Irish in Action at the Olympics on Saturday
- 8am: Golf Men’s individual stroke play (Shane Lowry & Rory McIlroy). Lowry shot a round of 66 to move to five under, McIlroy also shot a round of 66 to go 10 under overall. Xander Schauffele and Jon Rahm lead on 14 under
- 10am: Cycling Road race (Ben Healy & Ryan Mullen). Healy 10th, Mullen 60th.
- 10am: Sailing Men’s Dinghy race 5&6 (Finn Lynch). 12th in race 5; 7th in race 6 – 15th overall.
- 10am: Sailing Women’s Dinghy race 4,5&6 (Eve McMahon). 22nd in race 4; 34th in race 5 – 18th overall.
- 10am: Swimming Women’s 50m Freestyle (Danielle Hill). 8th in heat 8 (25.02), 21st overall, failing to qualify for semi-finals.
- 10.30am: Swimming Men’s 1500m Freestyle (Daniel Wiffen). 1st in heat 3 (14:40.34), qualified first for Sunday’s final.
- 11.40am: Swimming Men’s 4x100m Medley Relay (Conor Ferguson, Darragh Greene, Max McCusker & Shane Ryan). 6th in heat 2 (3:33.81), 11th overall, failing to qualify for final.
- 11.52am: Swimming Women’s 4x100m Medley Relay (Danielle Hill, Mona McSharry, Ellen Walshe & Grace Davison). 6th in heat 2, 11th overall, failing to qualify for final.
- 2.30pm: Canoe Slalom Women’s kayak cross (Madison Corcoran). Second in the repechage, qualified for Sunday’s heats.
- 3.40pm: Canoe Slalom Men;s kayak cross (Noel Hendrick & Liam Jegou). Hendrick and Jegou both first in their repechage runs, qualified for Sunday’s heats.
- 4.16pm: Gymnastics Pommel Horse final (Rhys McClenaghan). GOLD MEDAL FOR MCCLENAGHAN.
- 6.15pm: Athletics Men’s 1500m repechage (heat 1 – Cathal Doyle & Luke McCann, heat 2 – Andrew). Doyle first in race 1, qualified for tomorrow’s semi-final. McCann (7th, race 1) and Coscoran (12th, race 2) fail to qualify.
- 9.08pm Boxing Women’s 60kg semi-final (Kellie Harrington v Beatriz Ferreira [Brazil]). Win for Harrington, putting her through to Tuesday’s final.
“A sublime Kellie Harrington became the first women in Irish history to contest two Olympic finals in boxing when she earned a 4-1 split decision win over Brazil’s Beatriz Ferreira after a thrilling semi-final at the North Paris Arena on Saturday night,” Johnny Watterson writes from the North Paris Arena.
“I actually have no words for a change, I’m speechless. I just can’t believe that, I can’t believe that happened again,” Kellie Harrington said fresh after her semi-final win over Brazil’s Beatriz Ferreira.
Asked about the gold-medal fight, Harrington said: “I’m not looking at anything other than embracing the moment and enjoying it, that’s all I’m looking towards.
“If I’m happy like the way I was happy in there today then I’ll be happy. As long as I get out of the ring and I’m happy, that’s all that matter isn’t it really? It’s only sport at the end of the day, that’s all it is. It doesn’t define me as a person, I’m still Kellie Harrington.
“Whether I win or I lose I’m going to go home to a great family and an absolutely brilliant community. I know my community is all super proud of me whether I win, whether I lose, they’re part of me and I’m part of them. And I honestly can’t wait to get home and celebrate this with them.”
Boxing: WIN FOR HARRINGTON!!
The split decision goes Kellie Harrington’s way. She’s now guaranteed at least a silver medal.
Awaiting Harrington in Tuesday night’s final is China’s Wenlu Yang, who beat Taiwan’s Shih Yi Wu in the first semi-final earlier today.
Boxing: Ferreira looks exhausted as the final bell rings. It’s looking good for Kellie.
Boxing: We’re into the final round.
Harrington’s taking instruction to use her jab and she’s doing so with great effect.
The Brazilian is throwing the kitchen sink at it but Harrington’s sharp as ever, and smiling for good measure.
Boxing: Judges call the second round 3-2 in favour of Ferreira.
Boxing: Harrington is staying measured, getting in some lovely clean shots.
Another tight round from the two fighters, but a great finish from the Dubliner.
