Fantastic Ms Fox, shocks in the pool, BMX bronze: What you missed while you were sleeping

PARIS: Well, what a day that was.

A stacked schedule on day five in Paris had the potential for several Australian medals.

There were shocks in the pool, our favourite canoe superstar added to her haul and two hard-fought bronze medals brought the tears.

Catch up on it all here.

Fantastic Ms Fox does it again

With an elusive K1 gold medal in the bag, Jess Fox turned her attention to defending the C1 crown she won in Tokyo.

She qualified second fastest for the final and as the paddler to beat before a blistering run sent her to the podium for the second time this week.

Not even a two-second penalty could halt the Aussie's charge to gold, finishing nearly 2.5 seconds clear of second-place, German Elena Lilik.

She's now got three gold medals and six overall - joining rare air among Australian Olympians.

The reactions from Fox and her canoeing royalty family were priceless.

What an icon.

Mollie misses medal in boilover before back-to-back silvers

Australian prodigy Mollie O'Callaghan was the red-hot favourite for the women's 100m freestyle in a stacked field after her 200m win the other night.

But neither the 20-year-old nor in-form teammate Shayna Jack could make the podium, finishing fourth and fifth as veteran Swede Sarah Sjöström won gold.

Zac Stubblety-Cook then won a gallant silver in the 200m breaststroke to Frenchman Leon Marchand - more on him later - after winning gold in Tokyo.

In the final race of the night, the blue riband 100m freestyle, Kyle Chalmers roared home in trademark fashion but was denied by an outrageous world record swim by China's Pan Zhanle.

It was the first world record to fall in the pool in Paris.

Locals get loud for Leon

It's not all about the Aussies, of course.

The biggest star here in France - without question - is Marchand, the 22-year-old superfish aiming to win four gold medals at his home Olympics.

He's well on the way, winning his second in the 200m butterfly in an Olympic record and then a third in the 200m breaststroke in front of a raucous crowd at La Defense Arena.

We mean it - listen to the ear-splitting noise from the crowd in this video, it is something to behold.

One media colleague has even resorted to earplugs for the swim sessions, such is the volume at the pool here.

Meanwhile, Katie Ledecky - probably the greatest female swimmer of all time - did as she always does and won the 1500m freestyle by the proverbial country mile.

It was an Olympic record and her eighth-fastest swim ever.

Tillies go down again

The Matildas' rollercoaster campaign had left their fate in their own hands in the final group match against the USA: win and they would secure a quarter-final place.

That did not happen, with a 2-1 loss meaning the Aussies had to rely on other results to progress as a third-place finisher.

Alana Kennedy was swung forward late and scored in added time.

She then had a golden chance to equalise with a header but couldn't finish - she was inconsolable after the final whistle.

Their worst fears were confirmed hours later when Canada defeated Colombia 1-0 to consign them to the airport lounge.

BMX bronze - but not the one we expected

Natalya Diehm has been through enough injuries for many lifetimes: broken wrists, elbows and ankles, dislocated shoulders and five ruptured ACLs.

She competed at Tokyo 2020 with one of those destroyed knee ligaments, reaching the final in an incredible display of toughness.

Then on Wednesday, with a cracking second run in the BMX freestyle park in the searing Paris heat, Diehm won herself a surprise bronze medal - and didn't she enjoy it.

In the men's event, all eyes were on Aussie and defending champion Logan Martin.

But after a heavy crash in his first run, Martin attempted a trick he'd never attempted in competition during his second and while he landed it, he lost speed and had to put his foot down.

He was unable to challenge the top end of the field in an exhilarating final, won by José Torres Gil from Argentina.

A circumspect Martin admitted he was disappointed but said "life moves on".

Smith shoots for bronze

Penny Smith needed a shoot-off just to get into the trap shooting final.

But once she was there, she more than held her own, hitting 32 of 40 targets before she was eliminated as the third-last competitor, earning her a bronze medal.

Cool and calm during her event, Smith was emotional as she paid tribute to her family back home.

Stingers survive

It took a gripping penalty shootout for the Australian women to survive their water polo clash with the Netherlands.

Substitute goalkeeper Genevieve Longman was the hero, saving the final penalty to trigger ecstatic celebrations from the Aussies.

Winning with grace

After $2.5 billion spent cleaning up the Seine, several delays and many jokes about the water quality, the men's and women's triathlons finally took place in Paris on Wednesday.

New Zealand's Hayden Wilde looked like he was running to a gold until he was mowed down by Great Britain's Alex Yee in the final stages.

There was a touching moment on the finish line as Yee and Wilde shared an exhausted embrace.

France's Cassandre Beaugrand won the women's event, collapsing on the finishing line with relief.

Watch every moment, every medal of the Olympic Games Paris 2024 live and free on Channel 9 and 9Now. Plus, every event streaming ad free, live and on demand with 4K on Stan Sport.