Olympics: Michael Phelps' record breaking exploits at the Water Cube may continue to dominate the headlines - the American bids for a sixth gold of the Games in the 200 metres individual medley - but attention also switches to the Bird's Nest in Beijing where the track and field programme gets underway.
Alistair Cragg will be the first Irish athlete to experience the testing conditions in Beijing with the heat and humidity sure to take their toll in the middle distance events from 12.10pm (Irish time). Shortly afterwards, Fionnuala Britton (1.25pm) and then Roisín McGettigan (1.37pm) contest the heats of the 3,000m steeplechase.
The boxers have provided many of the Irish highlights in the Games so far and John Joe Nevin tackles the highly-rated Mongolian Badar-Uugan Enkhbat for a place in the bantamweight quarter-finals.
Over at Qingdao, Ciara Peelo (Laser Redial) and Tim Goodbody (Finn) had their races from yesterday rescheduled due to thunderstorms in the area. They get underway from 5am (Irish time).
Ger Owens and Philip Lawton, with two first places secured, remain in contention for the medal race but will need to find some consistency on the Yellow Sea. Peter O'Leary and Stephen Milne also start their campaign in the Star Class from 6am onwards.
The Men's Lightweight four of Paul Griffin, Richard Archibald, Gearóid Towey and Cathal Moynihan race in the rescheduled semi-final at 7.10am.
The Laoshan Velodrome sees the first day of the track cycling programme with David O'Loughlin attempting to negotiate qualifying while showjumper Denis Lynch makes his Olympic debut.
Irish in Action - Friday
05.00 - Sailing
Women's Laser Redial - race 4 (rescheduled)
Ciara Peelo
Men's Finn - race 8 (rescheduled)
Tim Goodbody
06.00 - Sailing
Men's 470 Class - races 7 and 8
Ger Owens & Philip Lawton
Men's Star Class - races 1 and 2
Peter O'Leary & Stephen Milne
07.10 - Rowing
Men's Lightweight four - semi-final (rescheduled)
Paul Griffin, Richard Archibald, Gearóid Towey and Cathal Moynihan
09.55 - Cycling
Men's Individual Pursuit - Qualifying
David O'Loughlin
12.10 - Athletics
Men's 1500m - Heat 1
Alistair Cragg
12.15 - Equestrian
Showjumping Individual - First Qualifier
Denis Lynch
13.25 - Athletics
Women's 3000m Steeplechase - Heat 1
Fionnuala Britton
13.37 - Athletics
Women's 3000m Steeplechase - Heat 2
Roisín McGettigan
13.45 - Boxing
Men's Bantamweight - second round
John Joe Nevin (Ire) vs Badar-Uugan Enkhbat (Mon)
Irish in action - Saturday 16th
02.00 - Athletics
20km Walk
Rob Heffernan
05.10 - Athletics
Women's 400m Heats
Joanne Cuddihy
06.00 - Sailing
Men's Finn medal race
Tim Goodbody*
06.00 - Sailing
Men's 470 Class races 9 and 10
Ger Owens and Philip Lawton
06.00 - Sailing
Men's Star Class - race 3 and 4
Peter O'Leary and Stephen Milne
06.00 - Sailing
Women's Laser Redial - races 7 and 8
Ciara Peelo
09.30 - Cycling
Men's Pursuit
David O'Loughlin
08.45 - Boxing
Middleweight (75kg)
Darren Sutherland
12noon - Boxing
Light Flyweight (48kg)
Paddy Barnes