Boxing: The second round is under way, and Ferreira knows she’s chasing this fight. She’s come out strong, landing a heavy right hook.
Boxing: Olés ring around the North Paris Arena as Harrington finishes strong.
It’s a tight one, but judges give it 4-1 to Kellie.
Boxing: The first round is under way.
Kellie is off to a nice start landing some solid jabs. But Ferreira lands a nice hook, she’s making sure she has a say in this fight.
Boxing: Harrington is out and steely faced. Big Irish support in the venue.
Boxing: Paris is known for fashion, and in that vain things are running fashionably late at the North Paris Arena where Kellie Harrington’s fight has been pushed back a few minutes.
Someone give us a verse or two of the Auld Triangle to get us in the form.
Swimming: We’ve a new world record in the mixed 4x100m medley! 3:37.43 from Team USA earned them the gold and the record, with China home in second and Australia in third.
Swimming: USA’s Katie Ledecky has gone and done it again. She won gold in the women’s 800m freestyle.
It’s Ledecky’s fourth medal of the Games. If she was a country, she’d be tied with Croatia on 16th.
She’s now the most decorated female swimmer in Olympic history, with 14 Olympic medals to her credit – nine gold, four silver, one bronze.
A superb athlete by any definition.
Rhys McClenaghan has been chatting to RTÉ, saying he’s still trying to wrap his head around how he’s achieved his life-long goal.
“I definitely didn’t fight back the tears, they were flooding down my face. That feeling at the end of the routine was just raw emotion, raw relief that I’d done my job and I wasn’t even thinking about getting that medal around my neck at the end of the routine, it was just the fact that I had accomplished what I set out to do, which was a clean pommel horse routine.”
Asked whether his disappointment from the Tokyo Games helped push him on to achieve gold in Paris, the Newtownards man agreed: “Any bad thing that happens in your life you’ve got the chance to then redeem that.
“It’s the yin and yang of life, isn’t it, but what comes before order often has to be chaos, and I guess that’s what Tokyo for me was, chaos, and I’ve created order out of it today.”
Athletics: There’s a gold medal on its way to Saint Lucia in the Caribbean after Julien Alfred pulled off an upset to deny Team USA’s Sha’Carri Richardson the win.
A blistering start from Alfred was enough to hold off the late challenge of Richardson, who had to settle for silver while Melissa Jefferson took bronze.
It’s the first Olympic medal for Saint Lucia, and there’s an Irish connection – Alfred is a training partner in Texas of our very own Rhasidat Adeleke. Let’s hope it’s a good omen.
Tennis: On the court, Zheng Qinwen has defeated Donna Vekic to become China’s first Olympic tennis singles champion.
Zheng ended Iga Swiatek’s three-year unbeaten run at Roland Garros in the semi-finals to guarantee herself a medal.
She then took top spot on the podium by seeing off Croatian Vekic 6-2 6-3, with Swiatek having to settle for bronze.
Gold in the men’s doubles went to Australian veterans Matt Ebden and John Peers, who defeated American duo Austin Krajicek and Rajeev Ram 6-7 (6) 7-6 (1) (10/8) in an extremely tight final.
Boxing: While we’ve time, let’s look ahead to Kellie Harrington’s fight.
She’s in action in the women’s 60kg semi-final, facing Beatriz Ferreira of Brazil.
Harrington bypassed the round of 32, starting her Paris 2024 campaign with her round of 16 bout against Italy’s Alessia Mesiano, ending in a win for the Dubliner.
Next up was Colombia’s Angie Valdés in the quarter-finals, with another victory guaranteeing Harrington at least a bronze medal at her second Olympics.
Her semi-final opponent is a familiar face – Harrington took gold in Tokyo after beating Ferreira, so there’s added spice to this encounter.
A loss for either fighter tonight means they stick with the bronze medal, while the winner is guaranteed a silver and gets the chance to fight for gold in Tuesday night’s final.
Harrington v Ferreira is the second semi-final of the day. In the first semi-final China’s Wenlu Yang beat Taiwan’s Shih Yi Wu to book her spot in the final.
Ireland’s newest Olympic champion Rhys McClenaghan has said his gold medal has been 10 years in the making.
“It has been part of this plan, part of what we’ve been aiming for so many years, since I started training with Luke (Carson). That’s 10 years ago, and when I started with him, there was a 10-year plan to win an Olympic gold medal. And here it is today.”
