Irish in Action at the Olympics on Saturday
- 8am: Golf Men’s individual stroke play (Shane Lowry & Rory McIlroy). Lowry shot a round of 66 to move to five under, McIlroy also shot a round of 66 to go 10 under overall.
- 10am: Cycling Road race (Ben Healy & Ryan Mullen).
- 10am: Sailing Men’s Dinghy race 5&6 (Finn Lynch). 12th in race 5; 7th in race 6 – 15th overall.
- 10am: Sailing Women’s Dinghy race 4,5&6 (Eve McMahon). 22nd in race 4; 34th in race 5 – 18th overall.
- 10am: Swimming Women’s 50m Freestyle (Danielle Hill). 8th in heat 8 (25.02), 21st overall, failing to qualify for semi-finals.
- 10.30am: Swimming Men’s 1500m Freestyle (Daniel Wiffen). 1st in heat 3 (14:40.34), qualified first for Sunday’s final.
- 11.40am: Swimming Men’s 4x100m Medley Relay (Conor Ferguson, Darragh Greene, Max McCusker & Shane Ryan). 6th in heat 2 (3:33.81), 11th overall, failing to qualify for final.
- 11.52am: Swimming Women’s 4x100m Medley Relay (Danielle Hill, Mona McSharry, Ellen Walshe & Grace Davison). 6th in heat 2, 11th overall, failing to qualify for final.
- 2.30pm: Canoe Slalom Women’s kayak cross (Madison Corcoran). Fourth in race 10, goes in repechage at 5.05pm.
- 3.40pm: Canoe Slalom Men;s kayak cross (Noel Hendrick & Liam Jegou). Hendrick third in race 3, goes in repechage at 5.45pm. Jegou first in race 3, through to elimination round.
- 4.16pm: Gymnastics Pommel Horse final (Rhys McClenaghan).
- 6.15pm: Athletics Men’s 1500m repechage (heat 1 – Cathal Doyle & Luke McCann, heat 2 – Andrew Coscoran).
- 9.08pm Boxing Women’s 60kg semi-final (Kellie Harrington v Beatriz Iasmin Soare Ferreira [Brazil]).
Gymnastics: GOLD FOR RHYS MCCLENAGHAN, GOLD FOR IRELAND!
Gymnastics: A 14.933 for Japan’s Takaaki Sugino means Rhys is guaranteed a medal.
Gymnastics: Team USA’s Stephen Nedoroscik (a.k.a. Clark Kent if you spend time on TikTok) has knocked Max Whitlock out of the medals with a score of 15.300.
As things stand with five competitors gone, it’s Rhys McClenaghan (15.533), Nariman Kurbanov (15.433) and Nedoroscik (15.300).
Gymnastics: Rhys McClenaghan puts himself into first with a score of 15.533! Four competitors left to go.
The 25 year old is battling back tears as he waits for the second half of the final to get underway. They’re undoubtedly tears of relief. All he can do now is wait.
Gymnastics: And exhale! He’s got through it cleanly!
Gymnastics: The Netherland’s Loran De Munck came off towards the end of his routine but got back on the horse (who doesn’t love a pun) to finish, scoring 13.733.
Next up is our boy Rhys. Cross your fingers and toes everyone!
Gymnastics: Team GB’s Max Whitlock had a few minor wobbles in his routine, unusual for the two-time Olympic pommel horse champ, scoring 15.200.
He goes second behind Nariman Kurbanov of Kazakhstan, who scored 15.433.
After all that excitement, we need to take a deep breath because we’re shifting focus to the men’s pommel horse final at the Bercy Arena now.
Rhys McClenaghan is up fourth. Team GB’s Max Whitlock is up second, looking for his third gold medal in this event, but hopefully McClenaghan will have a say in that.
Earlier, Simone Biles won her seventh Olympic gold medal for Team USA in the women’s vault event, her third gold at these games.
The American was all smiles after landing a Yurchenko double pike, known as the Biles II, on her first vault, taking only a small step back and scoring a massive 15.700.
Her second vault was scored at 14.900, giving her an overall score of 15.300 and leaving her well clear of Brazil’s Rebecca Andrade in silver, while another American, Jade Carey, took bronze.
Cycling: After an immense effort, Ben Healy crosses the line in 10th – Ireland’s best finish in the road race. Having battled out in front for much of the race, he simply ran out of steam at the end. A tremendous race from the 23 year old.
It’s silver for Valentin Madouas and bronze for Christophe Laporte (both France).
Cycling: Belgium’s Remco Evenepoel takes the gold while the battle for silver and bronze heats up.
It’ll be a tall ask for Healy to get on the podium now, it’ll be a fierce sprint to the finish line.
Cycling: Puncture for Remco Evenepoel 3.8km from the line!
But with 1.15 in hand, a quick bike change will have little effect on his finish.
Cycling: There’s just over 10km left in the men’s road race and Ben Healy is still in contention for a medal, fighting for the bronze.
Remco Evenepoel from Belgium is out in front heading for the gold.
