Swimming
Daniel Wiffen made history as he claimed Ireland’s first Olympic gold medal of the Paris Games with a stunning victory in the men’s 800 metres freestyle final.
Wiffen was trailing Gregorio Paltrineri with 50m left, but he overhauled the Italian then held off a late surge from Bobby Finke of the United States to take top spot by 0.56 seconds.
While Finke took silver and Paltrineri bronze, Wiffen, who won the world title at the distance in February, was celebrating an Olympic record-winning time of seven minutes and 38.19 seconds.
Tokyo 2020 marked the return of the men’s event for the first time since 1904 and Wiffen missed out on the final but he laid down a marker in Paris with the fastest qualifying time in Monday’s heats.
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He first hit the front just before the halfway stage and while he ceded control to Paltrineri, the 23-year-old was just 0.1 secs adrift and he had plenty left in the tank to mount a final charge.
So, too, did Finke but Wiffen’s management of the race was paced perfectly and he had just enough to hold off the American.
He said: “I don’t think a lot of people actually believed me that I was going to do it tonight but yeah it was incredible. I’ve done it – that’s all I want to say!
“I was so nervous, that’s the most nervous I’ve ever been for a race but do you know what calmed me down – I heard by brother shout for me as soon as I walked out. I heard none of the crowd – just him, and that’s what calmed me down, and really levelled my head.
“I’m not going to lie, there’s this whole saying going around that I’m getting ‘Finked’ – I’m glad to say I haven’t been ‘Finked” so obviously pretty happy to get my hand on the wall first.”
Rowing
Philip Doyle and Daire Lynch qualified for the final of the men’s doubles, coming home ahead of the United States and New Zealand.
Their time of 6:13.14 gives them the top seeding going into the final, which will take place on Thursday morning.
In the women’s doubles, Zoe Hyde and Alison Bergin missed out on the A final, finishing in fifth in Tuesday’s semi-final. They’ll now compete in the B final on Thursday morning to determine their final placing.
Last in the water for Team Ireland was Emily Hegarty, Natalie Long, Eimear Lambe and Imogen Magner, who also missed out on a spot in the finals, finishing fourth in the women’s four repechages. As with the women’s doubles, the quartet will race again on Thursday for their final ranking.
Hockey
Another loss for the men’s hockey team has dealt a significant blow to their hopes of qualifying for the quarter-finals.
Ireland were beaten 2-0 in their third match by Pool B leaders India, adding to their earlier losses against Belgium and Australia.
They currently sit bottom of Pool B with zero points, and next face Argentina on Thursday.
Speaking after the loss, Irish captain Seán Murray said it was a frustrating result for the team.
“I think the second half we found our second wind and we were really pushing hard, created lots of nice chances but unfortunately didn’t take them. It’s those finer details at this top level that make the difference and credit to India, they played well, defended with their lives, and managed to get the win in the end.
“Still really positive, before the tournament we probably wanted to target the last three games to get those wins to get to the quarter-final, now we’ve got two more to go so we need to get there and I think we’ll keep our heads high and have the confidence to tune the finer details and try and get those two wins.”
Boxing
Jennifer Lehane suffered a 5-0 loss in her last 16 bout against China’s Yuan Chang, who won each round on unanimous decisions.
“I thought the first round was close and that I came more into myself in the second. I was a bit more relaxed and the shots flowed a little bit more but overall I think she got the better of me today,” said the Meath woman.
Equestrian
Olympic debutant Abigail Lyle placed sixth in her group in the dressage individual grand prix.
Lyle, on board Giraldo, achieved a score of 69.411, but it wasn’t enough to see them through to Sunday’s final.
Canoe slalom
In the men’s kayak single heats, Noel Hendrick finished 19th after his two runs, putting him through to Thursday’s semi-final. The 26-year-old improved on his 98.64 from the first round to get home in 90.68.
Earlier, Michaela Corcoran finished 21st in the women’s slalom C1, clocking 129.55 in the first run and 168.08 in the second.
Sailing
In the men’s skiff, Robert Dickson and Seán Waddilove were back in action with a successful day on the water.
The pair placed fourth in the day’s opening race, before coming back in 13th and 9th in Race 8 and 9.
The day’s results puts them second overall on 67 points, trailing the Spanish pairing of Diego Botin le Chever and Florian Trittel Paul.
Badminton
Rachael Darragh suffered an opening defeat in Group L of the women’s singles against Switzerland’s Jenjira Sui Stadelmann.
Darragh claimed the opening game 21-12, before narrowly missing out 22-24 in the second before her opponent sealed the win with a decisive 15-21 in the third game.
Rugby Sevens
Ireland finished their maiden Olympic campaign in eighth place after suffering defeats to France and Great Britain on the final day of action at Stade de France. Allan Temple-Jones’ side will take huge pride from their debut at the Games, as they made their long-awaited appearance at Paris 2024, but back-to-back placing match defeats ultimately means they leave disappointed.
They came out the wrong side of a tight tussle with hosts France 19-7 in the fifth place play-off semi-final, and then later in the day were beaten 28-12 by Great Britain to finish eighth overall.