Speaking at a press conference after the medal ceremony, McClenaghan added: “(The medal)’s better than imagined, and it’s got a piece of the Eiffel Tower, and I love Paris so much. It feels like it just was meant to be this, this day. I love Paris. I love seeing that Eiffel Tower. It never gets boring. And now I’ve got a piece of it hanging around my neck attached to an Olympic gold medal. That’s absurd to me.”
We’ve a small lull now in terms of Irish participation as we wait for Kellie Harrington’s 60kg semi-final fight just after 9pm, so it’s a good time to look back at some of the results from earlier.
On the greens, it was a positive day for Team Ireland, with Rory McIlroy now in sixth ahead of Sunday’s final round.
[ Rory McIroy moves into Olympic gold medal picture after 66 in third roundOpens in new window ]
And in case you were stranded on a remote island with no coverage for the past few hours, Rhys McClenaghan took gold in the men’s pommel horse final.
For a little while, it looked like Ireland was on course for a historic medal in the men’s road race, but despite a heroic effort from Ben Healy, he ultimately finished in 10th.
[ Remco Evenepoel claims brilliant Olympic road double as Ben Healy finishes 10thOpens in new window ]
And of course, we can’t forget that we’ve another exciting final to look forward to in the pool, after Daniel Wiffen qualified fastest to book his spot in the middle lane of the men’s 1,500m final on Sunday.
[ Daniel Wiffen on course for Olympic swimming double after heat processionOpens in new window ]
Athletics: A hard race for Andrew Coscoran. After starting strong, it fell apart for him in the final lap, seeing him home in 12th.
First across the line was Federico Riva (Italy), Charles Philibert-Thiboutot (Canada), and George Mills (GB), who go on to tomorrow’s semi-finals.
Athletics: They’ve taken the bell and Coscoran has been bumped. He’s fallen back the field to last.
Athletics: Coscoran has got himself into a nice position, holding fourth.
The pace is quick, South Africa’s Ryan Mphahlele leads.
Athletics: Hoping to emulate Doyle’s result now in the second running is Andrew Coscoran.
After a reset, the race is under way.
Athletics: Doyle takes the win! He’s through to tomorrow’s semi-finals, clocking a time of 3:34.92, just 0.9 outside his personal best.
Luke McCann crossed the line in seventh, so no qualification for him unfortunately.
Also through from the first repechage is France’s Azeddine Habz and Italy’s Ossama Meslek.
Athletics: Cathal Doyle is pushing, he’s going for it and is up to third.
Athletics: And they’re off. Doyle and McCann are on their way.
Remember, first three across the line qualify for the semi-finals.
Athletics: So now the focus turns to the Stade de France, where Cathal Doyle, Luke McCann and Andrew Coscoran are in the men’s 1500m repechage.
Unsure what a repechage is? Don’t worry, it’s new to the Games. Basically, a repechage round has been added for many of the individual track events, allowing those knocked out in the early rounds another crack of the whip.
In the 1500m event, the top three finishers in the two repechage races will qualify for Sunday’s semi-finals.
Doyle and McCann are in the first repechage, followed by Coscoran in the second.
Cycling: Just as the pommel horse final was getting under way the men’s road race was wrapping up, so going back to see how it finished.
Ben Healy finished in 10th, while Ryan Mullen was 60th.
In the medals, it was 1st – Remco Evenepoel (Belgium), 2nd – Valentin Madouas (France), 3rd – Christophe Laporte (France).
Gymnastics: Amhrán na bhFiann plays out in Paris once again. At the second time of asking, Rhys McClenaghan achieved what he set out to do – gold for Ireland at the Olympics.
From Paris, Ian O’Riordan writes: “There can only ever be one first Irish Olympic medal winner in gymnastics, and Rhys McClenaghan is now standing in that dream realm of his own, crowning his moment in gold inside the Arena Bercy in Paris.”
For those keeping count, that’s three gold and two bronze medals for Ireland. And that doesn’t include Kellie Harrington, who will be looking to upgrade from bronze later.
U2′s Beautiful Day plays out at the arena as Rhys comes off the podium to greet the Irish contingent in the crowd. Celebrations all around.
Speaking to RTÉ after the medal presentation, Rhys said: “It feels like a dream, but a dream well earned.”
