Olympics 2024: Latest from Paris after gold-rush for Team GB

Katie Boulter and Heather Watson are in action for Team GB at Roland Garros against Brazilian sixth seeds Beatriz Haddad Maia and Luisa Stefani. Both players have been knocked out of the singles. Follow the latest updates on our dedicated live blog here.

Olympics Briefing newsletter

I’m a bit in shock really that it is me that is doing this, winning gold. I am just so grateful for the hundreds of people that have been behind me helping me, all the way since I was a child, youth athlete, and then to now.

If I chopped up this medal and gave a piece to all the people who have helped me get here then there would be none left for me. I am so lucky to be able to be the person to do this amazing sport, this amazing race, and what a venue too.

Joe Fraser and Jake Jarman are Team GB’s two medal chances. You can follow latest updates on our dedicated gymnastics live blog here.

Guatemala’s Adriana Ruano Oliva has won the women’s trap gold and the tale of her career is quite something.

Ruano was training for the 2011 world championships in gymnastics, a qualifier for the London Olympics the following year, when she felt pain in her back.

An MRI showed the then-16-year-old had six damaged vertebrae — a career-ending injury — and Ruano’s doctor recommended she take up shooting if she wanted to stay in sports without aggravating her injured back.

You can follow Franklin going for gold in the canoe slalom on our dedicated live blog here.

“It’s been incredible, 550,000 spectators in six days,” said World Rugby CEO Alan Gilpin. “We always said this was our chance to have a coming of age rugby sevens and it’ been amazing, everything we thought it could be.”

Veterans of Six Nations grand slams, the Rugby World Cup and Super 14 finals said the noise that greeted the French men’s victory over Argentina in the quarter-finals surpassed them all.

Racing in the debut women’s windsurfing marathon has been abandoned because of a fading breeze during a grueling hour for  sailors competing in a long-series off Marseille.

After a dramatic start, where a power boat whizzed across the front of the fleet to signal the off, the race developed into a slow slog, with the windsurfers dropping off the foils and having to ‘pump’ their sails to propel themselves.

Stephen van de Velde is up next at the Eiffel Tower stadium, he and partner Matthew Immers are taking on Chilean namesakes Esteban and Marco Grimalt. The Dutch sit in third in Pool B, above the Chilean duo, but are currently outside the threshold for knockout qualification as best of the rest. Read Chief Sports Writer Oliver Brown’s take on the controversy here.

Our next live blog is over at the canoe slalom at the Vaires-sur-Marne Nautical Stadium. GB’s Mallory Franklin qis seeded sixth place as we head into the semifinals and has significant C1 pedigree – 21 World Cup medals including seven golds in total. You can follow her fortunes through this link, as she endeavours to add a sixth medal today and add to the two canoeing medals so far in Paris – a silver for Adam Burgess in the men’s equivalent for this event and a bronze for Kimberley Woods in the K1.

Gold medal incumbent Torres Gil applauds… IT’S SILVER!! A look of mixed emotions on his face, it’s a great achievement but he was oh so close, 0.91 off the victorious Argentine. That’s GB’s 5th medal of the day, the first coloured silver!

The margins were razor thin on the scoreboard, and on the bike as you can see below:

Kieran Reilly is guaranteed a bronze medal! He’s about to embark on his second run now to try and upgrade it! Follow here!

Double Olympic gold medallist Helen Glover competes in the women’s four final tomorrow morning, aiming to emulate the dramatic scenes from the women’s quadruple sculls today, and help Britain make amends for a gold-less Tokyo Olympics.

However, Glover’s story has an extra dimension. Yes, Pinsent and Redgrave ruled the waves for a generation, but they never had to combine training with bringing up three children under six. They did not have to squeeze in squats and lunges while cooking the dinner, nor report at 3pm every weekday for the “non-negotiable” nursery pick-up.

“There’s been a huge surge of support,” said Glover…

Read the special report here.

Kieran Reilly has just finished his first run of two in the BMX Freestyle final. He has the crowd on their feet but is placed in silver medal in the provisional standings, second to Argentina’s Jose Torres Gil who leads by 1.12 points – Reilly has a 3.35 cushion from bronze though. You can watch his run below, and follow live updates here.

Roland Garros action continues today, although Andy Murray and Dan Evans’ fixture has been rescheduled for tomorrow following the renewal of their fairytale yesterday.

Today, Heather Watson and Katie Boulter pick up the mantle for GB; they’re third on court 6 against Brazil’s Beatriz Haddad Maia and Luisa Stefani. They’ll have to wait first, though, for German pair Jan-Lennard Struff and Dominik Koepfer to finish, but they face a delayed start given Koepfer has only just finished on the singles court, losing to Novak Djokovic.

Elsewhere, top seeds such as Stefanos Tsitsipas, Tommy Paul, and Lorenzo Musetti are through, the latter beating Taylor Fritz after the American knocked out Brit Jack Draper yesterday.

Carlos Alcaraz is currently in action following his doubles win with Nadal yesterday, whilst high profile seeds such as Iga Swiatek, Danielle Collins, and Angelique Kerber are all through in the women’s singles.

With four medals this Wednesday is henceforth known as Wonderful Wednesday, because it’s the Olympics so illiteration is obligatory. You can read reports from the two golds, two bronzes and one missed podium through the following links:

Beth Potter kicked off the morning with a bronze in the green-lighted triathlon.

We’re well underway at La Concorde urban park, with the women’s BMX freestyle competition having been wrapped up just moments ago with a podium comprising of China, USA, and Australia. That final was missing GB hopeful Charlotte Worthington after she succumbed to the now infamous Olympics ‘twisties’.

The men are up now, and it looks promising for GB’s Kieran Reilly, who topped the log in yesterday’s qualifying. You can track his progress through this live blog.

…Here’s one of 7”4 French Olympic posterboy Victor Wembanyama, literally towering over Yuki Kawamura during yesterday’s 94-90 victory over Japan

Olympic table tennis players from North and South Korea posed together for a selfie in a rare show of cross-border unity between the hostile neighbours.

In what could prove one of the most enduring images of these Games, the two nations nestled together on the medal podium in Paris to take the shot.

The timing of the picture is remarkable given North Korea only this week spoke of “surging hatred” towards South Korea and the US.

Read the full piece here…

Amidst this morning’s medal-infused morning, four GB swimmers entered heats.

Luke Greenbank and Oliver Morgan swam in the 200m backstroke, but the former was shocked by a disqualification for swimming underwater for too long on a turn, cancelling out his first place finish in his heat. Meanwhile, Morgan has qualified for the seventh lane in tonight’s semi-final so faces an uphill battle to proceed to a shot at a medal.

In the women’s 200m butterfly, two brits, Keanna Macines and Laura Stephens, are both in outside lanes for tonight’s semi-finals having qualified with some middling times and, crucially, no dramas.

Amidst day 5’s medal-rush, a fascinating sub-plot of GB’s first week is their shortcomings in the boxing ring. GB’s Chantelle Reid has just lost a split decision to Morocco’s Khadija Mardi in the 75kg division, taking GB to 0/5 in the ring so far. Given the judges were split three and two, it will be interesting to hear Reid’s take – will she follow Delicious Orie and Rosie Eccles in calling out judging ineptitude?

Either way, Britain’s indefinite boxing hopes at the Olympics now rest solely on Lewis Richardson in this evening’s 71kg bout against Serbia’s Vakhid Abbasov before boxing is removed from the 2028 Games.

“I’m so happy”, said Potter. “I was going for the gold but Cassandre and Julie were just too good for me today and I’m super happy to come away with the bronze.

“I’ve come a long way in eight years. I did it for me but I also did it for everyone who has helped me in eight years and believed in me from day one. It is for them back home as well.”