Golf: Play is still ongoing in the men’s individual stroke play, but Rory McIlroy has finished his third round.
McIlroy shot a five-under round of 66, as did Shane Lowry earlier in the day. The results puts Lowry on five under after three rounds, while McIlroy is higher up the pecking order on 10 under.
As things stand, McIlroy’s in joint-sixth position and Lowry’s in joint-23rd. Jon Rahm is out in front on 14 under.
Canoe Slalom: Back to the men’s kayak cross, Noel Hendrick managed third in race 3, sending him to the repechage, while Liam Jegou crossed the finish in first in race 7, meaning he’ll race to elimination with the other first and second-place finishers from across the 11 races.
Cycling: Healy’s been caught! It really is pedal to the metal in the men’s road race.
After a push on the climb, Ben Healy has been joined at the front by Remco Evenepoel, Valentin Madouas, Stefan Kueng, and Marco Haller. Just over 30km left.
Canoe Slalom: Madison Corcoran placed fourth in race 10 of the women’s kayak cross, having picked up a fault on the third-to-last gate. The result means she now goes into the repechage round with the other third and fourth-place finishers from across the 11 races.
Noel Hendrick is up now in race 3 of the men’s event.
Cycling: The men’s road race is proving to be quite the exciting contest, particularly from an Irish perspective.
Ben Healy is 20 second out in front on his own, being pursued by a small group of chasers with just over 40km to go.
Sailing: In the women’s dinghy event, Eve McMahon is now 17th overall after six races. The postponement of race 4 on Friday meant race 4, 5 and 6 were all on the schedule for Saturday.
The 20-year-old placed 22nd in the opening race of the day before dropping back to 18th overall with her 34th-place finish in race 5. However, 13th in race 6 was enough to see her back to 17th overall heading into Sunday’s racing.
In the men’s dinghy event, Finn Lynch placed 12th in race 5 and an impressive seventh in race 6, leaving him in 15th position overall at the end of the day’s action.
Canoe Slalom: At the Vaires-sur-Marne Nautical Stadium, three Irish athletes are taking part in the new kayak cross event.
Madison Corcoran is in race 10 in the women’s event, while Noel Hendrick and Liam Jegou are in race 3 and 7 respectively in the men’s.
Each race is a head-to-head between three/four competitors, starting with a two-meter drop at the top of the course. Each racer must also complete a full underwater spin halfway through the course, with the first two finishers progressing to the elimination round while the rest go into the repechage for another chance.
Gymnastics: Ahead of today’s final, Rhys McClenaghan has very kindly taken time out of his schedule to explain the pommel horse event to us mere mortals.
And if that leaves you wanting more, Johnny Watterson took a look at Rhys’s journey to Paris following heartbreak in Tokyo.
“Already a two-time world champion and three-time European champion, he is regarded as one of the greats. But it is still not enough for McClenaghan. He will go into the Bercy Arena chasing perfection,” Walsh writes.
[ Rhys McClenaghan: ‘Perfection isn’t attainable - but we’ll try’Opens in new window ]
Cycling: On the bikes, Ireland’s Ben Healy is leading a small breakaway at the front of the men’s road race. He’s motoring well, but there’s 65km still to go.
Looking ahead, the big one to look forward to is Rhys McClenaghan in the final of the men’s pommel horse. He’s up fourth at 4.16pm.
And then hoping to upgrade her bronze medal to either silver or gold will be Kellie Harrington. She’s back in the ring at 9.08pm to take on Brazil’s Beatriz Iasmin Soare Ferreira. The loser will take bronze while the winner will box for the gold in Tuesday’s final.
Golf: On the golf course, Shane Lowry got his third round underway shortly before 9am. A five-under round of 66 brought him to five under overall.
Having set off almost two hours later, Rory McIlroy is still on the course. He’s up to joint fifth on 10 under overall, currently on five under for today’s round thru 16 holes.
Good afternoon everyone! Muireann Duffy reporting for duty. I’ll be keeping you company for the evening on what will hopefully be a super Saturday for Team Ireland.
It was a busy morning for Irish athletes, with swimming, cycling, golf and sailing among the events on today’s agenda.
Swimming: Earlier, Ian O’Riordan was at La Défense Arena to see Daniel Wiffen ease into the final of the men’s 1500m freestyle, qualifying quickest overall in a time of 14:40.34.
[ Daniel Wiffen on course for Olympic swimming double after heat processionOpens in new window ]
In the women’s 50m freestyle, Danielle Hill touched the wall in 25.02, placing her 21st overall and outside the qualification for the semi-finals.
Ireland was also in relay action, with both the men’s and women’s team competing in the heats of the 4x100m medley events.
First up for Ireland was Conor Ferguson, Darragh Greene, Max McCusker and Shane Ryan, who took sixth in their heat but 11th overall, outside the top-eight finish needed to move on to the final.
It was a very similar story for the women’s relay team – Danielle Hill, Mona McSharry, Ellen Walshe and Grace Davison – placing sixth in heat 2 and 11th overall, so no progression to the final.