“After the routine I was happy, I wasn’t thinking about medals. When the score came up I was proud of that score because it was mine and I wasn’t thinking of the podium at all. I was just thinking I’ve done my job and I feel like that’s where the main emotions came from today.
“I knew that this would also be the toughest pommel horse final of all time, and it was so to come out on top is incredible.”
Gymnastics: How are we all feeling? Another medal for Ireland. I need a breather after that one...
So, the men’s pommel horse final ended: 1st – Rhys McClenaghan (Ireland), 2nd – Nariman Kurbanov (Kazakhstan), 3rd – Stephen Nedoroscik (USA).
Outside the medals it was 4th – Max Whitlock (GB), 5th – Oleg Verniaiev (Ukraine), 6th – Takaaki Sugino (Japan), 7th – Woong Hur (Korea), and 8th – Loran de Munck (Netherlands).
Gymnastics: GOLD FOR RHYS MCCLENAGHAN, GOLD FOR IRELAND!
Gymnastics: A 14.933 for Japan’s Takaaki Sugino means Rhys is guaranteed a medal.
Gymnastics: Team USA’s Stephen Nedoroscik (a.k.a. Clark Kent if you spend time on TikTok) has knocked Max Whitlock out of the medals with a score of 15.300.
As things stand with five competitors gone, it’s Rhys McClenaghan (15.533), Nariman Kurbanov (15.433) and Nedoroscik (15.300).
Gymnastics: Rhys McClenaghan puts himself into first with a score of 15.533! Four competitors left to go.
The 25 year old is battling back tears as he waits for the second half of the final to get under way. They’re undoubtedly tears of relief. All he can do now is wait.
Gymnastics: And exhale! He’s got through it cleanly!
Gymnastics: The Netherland’s Loran de Munck came off towards the end of his routine but got back on the horse (who doesn’t love a pun) to finish, scoring 13.733.
Next up is our boy Rhys. Cross your fingers and toes everyone!
Gymnastics: Team GB’s Max Whitlock had a few minor wobbles in his routine, unusual for the two-time Olympic pommel horse champ, scoring 15.200.
He goes second behind Nariman Kurbanov of Kazakhstan, who scored 15.433.
After all that excitement, we need to take a deep breath because we’re shifting focus to the men’s pommel horse final at the Bercy Arena now.
Rhys McClenaghan is up fourth. Team GB’s Max Whitlock is up second, looking for his third gold medal in this event, but hopefully McClenaghan will have a say in that.
Earlier, Simone Biles won her seventh Olympic gold medal for Team USA in the women’s vault event, her third gold at these games.
The American was all smiles after landing a Yurchenko double pike, known as the Biles II, on her first vault, taking only a small step back and scoring a massive 15.700.
Her second vault was scored at 14.900, giving her an overall score of 15.300 and leaving her well clear of Brazil’s Rebecca Andrade in silver, while another American, Jade Carey, took bronze.
Cycling: After an immense effort, Ben Healy crosses the line in 10th – Ireland’s best finish in the road race. Having battled out in front for much of the race, he simply ran out of steam at the end. A tremendous race from the 23 year old.
It’s silver for Valentin Madouas and bronze for Christophe Laporte (both France).
Cycling: Belgium’s Remco Evenepoel takes the gold while the battle for silver and bronze heats up.
It’ll be a tall ask for Healy to get on the podium now, it’ll be a fierce sprint to the finish line.
Cycling: Puncture for Remco Evenepoel 3.8km from the line!
But with 1.15 in hand, a quick bike change will have little effect on his finish.
Cycling: There’s just over 10km left in the men’s road race and Ben Healy is still in contention for a medal, fighting for the bronze.
Remco Evenepoel from Belgium is out in front heading for the gold.
Golf: Play is still ongoing in the men’s individual stroke play, but Rory McIlroy has finished his third round.
McIlroy shot a five-under round of 66, as did Shane Lowry earlier in the day. The results puts Lowry on five under after three rounds, while McIlroy is higher up the pecking order on 10 under.
As things stand, McIlroy’s in joint-sixth position and Lowry’s in joint-23rd. Jon Rahm is out in front on 14 under.
Canoe Slalom: Back to the men’s kayak cross, Noel Hendrick managed third in race 3, sending him to the repechage, while Liam Jegou crossed the finish in first in race 7, meaning he’ll race to elimination with the other first and second-place finishers from across the 11 races.