That eight years of course a reference to her decision to quit 10km running after a 34th placed finish at Rio 2016, and take up triathlon instead – read her full story here.

“I don’t think there is anyway to describe what we are feeling”, said Spendolini-Sirieix. “We are so happy. We have worked so hard.

On leaving it late: “I am sorry we gave everyone a hard time but we always know how to close a competition.”

Lois Toulson said: “There was a blip in the middle with our third dive which is usually one of our strongest. We stayed confident and calm.”

Teammate Hannah Scott added: “It’s been a long time in the making and I still can’t quite believe it. I don’t know if I’m emotional yet but that will come. I think we were so process-driven today and the immensity of what this is, it hasn’t caught up with me.

“The crew today were amazing. We kept it so cool to the end. We had the confidence, we’ve done so many hard miles in training and for anyone out there just go for it. If you think you can you might just do it one day, and that’s the really cool thing about the Olympics.”

As evident below in this stressfully coloured graph, a medal-saturated morning ensures GB’s record breaking start to Paris 2024 continues:

…Not quite as dramatic as the rowers but if you get a chance to see Yee’s facials for the preceding 5km you’ll understand the magnitude of this sprint finish.

First up, men’s triathlon winner Alex Yee following a late comeback to beat New Zealand’s Hayden Wilde:

I don’t even know, I just have so much respect for Hayden and how much he made me dig for that. Fair play to him, he’s an amazing athlete. For me, almost two laps in I thought silver was on the cards. I owed it to myself to give myself one last chance and with about 2k to go I thought I’d give it everything I had. I’m just so proud I was able to do that for my family, for everyone who has worked hard, for my girlfriend Liv. There’s so many more people than just me that have worked towards this. I am the lucky one who gets to do it.

I was in quite a bad place to be fair. I really wanted to do a swim, bike and run. Maybe I did a bit too much swimming and biking today! That meant that run was really hard. I was going through a really bad patch. For me, I rode that wave and just said one more try and let’s see if I can do it. I didn’t give up.

A thrilling race with a tense ending….. and it’s a photo finish!!! And they’ve won it, what a comeback!!! They were half a boat length away with less than 500m of the 2,000m to go but reeled in The Netherlands just in the nick of time! This is turning into quite some morning for GB, a fourth medal from five available, and a second gold!!

Lauren Henry, Hannah Scott, Lola Anderson and Georgie Brayshaw snatch a gold, and in the space of 30 minutes GB have produced two instantly memorable comeback victories.

You couldn’t take your eyes off that triathlon climax as Alex Yee made his superhuman attack at the end, but in the meantime Britain missed out on a medal – the first podium they’re absent from so far today – in the men’s quadruple sculls. Heartbreak for Tom Barras, Callum Dixon, Matt Haywood and Graeme Thomas. They succumb to the strong efforts of the Netherlands, Italy, and Poland.

The women’s equivalent are up next, hoewever, with a chance for vengeance here…

Incredible finish!!! Yee takes gold with a sensational sprint finish! He looked down and out, with a seemingly insurmountable deficit behind New Zealand’s Hayden Wilde. Then out of nowhere he resurges and eats into Wilde’s lead in rapid fashion, sprinting to the line to win a dramatic gold – shades of Pidcock’s attack on Monday! Yee breaks down into tears immediately on the line, he’s been standing on the shoulders of giants for his whole career but now he solidifies himself as one in his own right. What a race, what an ending! Reaction here!

Alex Yee has been subjected to some ruthless attacking running from Hayden Wilde, the Kiwi maintaining a gap of over 10 seconds, increasing his pace anytime Yee looks to be closing the gap. 2km to go now and it’s last chance saloon for the Brit.

GB, as they have for the final three quarters of this match, ensure South Africa are kept well clear of their box to close out a hard-fought, and crucial, victory. They face USA tomorrow, and Argentina on Saturday to keep hold of their qualification spot.

The cycling produced an equally gripping leg as the women’s race, but for different reasons as a bunch of 32 collected to form a fast-paced peloton. GB’s Sam Dickinson put in some notable hard graft towards the end, and tries – and fails – to rev up the French crowd as Alex Yee makes the first attack of the run.

Only New Zealand’s Hayden Wilde – having made up a lot of ground in the cycling leg – is able to follow, and now the Kiwi attacks as we approach the half way mark! Yee currently unable to follow, keep up with the action here!

GB’s hockey team are in a strong position heading into the last five minutes of their match vs South Africa. They went 1-0 down courtesy of a Kayla de Waal goal, but Amy Costello equalised shortly before half time, building momentum for Hannah French to hit the post before giving GB the lead in the third quarter.

The team were sitting in fourth of six in their pool before this game, so this win will be very helpful in helping them hold that position and qualify for the knockouts after two losses to open their campaign.

They’ve done it! GB’s superb streak in the diving pool continues as Andrea Spendolini-Sirieix and Lois Toulson’s tournament-best final dive is enough to secure bronze behind China and North Korea! Toulson’s boyfriend, Jack Laugher, who is due to compete in the 3m springboard final on friday is in tears, hugs all around. GB’s second medal of the day. Get all the reaction here.

Diving contests are notoriously difficult to follow and Great Britain briefly move to silver before a North Korea dive sends them back to bronze. It’s a precarious position though, all eyes on the Canadians here…

The British pair have executed their last dive and face a nervous wait to see if Canada can open the door to bronze. As expected, China have wrapped up gold, with North Korea surging into silver with a strong few dives. GB saved their best till last, and now need a Canada error to take Britain’s 3rd diving medal in Paris.

In the rowing, Britain’s Imogen Grant and Emily Craig coast into the final of the women’s lightweight double sculls. They led from the start of the race and earn themselves a shot at a medal that they will very justifiably be fancying themselves for. Follow more rowing here.

There’s been plenty badminton action this morning, but none of it will feature GB.

The biggest hope was always an outside chance, Kirsty Gilmour has ranked in the top 30 for big stretches of her career but failed to make it out the pools for a third consecutive Olympics. She opened her campaign with a 2-0 victory over Azerbaijan’s Keisha Fatima Azzahra, before losing 2-0 to sixth seed He Big Jiao of China to confirm her exit.

Ben Lane and Sean Vendy also dropped out at the group stage in the men’s doubles, losses to Malaysia and China ensuring their victory over Canada was purely consolatory.

GB’s Andrea Spendolini-Sirieix and Lois Toulson are in bronze… no wait silver after a Canadian slip up after their first two dives. They’re, as expecetd, a sizeable 14-point margin behind the Chinese duo with three dives left in this final. You never know… Although with Chen and Quan’s current form it feels like you do. Live coverage here.

Women’s pair Chloe Brew and Rebecca Edwards finish fifth in their women’s pair semi-final, Netherlands, Romania, and Greece qualifying with Denmark beating them to fourth. Our live coverage’s attention turns to Imogen Grant and Emily Craig in the semi-finals of the women’s lightweight double sculls at 10.34.

Alex Yee is out the Seine and into the cycling leg of the Triathlon. Italy’s Alessio Crociani emerges first, Yee following him 17 places and 27 seconds later. Sam Dickinson follows in 21st, giving himself some work to do on the bike with 42 seconds to make up. Follow it here.

The women’s triathlon descended into chaos in the bike element earlier, with at least seven crashes as cyclists struggled to take corners with slippy ground conditions. The sun is out now though, and the temperature as Paris approaches midday is an uncomfortable 25 degrees.

This will provide easier conditions for the men’s triathlon, but the forecast of 32 degrees this afternoon doesn’t bode well for the tennis players. Hopefully they’ll have cool water today, Jack Draper clearly suffered in the sweltering 35 degree heat yesterday and complained about the lack of refrigerated water on offer as he crashed out at the hands of Taylor Fritz.

