Irish in action at the Olympics today:
- 6.30am – Daniel Wiffen (Marathon swimming – men’s open water 10km). Finished 18th.
- 9.05am – Kate O’Connor (Heptathlon – long jump). Jumped 5.79, earning 786 points.
- 9.22am – Leona Maguire (Golf – third round). Shot round of 72, level par – eight over after three rounds.
- 9.55am – Stephanie Meadow (Golf – third round). Shot round of 83, 11 over – 24 over after three rounds.
- 9.40am – Ireland (Athletics – women’s 4x400m relay round one). Third in heat two, qualified for Saturday’s final.
- 10.23am – Kate O’Connor (Heptathlon – javelin throw). Threw a 50.36, earning her 867 points – now 14th overall on 5,249 points.
- 10.30am – Mark English (Athletics – men’s 800m semi-final). Sixth in semi-final one, failed to qualify for tomorrow’s final.
- 11.05am – Sarah Lavin (Athletics – women’s 100m hurdles semi-final). Sixth in semi-final two, failed to qualify for tomorrow’s final.
- 5.09pm – Alice Sharpe & Lara Gillespie (Track cycling – madison final)
- 7pm – Rhasidat Adeleke (Athletics – women’s 400m final)
- 7.25pm – Kate O’Connor (Heptathlon – 800m)
At Le Golf National, Stephanie Meadow and Leona Maguire have finished their third rounds.
Meadow shot a level par round of 72 to put her on eight over going into tomorrow’s final round, while it was a very difficult day for Maguire. The Cavan woman shot 11 over, putting her 24 over par across the three rounds.
Switzerland’s Morgane Metraux remains the leader, level par for the day thru 6, eight under overall.
For anyone just joining us, there were highs and lows at Stade de France this morning.
Sixth for Mark English in the men’s 800m semi-final and sixth also for Sarah Lavin in the women’s 100m hurdles semi-finals wasn’t enough to see them through to Saturday’s finals, bringing the Games in Paris to an end.
In the heptathlon, Kate O’Connor put in a solid performance in the long jump to post a best effort 5.79, which she followed up with an excellent 50.36 in the javelin throw, the third best result out of all 21 athletes. She’s now up to 14th overall on 5,249 points, with just the 800m event left to go this evening.
And there was a huge results for the Irish 4x400m women’s relay team, who came third in their semi-final to gain automatic qualification for tomorrow’s decider.
Ian O’Riordan has this from Paris:
The quartet of Sophie Becker, Phil Healy, Kelly McGrory and Sharlene Mawdsley needed to finish in the top three to make sure of qualification, and running in the second heat, they did just that.
Mawdsley ran the anchor leg and the Tipperary runner produced her now trademark surge, moving Ireland from fourth to third in the final leg, while clocking the fastest split in their heat with her 49.65 seconds.
Jamaica took the win in 3:24.92, the Dutch quartet just holding on for second in 3:25.03, Mawdsley bringing Ireland home right beside them in third, in 3:25.05.
Read the rest of Ian’s report below...
[ Olympics: Ireland qualify for final of women’s 4x400m relayOpens in new window ]
Time we take a look at how things are going at Le Golf National in round three of the women’s individual stroke play.
Stephanie Meadow is currently one over par for the day as she plays the 17th, putting her on nine over across the three rounds. Leona Maguire is on 11 over playing the final hole, 24 over par overall.
Switzerland’s Morgane Metraux leads on nine under overall, currently playing one under having competed the first three holes in her third round.
After this morning’s 10km marathon swim in the Seine, Ireland’s Daniel Wiffen likely has a new found appreciation for the calm of the pool.
Wiffen finished 18th, becoming the first Irish athlete to compete in the event at the Olympics. It’s a world away from pool swimming, arguably having more in common with a combat sport when the swimmers are bunched, which the 23-year-old had to learn the hard way.
“I’d say the start was pretty bad when I got punched in the face,” he said. “I got hit in the head three times, somebody kicked me in the stomach, I think I pulled my groin halfway through and, in terms of the last lap, I was just absolutely dead. That was the worst thing.”
