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Maddi Wesche’s dramatic silver medal in the shot put early on Saturday morning, and last night’s dominant K2 500m kayaking gold for Lisa Carrington and Alicia Hoskin have pushed NZ to a formidable six gold, six silver and two bronze medals.
And New Zealand has strong prospects of more over the weekend with golfer Lydia Ko going into the final round in equal first place, cyclist Ellesse Andrews into the quarterfinals of the sprint with a national record, and of course Carrington likely to be up against fellow Kiwi Aimee Fisher in the K1 500 final.
In the spirit of the great Dame Valerie Adams, Maddi Wesche led the women’s shot put final almost from start to finish, but was just pipped by German Yemisi Ogunleye with the penultimate throw of the competition to end with a remarkable silver.
Wesche threw long from the start, out to 19.56m and the lead from her first attempt, then in round five the German finally bettered that with 19.73m. On the very next throw Wesche came up with her personal best of 19.86m to lead into the final round.
Her lead remained until Ogunleye again surged ahead with a 20.0m throw, leaving Wesche with the last throw of the competition to try to restore herself to gold – a challenge she couldn’t meet.
This is the fifth Games in a row that New Zealand has stood on the shot put medal podium.
Wesche told Sky Sport: “Women’s shotput is so competitive at the moment, you can never rely on the position you’re in throughout the whole comp. It’s wait till the end of the sixth throw, and that’s where you’re going to be.
“Today I was second, and although I would have loved first, and I would have loved to produce another PB, Yemi came out on top and she’s the better athlete today and also a really kind person.
“So I’m just happy to be here. And Maddi Wesche the silver medallist doesn’t sound too bad.
“I think I just love competing, and every day Maddi is the same Maddi who’s in competitions. So I didn’t want to change that and bring a different atmosphere to the comp. I think it works and I’m going to stick with it.”
Lisa Carrington and Alicia Hoskin led from the start in their K2 500 final and held out two Hungarian duos and the Germans to grab their second gold in Paris (they were part of the Kiwi K4 500 winners) and Carrington’s seventh Olympic gold of her career.
Carrington defended the Tokyo gold she won with partner Caitlin Regal.
Hoskin told Sky Sport: “I’m just really proud, and loving it. We knew it was an exceptionally high quality field. We took it really seriously, stuck to our race plan, and, yeah, had a really good time.”
Carrington added: “I think it’s amazing we’ve actually won today. We didn’t expect to do it.
“Every time is different. I can’t believe I even had the opportunity to line up and have another shot at the title. It’s just been cool.”
Lydia Ko goes into tonight’s final day of the women’s golf tied for the lead with Switzerland’s Morgane Metraux.
Ko, 27, began the day three behind Metraux and in third equal spot, but played good golf throughout a challenging day when the wind was always a problem. She shared the lead for a time and then took sole possession of it at the 14th hole.
Going into 18 she had a two-stroke lead, but a poor drive left her having to be satisfied with a par 5. Metraux, two behind by then, eagled the hole, so shares the lead with Ko on 207, nine under par. Ko finished the day with a 68.
Ko, who won silver and bronze at the past two Games, and stands to make golf’s Hall of Fame should she win this tournament, shot six birdies and two bogeys in her 68.
“I’d like to do it [finally get into the Hall of Fame],” she said after the second day, “because then everyone would stop asking me about it.”
“Yes, I have had a Coca Cola, but I’ll go home and have some antibiotics as well – and that’s my plan. And the water? I’ve tasted worse, to be honest.”
– Dutch 10 km marathon swimmer Sharon van Rouwendaal after defending her Olympic title in a gruelling Seine slog.
Cyclist Ellesse Andrews, fresh from her stunning gold medal in the keirin event, raced through the individual sprint qualifying leaderboard, briefly holding the world record and setting an NZ record of 10.108s to achieve third place going into the quarterfinals.
Andrews is joined by teammate Shaane Fulton who was ninth in qualifying with her own quick time of 10.281s, and moved through to the 1/16 final after winning her second chance repechage.
New Zealand’s third-ever artistic swimming duet, Eva Morris and Nina Brown put in a solid performance in their technical routine, currently sitting in 17th place, and will finish with their free routine on Sunday morning (NZT).
Indian wrestler Vinesh Phogat announced her retirement after being disqualified from the gold medal match in 50kg wrestling for being 100 grams overweight.
The three-time Commonwealth Games gold medallist had beaten Cuban Yusneylis Guzman Lopez in the semifinals but failed to make weight for the decider despite cycling all night and even cutting her hair to try and conform to the strict rules.
Phogat wrote on Instagram: “Mother, wrestling beat me, I lost. Your dream and my courage are all broken. I don’t have any more strength now. Goodbye wrestling 2001-2024. I will forever be in your debt.”
India have won 40 medals at the Olympics, but have never had a female individual gold medallist. Phogat was a favourite to finish on the podium in Rio 2016 but tore her ACL. In 2020 she was upset in the quarterfinals by Vanesa Kaladzinskaya of Belarus.
Phogaht has been open about her struggles with depression. In 2023 was sleeping on the streets of New Delhi as part of an athlete-led protest calling out sexual harassment allegations within her sport.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has become a huge admirer writing on the social network: “Vinesh, you are a champion among champions! You are India’s pride and an inspiration for each and every Indian. Today’s setback hurts. I wish words could express the sense of despair that I am experiencing.”
Perhaps the most amusing story of an Olympian failing to make weight was at the 1936 Olympics when South African boxer Thomas Hamilton-Brown was eliminated in the first round of the lightweight class after losing his fight to Carlos Lillo. He had originally won the bout but due to a scoring miscalculation he did not find this out until several days later, when he had gone on an eating binge.
Former Olympian Sarah Cowley Ross, in Paris, messages LockerRoom:
“The day has finally arrived – the long-awaited showdown between two of the world’s top paddlers, who both happen to be Kiwis.
“World champion Aimee Fisher is expected to meet Olympic champion Dame Lisa Carrington in the K-1 500 – the battle royale of Kiwi boats.
“Can we go 1-2, for the first time since Hamish Carter and Bevan Docherty won gold and silver for NZ at the Athens Olympic Games 20 years ago.
“On Sunday I’ll be watching Waikato’s Camille French tackle the hilly marathon course on a route celebrating the historic Women’s March of Versailles in 1789, one of the most important events in the French Revolution.
“And as something of a revolution, the women’s marathon will – for the first time – be the final event of the track and field programme.”
Canoe/Kayak: Aimee Fisher, Lisa Carrington, K-1 500m semifinal, 8.30pm; final 11pm.
Golf: Lydia Ko final round, 10.30pm
Cycling: Ellesse Andrews, Shaane Fulton, sprint 1/8 finals, 3am; quarterfinal 5am.
Artistic swimming: Eva Morris and Nina Brown, duet free routine, 5.30am.
Day 16
Athletics: Camille French, marathon Sun 6pm.
Cycling: Ally Wollaston, omnium Sun 9pm, 10pm, 10.50pm, 11.55pm; Ellesse Andrews, Shaane Fulton, sprint semifinal 9.20pm, final 11.45pm.
To see the full schedule of when New Zealand athletes are competing on Sky Sport, go to https://www.sky.co.nz/discover/sky-sport/olympics#schedule
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