The two recover from a precarious start to come second in the race – second to the Romanians and leading the Irish in third, meaning they qualify for the final! The women’s pair, in for the form of Chloe Brew and Rebecca Edwards are up next here…

Following Beth Potter’s bronze we have a very busy period incoming.

Alex Yee and Sam Dickinson have made the unenviable leap into the Seine, which you can follow here.

Meanwhile, Britain’s first rowers are getting underway, with Tom George and Ollie Wynne-Griffith in the men’s pair with our live coverage here.

And you can also follow Andrea Spendolini and Lois Toulson in the 10m platform synchronised diving which starts in five minutes here.

Nathan Hales came from nowhere to break the Olympic record on his way to gold in the men’s trap yesterday. Before the event he was struggling to emerge from the shadow of his teammate Matthew Coward-Holley, who disappointed yesterday having won bronze at Tokyo. During the event, however, Hales lived up to the significant shooting pedigree that runs throughout his family – his partner is none other than 2008 and 2012 Olympics alumni Charlotte Kerwood.

Whilst GB’s shooters will have no doubt been invigorated by Hales’ success as they lined up for today’s qualification events. It’s been disappointing, however; Michael Bargaron exits the 50m Rifle 3 Positions competition, finishing 29th and therefore 21 spots and six points from the qualifying threshold.

It seems Lucy Hall will be unable to emulate Hales efforts in the women’s trap, despite a strong start. She ranked first after a perfect first round but has slipped to 16th following a particularly weak second and steady third and fourth. With one round to go this morning, she is ten spots and four points behind the qualifying threshold.

Our live coverage of Andrea Spendolini-Sirieix’s bid for gold in the 10m platform synchronised diving, with partner Lois Toulson, kicks off at 9.30. Why not warm up for it by reading our exclusive interview with her. You cannot underestimate an athlete who has come back from rock bottom, and Spendolini-Spirieix has fought back from a debilitating Tokyo experience when she was aged just 16 to climb up to the platform today – read the interview here.

One of the outstanding stories from London 2012 in a fairly saturated market was that of the Brownlee brothers, they have kickstarted a generation of British triathlon fever. All four of GB’s representatives today cite the brothers as a big reason for getting into the sport and since Alistair and Jonny’s respective gold and bronze 12 years ago, GB have earned six medals in the event.

Alistair and Jonny were responsible for two more, a gold and silver respectively at Rio, whilst Alex Yee and Georgia Taylor-Brown took individual silvers at Tokyo 2020 – the two combining with Jess Learmonth and Jonny for a team gold at Tokyo too. Potter’s bronze today elevates her into a dynasty of British triathletes, one of GB’s most elite sporting groups.

It looked incredibly tight between the top three but France’s Cassandre Beaugrand has leaned into her home advantage to attack in the last lap, showing a clean pair of heels to Julie Derron six seconds behind in second, and Beth Potter 15 seconds back in third. She wins and La Marseillaise rings out over the finish line. It was a serious effort from GB’s Potter – the choppy conditions in the river and wet surface on the bike ride will have been some of the toughest circumstances she has faced in her young triathlon career, she can be very proud to medal in her first Olympic triathlon race.

Georgia Taylor-Brown comes across the line in sixth – read the reaction on our live blog here.

There are two laps – 5km – to go in the women’s triathlon. GB’s Tokyo silver medallist Georgia Taylor-Brown has been dropped from a group of four leading the race, she seems to be struggling in the increasing heat as the sun rises over Paris. It is warming up quickly and the road is drying in places which will produce an interesting dynamic for the men’s race.

Medal favourite Beth Potter is still in that leading group though, being led by Julie Derron, so is perfectly poised to continue GB’s considerable triathlon legacy. Stay tuned to our dedicated blog here to keep updated.

There are boats in the Vaires-su-Marne as the rowing gets underway – the first medals in the lake are on offer today and GB are being strongly tipped to pick them up in the men and women’s quadruple sculls. The women’s four of Lauren Henry, Hannah Scott, Lola Anderson and Georgie Brayshaw are heavy gold favourites, whilst the men’s four of Tom Barras, Callum Dixon, Matt Haywood and Graeme Thomas may struggle to keep up with the flying Dutchmen, but will be in contention for a podium.

Beforehand, the men and women’s pairs will race their respective semi-finals, as do the LWT Women’s Double Sculls. Follow all the action through this live blog.

Having survived what was a bit of a blood bath in the cycling leg, GB’s Beth Potter and Georgia Taylor-Brown are in the leading group going into the 10km run, alongside Olympic champion Flora Duffy.

Potter in particular will fancy herself having done the hard work in the river and on the saddle. She is of course a 10km runner by trade, having competed in it specifically at Rio 2016, but deferred to the triathlon in 2017, citing the race in which Alistair Brownlee carried his brother Jonny over the line as the sliding doors moment. Follow our live updates here.

Despite sweltering conditions in Paris yesterday, the rain returned through the night and the conditions are far from ideal for the triathletes on the bikes. There were several crashes in the women’s road race on day one in what seemed like wetter conditions, but today has been merciless.

There have been at least seven crashes so far, USA’s Kirsten Kasper has been responsible for three of them, and Norway’s Lottie Miller has withdrawn from the race having failed to recover from her second crash.

They’re into the last lap of this leg now, though, and GB’s Beth Potter and Georgia Taylor-Brown are still in the leading group seemingly unscathed.

It’s flown completely under the radar that in the men’s 4 x 200 metre relay swimming team, we are in the presence of British sporting greatness. Duncan Scott’s gold last nght drew him level with compatriot Sir Chris Hoy as the joint-third most successful GB Olympian of all time.

You can read our in-depth analysis, with interviews, on how the same four men made history by defending their Tokyo title, and extended GB’s medal streak in this event to three in a row through this link.

We’ll be bringing you various live blogs through the day on top of the triathlon double-header. It’s a busy morning on the rowing lake, as the men’s and women’s pairs race their semi-finals from around 9.30, before the men and women’s quadruple sculls compete for the first rowing medals on offer in Paris.

From 10am, GB aim to extend their highly successful campaign off the diving board as Andrea Spendolini-Sirieix, daughter of reality TV star Fred Sirieix, takes part in the 10m synchronised diving with partner Lois Toulson.

Then, we’ll be running a blog from midday at the BMX stadium as Kieran Reilly aims to turn around GB’s fortunes after Charlott Worthington’s performance was hindered by a case of the ‘twisties’ yesterday.

The action continues from 14.30 as Mallory Franklin takes on the rapids in the canoe slalom – she is a big hope for a medal with significant medalling pedigree in the discipline.

There are outside hopes in the men’s all-round gymnastics final in the form of Jake Jarman and Joe Fraser, with our blog going live at 16.15, and keep an eye out on the swimming with qualifying through the day and medals on offer in the evening. No better place to be to keep up with all the action!

The women are out the Seine and onto the bikes as GB’s Beth Potter emerges in fifth place, trailing 20 seconds behind leader and Olympic champion Flora Duffy of Bermuda – follow our updates here.

Reigning triathlon world champion Beth Potter is GB’s medal hope in day five’s first event, with pollution levels in the Seine deemed low enough at long last – you can follow our live blog of the event, and Alex Yee’s efforts on this live blog here.

Good morning and welcome to our live blog of day five of the 2024 Paris Olympics. After magic monday’s six-medal bonanza, yesterday was always going to feel like a slower day but two gold medals helped Great Britain keep their medal count ticking over to 12, placing them fifth in overall medal count.

The day was expected to be even quieter, was it not for Nathan Hales’ surprise win in the men’s trap shooting, the Briton in tears on the podium having set an Olympic record on his way to victory.