But double Olympic medallist has proven himself to be a tough cookie. He added: “It’s the worst and best thing I’ve ever done in my life. The reason why it was the worst is because it was the most painful thing I’ve ever done but, in terms of best, it’s because I’m happy to say I’m an Olympic open-water swimmer, dual-sport athlete, and a contact-sport athlete as well.”
His post-race interview with RTÉ's Jacqui Hurley is worth a watch. After a gruelling two hours of swimming, Wiffen still manages to see the funny side of the experience.
“I’m retiring from open water.” More power to you Daniel.
In the javelin throw event in the heptathalon, Ireland’s Kate O’Connor has thrown a phenomenal 50.36 on her first attempt to go third in group B.
Nafissatou Thiam of Belgium currently leads the group having thrown a 54.04.
Disappointment for Ireland, but both Mark English and Sarah Lavin put in commendable runs to bring down the curtain on their campaigns in Paris.
The line-up for tomorrow’s men’s 800m fill will be: Emmanuel Wanyonyi (Kenya), Bryce Hoppel (USA), Marco Arop (Canada), Djamel Sedjati (Algeria), Gabriel Tual (France), Tshepiso Masalela (Botswana), Max Burgin (GB) and Mohamed Attaoui (Spain).
And in the final of the women’s 100m hurdles, it’s: Alaysha Johnson (USA), Jasmine Camacho-Quinn (Puerto Rico), Grace Stark (USA), Masai Russell (USA), Nadine Visser (Netherlands), Ackera Nugent (Jamaica), Devynne Charlton (Bahamas) and Cyrena Samba-Mayela (France).
Athletics: Sarah Lavin misses out on qualification. She crosses the line in sixth.
Athletics: The women’s 100m hurdles second semi-final is off! Ireland’s Sarah Lavin in lane 4.
Athletics: Team USA’s Grace Stark is home first in the opening semi-final of the women’s 100m hurdles, with Devynne Charlton (Bahamas) second, both qualifying for tomorrow’s final.
Ireland’s Sarah Lavin is up next in the second semi-final.
Next up for Ireland is Sarah Lavin in the semi-final of the women’s 100m hurdles. She’ll run in lane 4 of the second race, the first semi-final is set for 11.05am.
First two finishers from each of the three semi-finals automatically qualify for Saturday’s final, as well as the two fastest finishers from the rest of the field.
Athletics: English leads with 200m left but he’s overtaken on the home straight.
He finishes sixth. Algeria’s Djamel Sedjati is first, followed by Botswana’s Tshepiso Maselela, seeing them straight through to tomorrow’s final.
Athletics: The first men’s 800m semi-final is off. Mark English out quick for Ireland putting himself towards the front of the pack.
He’s slotted into third as they take the bell.
The javelin throw event in the heptathlon has started and Kate O’Connor’s throwing ninth in group B.
For now, we’ll focus on the men’s 800m semi-final. Ireland’s Mark English will run in lane 9 of the first semi-final which is due to get under way in the next couple of minutes.
Just to confirm how the long jump event in the heptathlon ended, Kate O’Connor improved with her final effort to jump 5.79, giving her 786 points. She’s 18th overall on 4,382.
GB’s Katarina Johnson-Thompson is still out in front, now on 5,030 points.
Up next for the heptathletes will be the javelin throw shortly after 10.20am.
Athletics: Another powerful finish from Mawdsley brings Ireland across the line in third, automatically qualifying for tomorrow’s final!
There was very little between first to third at the line. A superb finish.
Ireland’s 3:25.05 was seventh fastest overall across the two heats.
Athletics: Ireland lead at the second handover, but Kelly McGrory’s fallen back to fourth. Mawdsley up now.
Athletics: Great start from Becker, handing off first. Phil Healy’s up now.
Athletics: Sophie Becker is on the starting block in lane 8 for Ireland. And they’re off!
Athletics: An utterly dominant run from Team USA to win heat one. Very close finish for second, which went to GB, followed by France who took third.
