Insane 77-minute Aussie gold rush; Boomers saved by Canada: What you missed while you were sleeping
PARIS: Three gold medals in 77 minutes have capped another history-making day for Australia at Paris 2024.
Two swimming golds in consecutive races - one from a veteran in his fourth Olympics and another from a 23-year-old making history of her own - was swiftly followed by what could be the most emotional win by any athlete in Paris.
It was enough to make your head spin, so here's what you missed overnight in those moments of madness - and the rest of day seven at the Olympics.
Three golds for three Ms
It was another special night at the pool as Australia notched up the sixth and seventh golds of the Olympics.
Cameron McEvoy, in his fourth Games, blitzed the field in the 50m freestyle to finally win his first gold.
McEvoy had a lightning reaction time off the blocks and timed his touch to the wall perfectly to finish in 21.25, five hundredths of a second ahead of British star Benjamin Proud, who took silver, and local hero Florent Manadou, who won bronze.
The win was vindication for McEvoy, who has thrown away decades of assumed wisdom in swimming to focus on strength with weights and rock climbing.
In the very next race, Kaylee McKeown became the first Australian to win four individual gold medals at the Olympics after storming to victory in the women's 200m backstroke final.
McKeown had qualified for the medal race with the second-fastest time, but went one better in the final when she outclassed the rest of the field to claim gold and set a new Olympic record.
The win came with a typical late surge – the Australian never led until the last lap, when she turned on a spurt of speed to beat American rival Regan Smith, with Canadian Kylie Masse in third.
That didn't bring the loudest roar of the night though.
French superstar Leon Marchard did the unthinkable in the 200m individual medley to win his fourth individual gold medal of his home Olympics and leave La Defense Arena trembling.
French President Emmanuel Macron was in the crowd as Marchand raised a triumphant four fingers in the air in an instantly iconic moment.
Super Saya dedicates win to brother
As all this was happening at the pool, Saya Sakakibara was surging into the final in the BMX racing across town at Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines.
Sakakiabara's story has been widely told this week and for good reason.
Her brother, biggest supporter and fellow BMX racer Kai suffered a lifelong brain injury and was in a coma for nearly two months after a traumatic crash in 2020.
Then in Tokyo, as a strong gold medal chance, Sakakibara herself was knocked unconscious in a horror crash in the semi-finals.
The physical and mental after-effects of that crash plagued her for months, if not years.
But now her road back has led her to gold after riding away from the field to win in Paris with Kai watching on trackside.
Her interview on Nine's Paris coverage was something to behold - even if she might have forgotten she was on live TV.
Boomers slump to 'Greek Freak' - but scrape through
The Boomers have scraped through to the Olympic quarter-finals thanks to a Canadian win over Spain.
They had left their fate in the hands of others after slumping to an upset 77-71 loss to Greece in their final Group A game in Lille on Friday.
The Australians came from 17 points down at halftime but ran out of time as NBA megastar Giannis Antetokounmpo (20 points) led his team to their first win of the campaign.
Terrible free-throw shooting (10-from-21) and an inability to get stops left the Boomers chasing their tail for much of the contest in Lille.
The spirited comeback saw the get Boomers close but a controversial call and more free-throw woes left their quarter-final progress in Canada's hands.
Thankfully, Canada - occasionally Australia's nemesis here in Paris - did the Boomers a favour with a tense 88-85 win.
Fox v Fox in kayak cross
Jess Fox's quest to grab three medals at Paris 2024 is on track after a strong run in the women's kayak cross time trial, just moments after younger sister Noemie made her Olympic debut.
The elder Fox was quick through the course, setting the second-fastest time of 70.84, just half a second behind France's Camille Prigent.
It means she will enter Saturday night's round one races – where four canoeists go head-to-head in each race – as the second seed, while Noemie also secured a spot in the top 10.
Jess, who admitted her packed schedule was "starting to get quite tiring", said neither she nor Noemie would have any hesitation about knocking the other out if it came down to it.
Aussie men to play for gold
A slice of tennis history awaits Matthew Ebden and John Peers after booking their spot in the doubles final in Paris with a 7-5, 6-2 win against the USA's Taylor Fritz and Tommy Paul.
It's the first time since 2000 that Australia has made it to the men's doubles final at an Olympics.
They'll play another USA team in Austin Krajicek and Rajeev Ram for gold on Sunday morning (AEST).
Meanwhile, Carlos Alcaraz moved one win away from becoming the youngest man to win an Olympic singles gold medal by beating Canada's Felix Auger-Aliassime 6-1, 6-1.
He'll play Novak Djokovic in the final, who overcame injury concerns to ease past Italy's Lorenzo Musetti in straight sets.
Djokovic is seeking his first Olympic gold medal in what would put the exclamation mark on one of the all-time tennis careers.
In the women's draw, either China or Croatia will earn its first singles gold medal in Olympic history when Zheng Qinwen faces Donna Vekic on Saturday.
Silver snatched from rowers
Australian rowers duo Jess Morrison and Annabelle McIntyre had a silver medal snatched from their grasp in the women's pair final.
In second position with just 10 metres to go, the Australians were reeled in by a fast-finishing Romania to earn a "bittersweet" bronze.
"A medal is a medal. We did it for ourselves, we did it for each other, we did it for our team. We've done it for our country," McIntyre told Nine's Paris 2024 coverage.
The race was dominated by the Netherlands, which won gold by several boat lengths.
Stingers cruise into top spot
The Stingers have continued their perfect start at Paris 2024, winning their third straight group-stage match to go top of their water polo pool.
After a tense final few minutes, Australia prevailed over Canada to seal a 10-7 win.
Scary collapse at the pool
There were confronting scenes in the morning session at La Defense Arena when Slovakian swimmer Tamara Potocka collapsed following her 200m individual medley heat.
The usually roaring stadium quietened to a hush as officials rushed to her aid and gave her oxygen.
Potocka was conscious and breathing when she was carried away on a stretcher.
The Slovakian team later confirmed Potocka had suffered an asthma attack and was being monitored.
"Tamara has asthma. This whole combination of nervous and physical tension while she did not have her inhaler immediately available to use contributed to the creation of this problem," team leader Ivana Lange said.
Joy, heartbreak on the track
The full track program kicked off in earnest at Stade de France on Friday.
The only gold on offer, the 10,000m men's final, was won by world record holder Joshua Cheptegei of Uganda.
Cheptegei took the lead with little more than a lap to go to win in Olympic record time and put a full stop on an electric first night on the track at Stade de France.
Earlier, there was heartbreak for South Sudan's Lucia Moris, who was unable to finish her race after she suffered an injury in the women's 100m preliminary rounds.
She was carried away on a stretcher and appeared in extreme distress. Her opponents also came back to check on her after completing their races.
US favourite Sha'Carri Richardson (10.94 seconds) moved through as the fourth-fastest, behind Côte d'Ivoire's Marie-Josee Ta Lou-Smith (10.87), Jamaican veteran Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce and Great Britan's Daryll Neita (both 10.92).
New Zealand's Zoe Hobbs and Australia's Bree Masters are also through to the semi-final.
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.