For the second gold of the day, however, it felt as though there was already a place reserved at the top of the podium for James Guy, Tom Dean, Matthew Richards and Duncan Scott as the ‘awesome foursome’ stormed to a gold in the 4 x 200 metre freestyle. The four brushed off any semblance of pressure to become the first ever British relay team of the same individuals to defend an Olympic title, and make it a third medal in a row in this event, as GB, and in particular Matthew Richards, put a frustrating few days in the pool behind them.

This morning, though, Britain’s medal hopes are high as Beth Potter, then Alex Yee, finally get their chance to compete in the triathlon after delays owing to pollution levels in the River Seine. Both races have been given the all clear in that regard – ticket logistics in the event not providing any obstacle – and take place back-to-back this morning.

Potter is up first and, following an audacious transition from track running just seven years ago, is favourite as reigning world champion, whilst Alex Yee is a Tokyo silver medallist; he and Sam Dickinson out-qualified GB great Jonathan Brownlee to line up on the pontoon today.

Katie Boulter and Heather Watson are in action for Team GB at Roland Garros against Brazilian sixth seeds Beatriz Haddad Maia and Luisa Stefani. Both players have been knocked out of the singles. Follow the latest updates on our dedicated live blog here.

Olympics Briefing newsletter

I’m a bit in shock really that it is me that is doing this, winning gold. I am just so grateful for the hundreds of people that have been behind me helping me, all the way since I was a child, youth athlete, and then to now.

If I chopped up this medal and gave a piece to all the people who have helped me get here then there would be none left for me. I am so lucky to be able to be the person to do this amazing sport, this amazing race, and what a venue too.

Joe Fraser and Jake Jarman are Team GB’s two medal chances. You can follow latest updates on our dedicated gymnastics live blog here.

Guatemala’s Adriana Ruano Oliva has won the women’s trap gold and the tale of her career is quite something.

Ruano was training for the 2011 world championships in gymnastics, a qualifier for the London Olympics the following year, when she felt pain in her back.

An MRI showed the then-16-year-old had six damaged vertebrae — a career-ending injury — and Ruano’s doctor recommended she take up shooting if she wanted to stay in sports without aggravating her injured back.

You can follow Franklin going for gold in the canoe slalom on our dedicated live blog here.

“It’s been incredible, 550,000 spectators in six days,” said World Rugby CEO Alan Gilpin. “We always said this was our chance to have a coming of age rugby sevens and it’ been amazing, everything we thought it could be.”

Veterans of Six Nations grand slams, the Rugby World Cup and Super 14 finals said the noise that greeted the French men’s victory over Argentina in the quarter-finals surpassed them all.

Racing in the debut women’s windsurfing marathon has been abandoned because of a fading breeze during a grueling hour for  sailors competing in a long-series off Marseille.

After a dramatic start, where a power boat whizzed across the front of the fleet to signal the off, the race developed into a slow slog, with the windsurfers dropping off the foils and having to ‘pump’ their sails to propel themselves.

Stephen van de Velde is up next at the Eiffel Tower stadium, he and partner Matthew Immers are taking on Chilean namesakes Esteban and Marco Grimalt. The Dutch sit in third in Pool B, above the Chilean duo, but are currently outside the threshold for knockout qualification as best of the rest. Read Chief Sports Writer Oliver Brown’s take on the controversy here.

Our next live blog is over at the canoe slalom at the Vaires-sur-Marne Nautical Stadium. GB’s Mallory Franklin qis seeded sixth place as we head into the semifinals and has significant C1 pedigree – 21 World Cup medals including seven golds in total. You can follow her fortunes through this link, as she endeavours to add a sixth medal today and add to the two canoeing medals so far in Paris – a silver for Adam Burgess in the men’s equivalent for this event and a bronze for Kimberley Woods in the K1.

Gold medal incumbent Torres Gil applauds… IT’S SILVER!! A look of mixed emotions on his face, it’s a great achievement but he was oh so close, 0.91 off the victorious Argentine. That’s GB’s 5th medal of the day, the first coloured silver!

The margins were razor thin on the scoreboard, and on the bike as you can see below:

Kieran Reilly is guaranteed a bronze medal! He’s about to embark on his second run now to try and upgrade it! Follow here!

Double Olympic gold medallist Helen Glover competes in the women’s four final tomorrow morning, aiming to emulate the dramatic scenes from the women’s quadruple sculls today, and help Britain make amends for a gold-less Tokyo Olympics.

However, Glover’s story has an extra dimension. Yes, Pinsent and Redgrave ruled the waves for a generation, but they never had to combine training with bringing up three children under six. They did not have to squeeze in squats and lunges while cooking the dinner, nor report at 3pm every weekday for the “non-negotiable” nursery pick-up.

“There’s been a huge surge of support,” said Glover…

Read the special report here.

Kieran Reilly has just finished his first run of two in the BMX Freestyle final. He has the crowd on their feet but is placed in silver medal in the provisional standings, second to Argentina’s Jose Torres Gil who leads by 1.12 points – Reilly has a 3.35 cushion from bronze though. You can watch his run below, and follow live updates here.

Roland Garros action continues today, although Andy Murray and Dan Evans’ fixture has been rescheduled for tomorrow following the renewal of their fairytale yesterday.

Today, Heather Watson and Katie Boulter pick up the mantle for GB; they’re third on court 6 against Brazil’s Beatriz Haddad Maia and Luisa Stefani. They’ll have to wait first, though, for German pair Jan-Lennard Struff and Dominik Koepfer to finish, but they face a delayed start given Koepfer has only just finished on the singles court, losing to Novak Djokovic.

Elsewhere, top seeds such as Stefanos Tsitsipas, Tommy Paul, and Lorenzo Musetti are through, the latter beating Taylor Fritz after the American knocked out Brit Jack Draper yesterday.

Carlos Alcaraz is currently in action following his doubles win with Nadal yesterday, whilst high profile seeds such as Iga Swiatek, Danielle Collins, and Angelique Kerber are all through in the women’s singles.

With four medals this Wednesday is henceforth known as Wonderful Wednesday, because it’s the Olympics so illiteration is obligatory. You can read reports from the two golds, two bronzes and one missed podium through the following links:

Beth Potter kicked off the morning with a bronze in the green-lighted triathlon.

We’re well underway at La Concorde urban park, with the women’s BMX freestyle competition having been wrapped up just moments ago with a podium comprising of China, USA, and Australia. That final was missing GB hopeful Charlotte Worthington after she succumbed to the now infamous Olympics ‘twisties’.

The men are up now, and it looks promising for GB’s Kieran Reilly, who topped the log in yesterday’s qualifying. You can track his progress through this live blog.

…Here’s one of 7”4 French Olympic posterboy Victor Wembanyama, literally towering over Yuki Kawamura during yesterday’s 94-90 victory over Japan

Olympic table tennis players from North and South Korea posed together for a selfie in a rare show of cross-border unity between the hostile neighbours.

In what could prove one of the most enduring images of these Games, the two nations nestled together on the medal podium in Paris to take the shot.

The timing of the picture is remarkable given North Korea only this week spoke of “surging hatred” towards South Korea and the US.

Read the full piece here…

Amidst this morning’s medal-infused morning, four GB swimmers entered heats.

Luke Greenbank and Oliver Morgan swam in the 200m backstroke, but the former was shocked by a disqualification for swimming underwater for too long on a turn, cancelling out his first place finish in his heat. Meanwhile, Morgan has qualified for the seventh lane in tonight’s semi-final so faces an uphill battle to proceed to a shot at a medal.

