Paris 2024

Olympics Day 7: Irish in action and best of the rest as sailors race for a medal

Rowers in three finals, we have Robert Dickson and Sean Waddilove in the rescheduled skiff medal race and we have our showjumping team through to their final

James Peters and Fynn Sterritt of Great Britain and Ireland's Robert Dickson and Sean Waddilove compete during the Men's Skiff 49er class medal race yesterday in Marseille, France. Photograph: Clive Mason/Getty Images
James Peters and Fynn Sterritt of Great Britain and Ireland's Robert Dickson and Sean Waddilove compete during the Men's Skiff 49er class medal race yesterday in Marseille, France. Photograph: Clive Mason/Getty Images
Mary Hannigan
Thu Aug 01 2024 - 22:38

Irish in Action

  • 8.44am: Shane Lowry (golf - second round)
  • 9.54am: Fiona Murtagh, Aifric Keogh (rowing - coxless pair B final)
  • From 10.05am: Andrew Coscoran, Cathal Doyle, Luke McCann (athletics - 1,500m first round heats)
  • 10.14am: Ellen Walshe (swimming - 200m IM heats)
  • 10.30am: Ross Corrigan, Nathan Timoney (rowing - coxless pair A final)
  • 11.02am: Paul O’Donovan, Fintan McCarthy (rowing - lightweight double sculls finals)
  • 11.06am: Rory McIlroy (golf - second round)
  • 11.10am: Eve McMahon (sailing - Dinghy race three)
  • 11.22am: Margaret Cremen, Aoife Casey (rowing - lightweight double sculls finals)
  • 12.13pm: Robert Dickson and Sean Waddilove (sailing - Skiff medal race)
  • 12.18pm: Eve McMahon (sailing - Dinghy series four)
  • 1pm: Shane Sweetnam, Daniel Coyle, Cian O’Connor (showjumping team final)
  • 2.30pm: Finn Lynch (sailing - Dinghy race three)
  • 2.30pm: Michaela Walsh v Svetlana Staneva (boxing - 57Kg round of 16)
  • 2.30pm: Liam Jegou and Noel Hendrick (canoe slalom - kayak cross)
  • 3.28pm: Finn Lynch (sailing - dinghy series four)
  • 3.30pm: Madison Corcoran (canoe slalom - kayak cross)
  • 4pm: Ireland v New Zealand (men’s hockey)
  • 5.10pm: Jodie McCann (athletics - 5,000m heats)
  • 6.10pm: 4 x 400m Mixed Relay (Athletics - heats)
  • 7.10pm: Eric Favors (athletics - shot put qualifying round)

Monday: Mona McSharry. Tuesday: Daniel Wiffen. Wednesday: Kellie Harrington. Thursday: Philip Doyle/Daire Lynch. So, it’s been a medal a day this week. Will Friday prove to be just as fabulous? There’s a distinct possibility because . . . deep breath . . . we have rowers in three finals, we have Robert Dickson and Sean Waddilove in the rescheduled skiff medal race and we have our showjumping team through to their final.

Those three rowing finals take place in the space of an hour, starting at 10.30am, so it will be a breathless start to the day. Enniskillen’s Ross Corrigan and Nathan Timoney kick off the medal chase in the pair final, little Davids Paul O’Donovan and Fintan McCarthy will reach for their inner Goliaths in the lightweight double sculls decider, and then Margaret Cremen and Aoife Casey will round it all off, also in a lightweight double sculls final.

Having struggled to get into the top four, the finish they require to win a medal, Dickson and Waddilove might have been happy enough to see both attempts to complete the skiff medal race abandoned due to “unfair race conditions”, the wind all but disappearing. Conditions permitting they’ll try again on Friday, the pair currently second in the standings.

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The showjumpers have their eye on a medal too having qualified for today’s team final sixth out of the 20 competing nations. Daniel Coyle had an excellent clear round, Shane Sweetnam picked up just four faults, while Cian O’Connor had one fence down as well as picking up a time fault. All 10 finalists start on a zero score, so all to jump for.

Ireland’s Daniel Coyle on Legacy in the jumping team qualifier at Château de Versailles, Paris, on Thursday. Photograph: Libby Law/Inpho
Ireland’s Daniel Coyle on Legacy in the jumping team qualifier at Château de Versailles, Paris, on Thursday. Photograph: Libby Law/Inpho

Rory McIlroy and Shane Lowry had a mixed day of it in the opening round of the golf tournament on Wednesday, McIlroy shooting a three-under-par 68 to lie five shots adrift of leader Hideki Matsuyama, Lowry’s 71 leaving him another three strokes behind. They’ll be back out on Friday morning for round two.

A bunch of our athletes will be making their Paris bows on Friday, Andrew Coscoran, Cathal Doyle and Luke McCann up first in the morning’s 1,500m heats, with Jodie McCann (5,000m), our 4 x 400m mixed relay team and shot putter Eric Favors in action later in the day.

And among the other highlights will be Michaela Walsh taking to the ring for her 57kg bout. We can only hope that she receives more honest judging than Daina Moorehouse endured on Thursday evening.

Worth a Watch: The first track gold medal will be handed out this evening after the men’s 10,000m final, Uganda’s Joshua Cheptegei, the world record holder in the distance, the favourite. But he’s up against the man who beat him in Tokyo, Ethiopia’s Selemon Barega, while his fellow Ugandan Jacob Kiplimo is a contender too.

Mary Hannigan

Mary Hannigan

Mary Hannigan is a sports writer with The Irish Times