: Fortin is looking to try and lap the riders at the back of the pack but she is about a quarter of the track ahead. However, now she decides to pull up slightly, maybe with an eye to keep some energy for the rest of the day’s racing.
Women’s omnium: After 10 laps it is France’s Valentine Fortin who attacks and gets a huge lead, no one really follows her.
Women’s omnium: A steady pace at the start of this first event in the women’s omnium. It is all about your finishing place in this one rather than points.
Women’s omnium: Before we get underway Italy’s Letizia Paternoster changes her bike so there is a slight delay to the start but they are now riding.
Modern pentathlon: The first event in the women’s competition is the riding show jumping and three athletes have already competed. Italy’s Alice Sotero, Lithuania’s Gintare Venckauskaite and Hungary’s Blanka Guzi have all scored 300 points.
Women’s omnium: The riders are preparing for this scratch race now as they get on their bikes and get into position on the start line.
A reader has sent some quotes to me from Sifan Hassan on Dutch TV. The marathon gold medallist and 5km and 10km bronze medallist said:
When I started I never thought about the marathon, than I thought why not, let’s try it. And then I won and now I am Olympic champion. Yeah!
This one feels like 10 gold medals. It was impossible. Too hard to do it all. Yeah, I did it. First I thought why did I run the 5 and 10k, but after 20 km or 30 km I thought let’s go.
Thank you Louise for sending those over!
Women’s omnium: So the first cycling event of the day begins and there are several parts to the women’s omnium. The first is the scratch race which will see 22 athletes ride 30 laps of the track. All the action to come.
Before the women’s modern pentathlon and cycling gets underway on the final day of the Games, have a look as to where you nation is on the medal table:
You can recap Hassan’s heroics here:
Former athlete Michael Johnson in awe of Sifan Hassan’s achievements at this Games:
What’s coming up, I hear you ask? Well we have multiple events in cycling, the women’s modern pentathlon, weightlifting and basketball on the list as well as a few other sports sprinkled in. The action in the velodrome will start at 10am BST and we will have a keen eye on that with updates from the other sports too.
Here are some stories for you to catch up on:
GB’s French withdraws from modern pentathlon
The women’s individual event will take place later on today, starting at 10am BST, but Team GB have confirmed Kate French will not compete because of illness.
The team say: “This has been an extremely difficult decision for Kate as she had hoped to defend her Olympic title and ride in the jumping for a final time in Olympic competition.”