In the women’s 200m butterfly, two brits, Keanna Macines and Laura Stephens, are both in outside lanes for tonight’s semi-finals having qualified with some middling times and, crucially, no dramas.

Amidst day 5’s medal-rush, a fascinating sub-plot of GB’s first week is their shortcomings in the boxing ring. GB’s Chantelle Reid has just lost a split decision to Morocco’s Khadija Mardi in the 75kg division, taking GB to 0/5 in the ring so far. Given the judges were split three and two, it will be interesting to hear Reid’s take – will she follow Delicious Orie and Rosie Eccles in calling out judging ineptitude?

Either way, Britain’s indefinite boxing hopes at the Olympics now rest solely on Lewis Richardson in this evening’s 71kg bout against Serbia’s Vakhid Abbasov before boxing is removed from the 2028 Games.

“I’m so happy”, said Potter. “I was going for the gold but Cassandre and Julie were just too good for me today and I’m super happy to come away with the bronze.

“I’ve come a long way in eight years. I did it for me but I also did it for everyone who has helped me in eight years and believed in me from day one. It is for them back home as well.”

That eight years of course a reference to her decision to quit 10km running after a 34th placed finish at Rio 2016, and take up triathlon instead – read her full story here.

“I don’t think there is anyway to describe what we are feeling”, said Spendolini-Sirieix. “We are so happy. We have worked so hard.

On leaving it late: “I am sorry we gave everyone a hard time but we always know how to close a competition.”

Lois Toulson said: “There was a blip in the middle with our third dive which is usually one of our strongest. We stayed confident and calm.”

Teammate Hannah Scott added: “It’s been a long time in the making and I still can’t quite believe it. I don’t know if I’m emotional yet but that will come. I think we were so process-driven today and the immensity of what this is, it hasn’t caught up with me.

“The crew today were amazing. We kept it so cool to the end. We had the confidence, we’ve done so many hard miles in training and for anyone out there just go for it. If you think you can you might just do it one day, and that’s the really cool thing about the Olympics.”

As evident below in this stressfully coloured graph, a medal-saturated morning ensures GB’s record breaking start to Paris 2024 continues:

…Not quite as dramatic as the rowers but if you get a chance to see Yee’s facials for the preceding 5km you’ll understand the magnitude of this sprint finish.

First up, men’s triathlon winner Alex Yee following a late comeback to beat New Zealand’s Hayden Wilde:

I don’t even know, I just have so much respect for Hayden and how much he made me dig for that. Fair play to him, he’s an amazing athlete. For me, almost two laps in I thought silver was on the cards. I owed it to myself to give myself one last chance and with about 2k to go I thought I’d give it everything I had. I’m just so proud I was able to do that for my family, for everyone who has worked hard, for my girlfriend Liv. There’s so many more people than just me that have worked towards this. I am the lucky one who gets to do it.

I was in quite a bad place to be fair. I really wanted to do a swim, bike and run. Maybe I did a bit too much swimming and biking today! That meant that run was really hard. I was going through a really bad patch. For me, I rode that wave and just said one more try and let’s see if I can do it. I didn’t give up.

A thrilling race with a tense ending….. and it’s a photo finish!!! And they’ve won it, what a comeback!!! They were half a boat length away with less than 500m of the 2,000m to go but reeled in The Netherlands just in the nick of time! This is turning into quite some morning for GB, a fourth medal from five available, and a second gold!!

Lauren Henry, Hannah Scott, Lola Anderson and Georgie Brayshaw snatch a gold, and in the space of 30 minutes GB have produced two instantly memorable comeback victories.

You couldn’t take your eyes off that triathlon climax as Alex Yee made his superhuman attack at the end, but in the meantime Britain missed out on a medal – the first podium they’re absent from so far today – in the men’s quadruple sculls. Heartbreak for Tom Barras, Callum Dixon, Matt Haywood and Graeme Thomas. They succumb to the strong efforts of the Netherlands, Italy, and Poland.

The women’s equivalent are up next, hoewever, with a chance for vengeance here…

Incredible finish!!! Yee takes gold with a sensational sprint finish! He looked down and out, with a seemingly insurmountable deficit behind New Zealand’s Hayden Wilde. Then out of nowhere he resurges and eats into Wilde’s lead in rapid fashion, sprinting to the line to win a dramatic gold – shades of Pidcock’s attack on Monday! Yee breaks down into tears immediately on the line, he’s been standing on the shoulders of giants for his whole career but now he solidifies himself as one in his own right. What a race, what an ending! Reaction here!

Alex Yee has been subjected to some ruthless attacking running from Hayden Wilde, the Kiwi maintaining a gap of over 10 seconds, increasing his pace anytime Yee looks to be closing the gap. 2km to go now and it’s last chance saloon for the Brit.

GB, as they have for the final three quarters of this match, ensure South Africa are kept well clear of their box to close out a hard-fought, and crucial, victory. They face USA tomorrow, and Argentina on Saturday to keep hold of their qualification spot.

The cycling produced an equally gripping leg as the women’s race, but for different reasons as a bunch of 32 collected to form a fast-paced peloton. GB’s Sam Dickinson put in some notable hard graft towards the end, and tries – and fails – to rev up the French crowd as Alex Yee makes the first attack of the run.

Only New Zealand’s Hayden Wilde – having made up a lot of ground in the cycling leg – is able to follow, and now the Kiwi attacks as we approach the half way mark! Yee currently unable to follow, keep up with the action here!

GB’s hockey team are in a strong position heading into the last five minutes of their match vs South Africa. They went 1-0 down courtesy of a Kayla de Waal goal, but Amy Costello equalised shortly before half time, building momentum for Hannah French to hit the post before giving GB the lead in the third quarter.

The team were sitting in fourth of six in their pool before this game, so this win will be very helpful in helping them hold that position and qualify for the knockouts after two losses to open their campaign.

They’ve done it! GB’s superb streak in the diving pool continues as Andrea Spendolini-Sirieix and Lois Toulson’s tournament-best final dive is enough to secure bronze behind China and North Korea! Toulson’s boyfriend, Jack Laugher, who is due to compete in the 3m springboard final on friday is in tears, hugs all around. GB’s second medal of the day. Get all the reaction here.

Diving contests are notoriously difficult to follow and Great Britain briefly move to silver before a North Korea dive sends them back to bronze. It’s a precarious position though, all eyes on the Canadians here…

The British pair have executed their last dive and face a nervous wait to see if Canada can open the door to bronze. As expected, China have wrapped up gold, with North Korea surging into silver with a strong few dives. GB saved their best till last, and now need a Canada error to take Britain’s 3rd diving medal in Paris.

In the rowing, Britain’s Imogen Grant and Emily Craig coast into the final of the women’s lightweight double sculls. They led from the start of the race and earn themselves a shot at a medal that they will very justifiably be fancying themselves for. Follow more rowing here.

There’s been plenty badminton action this morning, but none of it will feature GB.

The biggest hope was always an outside chance, Kirsty Gilmour has ranked in the top 30 for big stretches of her career but failed to make it out the pools for a third consecutive Olympics. She opened her campaign with a 2-0 victory over Azerbaijan’s Keisha Fatima Azzahra, before losing 2-0 to sixth seed He Big Jiao of China to confirm her exit.

Ben Lane and Sean Vendy also dropped out at the group stage in the men’s doubles, losses to Malaysia and China ensuring their victory over Canada was purely consolatory.

GB’s Andrea Spendolini-Sirieix and Lois Toulson are in bronze… no wait silver after a Canadian slip up after their first two dives. They’re, as expecetd, a sizeable 14-point margin behind the Chinese duo with three dives left in this final. You never know… Although with Chen and Quan’s current form it feels like you do. Live coverage here.