They’re all straight through to Saturday’s final. Belgium’s fourth-place time of 3:24.92 will likely see them also qualify among the best of the rest.
It’s looking like Ireland will need a time of around 3:25.00 to qualify. Their heat is coming up in the next few minutes.
Athletics: The first heat in the women’s 4x400m relay is about to begin. First three finishers along with the two fastest teams from the remainder of the field qualify for tomorrow’s final.
Ireland race in lane 8 in heat two. Sophie Becker will start, passing to Phil Healy who’ll tag to Kelly McGrory before Sharlene Mawdsley races for the line.
After two attempts in the heptathlon’s long jump event, Kate O’Connor’s posted a best effort of 5.41m. She has one jump remaining.
Sofie Dokter leads group A in the event, jumping 6.25m. In group B, the best effort so far has been set by Colombia’s Martha Araujo on her final go.
Next up for Ireland is Kate O’Connor in the heptathlon.
They’re just about to get the long jump event under way at Stade de France. Kate’s jumping 10th in group A.
After yesterday’s four events – 100m hurdles, high jump, shot put and 200m – O’Connor is 19th with 3,596. Team GB’s Katarina Johnson-Thompson leads on 4,055.
Marathon swim: Daniel Wiffen gives the timing board a good rattle as he powers home in 18th, 6 minutes 27.4 seconds behind the first finisher.
For his first marathon swim, it’s an incredible result.
Overall, 29 swimmers took to the water this morning, with four non-finishers.
Marathon swim: Hungary’s Kristof Rasovszky is pulling hard to put space between himself and Germany’s Oliver Klemet.
They’ve hit the timing board and it’s gold for the Hungarian, Klemet earns silver and it’s bronze for Rasovszky’s team-mate David Betlehem.
Rasovszky’s finishing time was 1:50:52.7.
We’re still waiting on Wiffen.
Marathon swim: The leaders are heading under the final bridge as they approach the finishing shoot which narrows the field to bring them to the timing pads at the finishing line.
As things stand it’s Hungary’s Kristof Rasovszky and Germany’s Oliver Klemet out in front battling hard for the gold.
Marathon swim: They’re inside the final kilometre of the men’s 10km marathon swim and they’re speeding to the finish.
Ireland’s Daniel Wiffen is currently around 20th.
There are four swimmer out in a group at the front, lead by Hungary’s Kristof Rasovszky.
Good morning! Muireann Duffy here to keep you company on day 14.
A lot to look forward to today, starting with Daniel Wiffen in the Seine and ending with Rhasidat Adeleke and Kate O’Connor at Stade de France.
On mention of Wiffen, he’s actually already in action since the men’s 10km marathon swim began at 6.30am (if you were up early to see them off, gold star for you). The first finishers are expected around the two-hour mark, so that’s where we’ll focus our attention for the next little while.
After two tough days for Leona Maguire and Stephanie Meadow, they’re back at Le Golf National for the third round of the women’s individual stroke play, teeing off at 9.22am and 9.55am.
And in the velodrome shortly after 5pm, Alice Sharpe and Lara Gillespie will represent Ireland in the madison final. Don’t worry, we’ll explain that event a little later.
But most of the day’s Irish outings are on the athletics track, where eight of our athletes are competing across five events.
First up is Kate O’Connor in day two of the heptathlon. After Thursday’s four events, she currently sits 19th overall on 3,596 points. The long jump is Friday’s first event, starting shortly after 9am, followed by the javelin throw and 800m later.
In the women’s 4x400m relay, Sophie Becker, Kelly McGrory, Phil Healy and Sharlene Mawdsley will need a big performance to take a place in Saturday’s final, running in heat two at around 9.45am.
Also looking for final spots will be Mark English and Sarah Lavin, racing in the semi-finals of the men’s 800m (10.30am) and women’s 100m hurdles (11.05am) respectively.
And the big one, the one it feels like we’ve been waiting so long for – at 7pm Rhasidat Adeleke takes to the starting blocks in lane 4 for the final of the women’s 400m.
It’s going to be long and busy day, but would we want it any other way? Let’s start by seeing how things are going in the Seine…