Cycling: Healy’s been caught! It really is pedal to the metal in the men’s road race.
After a push on the climb, Ben Healy has been joined at the front by Remco Evenepoel, Valentin Madouas, Stefan Kueng, and Marco Haller. Just over 30km left.
Canoe Slalom: Madison Corcoran placed fourth in race 10 of the women’s kayak cross, having picked up a fault on the third-to-last gate. The result means she now goes into the repechage round with the other third and fourth-place finishers from across the 11 races.
Noel Hendrick is up now in race 3 of the men’s event.
Cycling: The men’s road race is proving to be quite the exciting contest, particularly from an Irish perspective.
Ben Healy is 20 second out in front on his own, being pursued by a small group of chasers with just over 40km to go.
Sailing: In the women’s dinghy event, Eve McMahon is now 17th overall after six races. The postponement of race 4 on Friday meant race 4, 5 and 6 were all on the schedule for Saturday.
The 20-year-old placed 22nd in the opening race of the day before dropping back to 18th overall with her 34th-place finish in race 5. However, 13th in race 6 was enough to see her back to 17th overall heading into Sunday’s racing.
In the men’s dinghy event, Finn Lynch placed 12th in race 5 and an impressive seventh in race 6, leaving him in 15th position overall at the end of the day’s action.
Canoe Slalom: At the Vaires-sur-Marne Nautical Stadium, three Irish athletes are taking part in the new kayak cross event.
Madison Corcoran is in race 10 in the women’s event, while Noel Hendrick and Liam Jegou are in race 3 and 7 respectively in the men’s.
Each race is a head-to-head between three/four competitors, starting with a two-meter drop at the top of the course. Each racer must also complete a full underwater spin halfway through the course, with the first two finishers progressing to the elimination round while the rest go into the repechage for another chance.
Gymnastics: Ahead of today’s final, Rhys McClenaghan has very kindly taken time out of his schedule to explain the pommel horse event to us mere mortals.
And if that leaves you wanting more, Johnny Watterson took a look at Rhys’s journey to Paris following heartbreak in Tokyo.
“Already a two-time world champion and three-time European champion, he is regarded as one of the greats. But it is still not enough for McClenaghan. He will go into the Bercy Arena chasing perfection,” Walsh writes.
[ Rhys McClenaghan: ‘Perfection isn’t attainable - but we’ll try’Opens in new window ]
Cycling: On the bikes, Ireland’s Ben Healy is leading a small breakaway at the front of the men’s road race. He’s motoring well, but there’s 65km still to go.
Looking ahead, the big one to look forward to is Rhys McClenaghan in the final of the men’s pommel horse. He’s up fourth at 4.16pm.
And then hoping to upgrade her bronze medal to either silver or gold will be Kellie Harrington. She’s back in the ring at 9.08pm to take on Brazil’s Beatriz Iasmin Soare Ferreira. The loser will take bronze while the winner will box for the gold in Tuesday’s final.
Golf: On the golf course, Shane Lowry got his third round under way shortly before 9am. A five-under round of 66 brought him to five under overall.
Having set off almost two hours later, Rory McIlroy is still on the course. He’s up to joint fifth on 10 under overall, currently on five under for today’s round thru 16 holes.
Good afternoon everyone! Muireann Duffy reporting for duty. I’ll be keeping you company for the evening on what will hopefully be a super Saturday for Team Ireland.
It was a busy morning for Irish athletes, with swimming, cycling, golf and sailing among the events on today’s agenda.
Swimming: Earlier, Ian O’Riordan was at La Défense Arena to see Daniel Wiffen ease into the final of the men’s 1500m freestyle, qualifying quickest overall in a time of 14:40.34.
[ Daniel Wiffen on course for Olympic swimming double after heat processionOpens in new window ]
In the women’s 50m freestyle, Danielle Hill touched the wall in 25.02, placing her 21st overall and outside the qualification for the semi-finals.
Ireland was also in relay action, with both the men’s and women’s team competing in the heats of the 4x100m medley events.
First up for Ireland was Conor Ferguson, Darragh Greene, Max McCusker and Shane Ryan, who took sixth in their heat but 11th overall, outside the top-eight finish needed to move on to the final.
It was a very similar story for the women’s relay team – Danielle Hill, Mona McSharry, Ellen Walshe and Grace Davison – placing sixth in heat 2 and 11th overall, so no progression to the final.