Women’s pair Chloe Brew and Rebecca Edwards finish fifth in their women’s pair semi-final, Netherlands, Romania, and Greece qualifying with Denmark beating them to fourth. Our live coverage’s attention turns to Imogen Grant and Emily Craig in the semi-finals of the women’s lightweight double sculls at 10.34.

Alex Yee is out the Seine and into the cycling leg of the Triathlon. Italy’s Alessio Crociani emerges first, Yee following him 17 places and 27 seconds later. Sam Dickinson follows in 21st, giving himself some work to do on the bike with 42 seconds to make up. Follow it here.

The women’s triathlon descended into chaos in the bike element earlier, with at least seven crashes as cyclists struggled to take corners with slippy ground conditions. The sun is out now though, and the temperature as Paris approaches midday is an uncomfortable 25 degrees.

This will provide easier conditions for the men’s triathlon, but the forecast of 32 degrees this afternoon doesn’t bode well for the tennis players. Hopefully they’ll have cool water today, Jack Draper clearly suffered in the sweltering 35 degree heat yesterday and complained about the lack of refrigerated water on offer as he crashed out at the hands of Taylor Fritz.

The two recover from a precarious start to come second in the race – second to the Romanians and leading the Irish in third, meaning they qualify for the final! The women’s pair, in for the form of Chloe Brew and Rebecca Edwards are up next here…

Following Beth Potter’s bronze we have a very busy period incoming.

Alex Yee and Sam Dickinson have made the unenviable leap into the Seine, which you can follow here.

Meanwhile, Britain’s first rowers are getting underway, with Tom George and Ollie Wynne-Griffith in the men’s pair with our live coverage here.

And you can also follow Andrea Spendolini and Lois Toulson in the 10m platform synchronised diving which starts in five minutes here.

Nathan Hales came from nowhere to break the Olympic record on his way to gold in the men’s trap yesterday. Before the event he was struggling to emerge from the shadow of his teammate Matthew Coward-Holley, who disappointed yesterday having won bronze at Tokyo. During the event, however, Hales lived up to the significant shooting pedigree that runs throughout his family – his partner is none other than 2008 and 2012 Olympics alumni Charlotte Kerwood.

Whilst GB’s shooters will have no doubt been invigorated by Hales’ success as they lined up for today’s qualification events. It’s been disappointing, however; Michael Bargaron exits the 50m Rifle 3 Positions competition, finishing 29th and therefore 21 spots and six points from the qualifying threshold.

It seems Lucy Hall will be unable to emulate Hales efforts in the women’s trap, despite a strong start. She ranked first after a perfect first round but has slipped to 16th following a particularly weak second and steady third and fourth. With one round to go this morning, she is ten spots and four points behind the qualifying threshold.

Our live coverage of Andrea Spendolini-Sirieix’s bid for gold in the 10m platform synchronised diving, with partner Lois Toulson, kicks off at 9.30. Why not warm up for it by reading our exclusive interview with her. You cannot underestimate an athlete who has come back from rock bottom, and Spendolini-Spirieix has fought back from a debilitating Tokyo experience when she was aged just 16 to climb up to the platform today – read the interview here.

One of the outstanding stories from London 2012 in a fairly saturated market was that of the Brownlee brothers, they have kickstarted a generation of British triathlon fever. All four of GB’s representatives today cite the brothers as a big reason for getting into the sport and since Alistair and Jonny’s respective gold and bronze 12 years ago, GB have earned six medals in the event.

Alistair and Jonny were responsible for two more, a gold and silver respectively at Rio, whilst Alex Yee and Georgia Taylor-Brown took individual silvers at Tokyo 2020 – the two combining with Jess Learmonth and Jonny for a team gold at Tokyo too. Potter’s bronze today elevates her into a dynasty of British triathletes, one of GB’s most elite sporting groups.

It looked incredibly tight between the top three but France’s Cassandre Beaugrand has leaned into her home advantage to attack in the last lap, showing a clean pair of heels to Julie Derron six seconds behind in second, and Beth Potter 15 seconds back in third. She wins and La Marseillaise rings out over the finish line. It was a serious effort from GB’s Potter – the choppy conditions in the river and wet surface on the bike ride will have been some of the toughest circumstances she has faced in her young triathlon career, she can be very proud to medal in her first Olympic triathlon race.

Georgia Taylor-Brown comes across the line in sixth – read the reaction on our live blog here.

There are two laps – 5km – to go in the women’s triathlon. GB’s Tokyo silver medallist Georgia Taylor-Brown has been dropped from a group of four leading the race, she seems to be struggling in the increasing heat as the sun rises over Paris. It is warming up quickly and the road is drying in places which will produce an interesting dynamic for the men’s race.

Medal favourite Beth Potter is still in that leading group though, being led by Julie Derron, so is perfectly poised to continue GB’s considerable triathlon legacy. Stay tuned to our dedicated blog here to keep updated.

There are boats in the Vaires-su-Marne as the rowing gets underway – the first medals in the lake are on offer today and GB are being strongly tipped to pick them up in the men and women’s quadruple sculls. The women’s four of Lauren Henry, Hannah Scott, Lola Anderson and Georgie Brayshaw are heavy gold favourites, whilst the men’s four of Tom Barras, Callum Dixon, Matt Haywood and Graeme Thomas may struggle to keep up with the flying Dutchmen, but will be in contention for a podium.

Beforehand, the men and women’s pairs will race their respective semi-finals, as do the LWT Women’s Double Sculls. Follow all the action through this live blog.

Having survived what was a bit of a blood bath in the cycling leg, GB’s Beth Potter and Georgia Taylor-Brown are in the leading group going into the 10km run, alongside Olympic champion Flora Duffy.

Potter in particular will fancy herself having done the hard work in the river and on the saddle. She is of course a 10km runner by trade, having competed in it specifically at Rio 2016, but deferred to the triathlon in 2017, citing the race in which Alistair Brownlee carried his brother Jonny over the line as the sliding doors moment. Follow our live updates here.

Despite sweltering conditions in Paris yesterday, the rain returned through the night and the conditions are far from ideal for the triathletes on the bikes. There were several crashes in the women’s road race on day one in what seemed like wetter conditions, but today has been merciless.

There have been at least seven crashes so far, USA’s Kirsten Kasper has been responsible for three of them, and Norway’s Lottie Miller has withdrawn from the race having failed to recover from her second crash.

They’re into the last lap of this leg now, though, and GB’s Beth Potter and Georgia Taylor-Brown are still in the leading group seemingly unscathed.

It’s flown completely under the radar that in the men’s 4 x 200 metre relay swimming team, we are in the presence of British sporting greatness. Duncan Scott’s gold last nght drew him level with compatriot Sir Chris Hoy as the joint-third most successful GB Olympian of all time.

You can read our in-depth analysis, with interviews, on how the same four men made history by defending their Tokyo title, and extended GB’s medal streak in this event to three in a row through this link.

We’ll be bringing you various live blogs through the day on top of the triathlon double-header. It’s a busy morning on the rowing lake, as the men’s and women’s pairs race their semi-finals from around 9.30, before the men and women’s quadruple sculls compete for the first rowing medals on offer in Paris.

From 10am, GB aim to extend their highly successful campaign off the diving board as Andrea Spendolini-Sirieix, daughter of reality TV star Fred Sirieix, takes part in the 10m synchronised diving with partner Lois Toulson.

Then, we’ll be running a blog from midday at the BMX stadium as Kieran Reilly aims to turn around GB’s fortunes after Charlott Worthington’s performance was hindered by a case of the ‘twisties’ yesterday.

The action continues from 14.30 as Mallory Franklin takes on the rapids in the canoe slalom – she is a big hope for a medal with significant medalling pedigree in the discipline.

There are outside hopes in the men’s all-round gymnastics final in the form of Jake Jarman and Joe Fraser, with our blog going live at 16.15, and keep an eye out on the swimming with qualifying through the day and medals on offer in the evening. No better place to be to keep up with all the action!

The women are out the Seine and onto the bikes as GB’s Beth Potter emerges in fifth place, trailing 20 seconds behind leader and Olympic champion Flora Duffy of Bermuda – follow our updates here.

Reigning triathlon world champion Beth Potter is GB’s medal hope in day five’s first event, with pollution levels in the Seine deemed low enough at long last – you can follow our live blog of the event, and Alex Yee’s efforts on this live blog here.

Good morning and welcome to our live blog of day five of the 2024 Paris Olympics. After magic monday’s six-medal bonanza, yesterday was always going to feel like a slower day but two gold medals helped Great Britain keep their medal count ticking over to 12, placing them fifth in overall medal count.

The day was expected to be even quieter, was it not for Nathan Hales’ surprise win in the men’s trap shooting, the Briton in tears on the podium having set an Olympic record on his way to victory.

For the second gold of the day, however, it felt as though there was already a place reserved at the top of the podium for James Guy, Tom Dean, Matthew Richards and Duncan Scott as the ‘awesome foursome’ stormed to a gold in the 4 x 200 metre freestyle. The four brushed off any semblance of pressure to become the first ever British relay team of the same individuals to defend an Olympic title, and make it a third medal in a row in this event, as GB, and in particular Matthew Richards, put a frustrating few days in the pool behind them.

This morning, though, Britain’s medal hopes are high as Beth Potter, then Alex Yee, finally get their chance to compete in the triathlon after delays owing to pollution levels in the River Seine. Both races have been given the all clear in that regard – ticket logistics in the event not providing any obstacle – and take place back-to-back this morning.

Potter is up first and, following an audacious transition from track running just seven years ago, is favourite as reigning world champion, whilst Alex Yee is a Tokyo silver medallist; he and Sam Dickinson out-qualified GB great Jonathan Brownlee to line up on the pontoon today.

Katie Boulter and Heather Watson are in action for Team GB at Roland Garros against Brazilian sixth seeds Beatriz Haddad Maia and Luisa Stefani. Both players have been knocked out of the singles. Follow the latest updates on our dedicated live blog here.

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I’m a bit in shock really that it is me that is doing this, winning gold. I am just so grateful for the hundreds of people that have been behind me helping me, all the way since I was a child, youth athlete, and then to now.

If I chopped up this medal and gave a piece to all the people who have helped me get here then there would be none left for me. I am so lucky to be able to be the person to do this amazing sport, this amazing race, and what a venue too.

Joe Fraser and Jake Jarman are Team GB’s two medal chances. You can follow latest updates on our dedicated gymnastics live blog here.

Guatemala’s Adriana Ruano Oliva has won the women’s trap gold and the tale of her career is quite something.

Ruano was training for the 2011 world championships in gymnastics, a qualifier for the London Olympics the following year, when she felt pain in her back.

An MRI showed the then-16-year-old had six damaged vertebrae — a career-ending injury — and Ruano’s doctor recommended she take up shooting if she wanted to stay in sports without aggravating her injured back.

You can follow Franklin going for gold in the canoe slalom on our dedicated live blog here.

“It’s been incredible, 550,000 spectators in six days,” said World Rugby CEO Alan Gilpin. “We always said this was our chance to have a coming of age rugby sevens and it’ been amazing, everything we thought it could be.”

Veterans of Six Nations grand slams, the Rugby World Cup and Super 14 finals said the noise that greeted the French men’s victory over Argentina in the quarter-finals surpassed them all.

Racing in the debut women’s windsurfing marathon has been abandoned because of a fading breeze during a grueling hour for  sailors competing in a long-series off Marseille.

After a dramatic start, where a power boat whizzed across the front of the fleet to signal the off, the race developed into a slow slog, with the windsurfers dropping off the foils and having to ‘pump’ their sails to propel themselves.

Stephen van de Velde is up next at the Eiffel Tower stadium, he and partner Matthew Immers are taking on Chilean namesakes Esteban and Marco Grimalt. The Dutch sit in third in Pool B, above the Chilean duo, but are currently outside the threshold for knockout qualification as best of the rest. Read Chief Sports Writer Oliver Brown’s take on the controversy here.

Our next live blog is over at the canoe slalom at the Vaires-sur-Marne Nautical Stadium. GB’s Mallory Franklin qis seeded sixth place as we head into the semifinals and has significant C1 pedigree – 21 World Cup medals including seven golds in total. You can follow her fortunes through this link, as she endeavours to add a sixth medal today and add to the two canoeing medals so far in Paris – a silver for Adam Burgess in the men’s equivalent for this event and a bronze for Kimberley Woods in the K1.

Gold medal incumbent Torres Gil applauds… IT’S SILVER!! A look of mixed emotions on his face, it’s a great achievement but he was oh so close, 0.91 off the victorious Argentine. That’s GB’s 5th medal of the day, the first coloured silver!

The margins were razor thin on the scoreboard, and on the bike as you can see below:

Kieran Reilly is guaranteed a bronze medal! He’s about to embark on his second run now to try and upgrade it! Follow here!

Double Olympic gold medallist Helen Glover competes in the women’s four final tomorrow morning, aiming to emulate the dramatic scenes from the women’s quadruple sculls today, and help Britain make amends for a gold-less Tokyo Olympics.

However, Glover’s story has an extra dimension. Yes, Pinsent and Redgrave ruled the waves for a generation, but they never had to combine training with bringing up three children under six. They did not have to squeeze in squats and lunges while cooking the dinner, nor report at 3pm every weekday for the “non-negotiable” nursery pick-up.

“There’s been a huge surge of support,” said Glover…

Read the special report here.

Kieran Reilly has just finished his first run of two in the BMX Freestyle final. He has the crowd on their feet but is placed in silver medal in the provisional standings, second to Argentina’s Jose Torres Gil who leads by 1.12 points – Reilly has a 3.35 cushion from bronze though. You can watch his run below, and follow live updates here.

Roland Garros action continues today, although Andy Murray and Dan Evans’ fixture has been rescheduled for tomorrow following the renewal of their fairytale yesterday.

Today, Heather Watson and Katie Boulter pick up the mantle for GB; they’re third on court 6 against Brazil’s Beatriz Haddad Maia and Luisa Stefani. They’ll have to wait first, though, for German pair Jan-Lennard Struff and Dominik Koepfer to finish, but they face a delayed start given Koepfer has only just finished on the singles court, losing to Novak Djokovic.

Elsewhere, top seeds such as Stefanos Tsitsipas, Tommy Paul, and Lorenzo Musetti are through, the latter beating Taylor Fritz after the American knocked out Brit Jack Draper yesterday.

Carlos Alcaraz is currently in action following his doubles win with Nadal yesterday, whilst high profile seeds such as Iga Swiatek, Danielle Collins, and Angelique Kerber are all through in the women’s singles.

With four medals this Wednesday is henceforth known as Wonderful Wednesday, because it’s the Olympics so illiteration is obligatory. You can read reports from the two golds, two bronzes and one missed podium through the following links:

Beth Potter kicked off the morning with a bronze in the green-lighted triathlon.

We’re well underway at La Concorde urban park, with the women’s BMX freestyle competition having been wrapped up just moments ago with a podium comprising of China, USA, and Australia. That final was missing GB hopeful Charlotte Worthington after she succumbed to the now infamous Olympics ‘twisties’.

The men are up now, and it looks promising for GB’s Kieran Reilly, who topped the log in yesterday’s qualifying. You can track his progress through this live blog.

…Here’s one of 7”4 French Olympic posterboy Victor Wembanyama, literally towering over Yuki Kawamura during yesterday’s 94-90 victory over Japan

Olympic table tennis players from North and South Korea posed together for a selfie in a rare show of cross-border unity between the hostile neighbours.

In what could prove one of the most enduring images of these Games, the two nations nestled together on the medal podium in Paris to take the shot.

The timing of the picture is remarkable given North Korea only this week spoke of “surging hatred” towards South Korea and the US.

Read the full piece here…

Amidst this morning’s medal-infused morning, four GB swimmers entered heats.

Luke Greenbank and Oliver Morgan swam in the 200m backstroke, but the former was shocked by a disqualification for swimming underwater for too long on a turn, cancelling out his first place finish in his heat. Meanwhile, Morgan has qualified for the seventh lane in tonight’s semi-final so faces an uphill battle to proceed to a shot at a medal.

In the women’s 200m butterfly, two brits, Keanna Macines and Laura Stephens, are both in outside lanes for tonight’s semi-finals having qualified with some middling times and, crucially, no dramas.

Amidst day 5’s medal-rush, a fascinating sub-plot of GB’s first week is their shortcomings in the boxing ring. GB’s Chantelle Reid has just lost a split decision to Morocco’s Khadija Mardi in the 75kg division, taking GB to 0/5 in the ring so far. Given the judges were split three and two, it will be interesting to hear Reid’s take – will she follow Delicious Orie and Rosie Eccles in calling out judging ineptitude?

Either way, Britain’s indefinite boxing hopes at the Olympics now rest solely on Lewis Richardson in this evening’s 71kg bout against Serbia’s Vakhid Abbasov before boxing is removed from the 2028 Games.

“I’m so happy”, said Potter. “I was going for the gold but Cassandre and Julie were just too good for me today and I’m super happy to come away with the bronze.

“I’ve come a long way in eight years. I did it for me but I also did it for everyone who has helped me in eight years and believed in me from day one. It is for them back home as well.”

That eight years of course a reference to her decision to quit 10km running after a 34th placed finish at Rio 2016, and take up triathlon instead – read her full story here.

“I don’t think there is anyway to describe what we are feeling”, said Spendolini-Sirieix. “We are so happy. We have worked so hard.

On leaving it late: “I am sorry we gave everyone a hard time but we always know how to close a competition.”

Lois Toulson said: “There was a blip in the middle with our third dive which is usually one of our strongest. We stayed confident and calm.”

Teammate Hannah Scott added: “It’s been a long time in the making and I still can’t quite believe it. I don’t know if I’m emotional yet but that will come. I think we were so process-driven today and the immensity of what this is, it hasn’t caught up with me.

“The crew today were amazing. We kept it so cool to the end. We had the confidence, we’ve done so many hard miles in training and for anyone out there just go for it. If you think you can you might just do it one day, and that’s the really cool thing about the Olympics.”

As evident below in this stressfully coloured graph, a medal-saturated morning ensures GB’s record breaking start to Paris 2024 continues:

…Not quite as dramatic as the rowers but if you get a chance to see Yee’s facials for the preceding 5km you’ll understand the magnitude of this sprint finish.

First up, men’s triathlon winner Alex Yee following a late comeback to beat New Zealand’s Hayden Wilde:

I don’t even know, I just have so much respect for Hayden and how much he made me dig for that. Fair play to him, he’s an amazing athlete. For me, almost two laps in I thought silver was on the cards. I owed it to myself to give myself one last chance and with about 2k to go I thought I’d give it everything I had. I’m just so proud I was able to do that for my family, for everyone who has worked hard, for my girlfriend Liv. There’s so many more people than just me that have worked towards this. I am the lucky one who gets to do it.

I was in quite a bad place to be fair. I really wanted to do a swim, bike and run. Maybe I did a bit too much swimming and biking today! That meant that run was really hard. I was going through a really bad patch. For me, I rode that wave and just said one more try and let’s see if I can do it. I didn’t give up.

A thrilling race with a tense ending….. and it’s a photo finish!!! And they’ve won it, what a comeback!!! They were half a boat length away with less than 500m of the 2,000m to go but reeled in The Netherlands just in the nick of time! This is turning into quite some morning for GB, a fourth medal from five available, and a second gold!!

Lauren Henry, Hannah Scott, Lola Anderson and Georgie Brayshaw snatch a gold, and in the space of 30 minutes GB have produced two instantly memorable comeback victories.

You couldn’t take your eyes off that triathlon climax as Alex Yee made his superhuman attack at the end, but in the meantime Britain missed out on a medal – the first podium they’re absent from so far today – in the men’s quadruple sculls. Heartbreak for Tom Barras, Callum Dixon, Matt Haywood and Graeme Thomas. They succumb to the strong efforts of the Netherlands, Italy, and Poland.

The women’s equivalent are up next, hoewever, with a chance for vengeance here…

Incredible finish!!! Yee takes gold with a sensational sprint finish! He looked down and out, with a seemingly insurmountable deficit behind New Zealand’s Hayden Wilde. Then out of nowhere he resurges and eats into Wilde’s lead in rapid fashion, sprinting to the line to win a dramatic gold – shades of Pidcock’s attack on Monday! Yee breaks down into tears immediately on the line, he’s been standing on the shoulders of giants for his whole career but now he solidifies himself as one in his own right. What a race, what an ending! Reaction here!

Alex Yee has been subjected to some ruthless attacking running from Hayden Wilde, the Kiwi maintaining a gap of over 10 seconds, increasing his pace anytime Yee looks to be closing the gap. 2km to go now and it’s last chance saloon for the Brit.

GB, as they have for the final three quarters of this match, ensure South Africa are kept well clear of their box to close out a hard-fought, and crucial, victory. They face USA tomorrow, and Argentina on Saturday to keep hold of their qualification spot.

The cycling produced an equally gripping leg as the women’s race, but for different reasons as a bunch of 32 collected to form a fast-paced peloton. GB’s Sam Dickinson put in some notable hard graft towards the end, and tries – and fails – to rev up the French crowd as Alex Yee makes the first attack of the run.

Only New Zealand’s Hayden Wilde – having made up a lot of ground in the cycling leg – is able to follow, and now the Kiwi attacks as we approach the half way mark! Yee currently unable to follow, keep up with the action here!

GB’s hockey team are in a strong position heading into the last five minutes of their match vs South Africa. They went 1-0 down courtesy of a Kayla de Waal goal, but Amy Costello equalised shortly before half time, building momentum for Hannah French to hit the post before giving GB the lead in the third quarter.

The team were sitting in fourth of six in their pool before this game, so this win will be very helpful in helping them hold that position and qualify for the knockouts after two losses to open their campaign.

They’ve done it! GB’s superb streak in the diving pool continues as Andrea Spendolini-Sirieix and Lois Toulson’s tournament-best final dive is enough to secure bronze behind China and North Korea! Toulson’s boyfriend, Jack Laugher, who is due to compete in the 3m springboard final on friday is in tears, hugs all around. GB’s second medal of the day. Get all the reaction here.

Diving contests are notoriously difficult to follow and Great Britain briefly move to silver before a North Korea dive sends them back to bronze. It’s a precarious position though, all eyes on the Canadians here…

The British pair have executed their last dive and face a nervous wait to see if Canada can open the door to bronze. As expected, China have wrapped up gold, with North Korea surging into silver with a strong few dives. GB saved their best till last, and now need a Canada error to take Britain’s 3rd diving medal in Paris.

In the rowing, Britain’s Imogen Grant and Emily Craig coast into the final of the women’s lightweight double sculls. They led from the start of the race and earn themselves a shot at a medal that they will very justifiably be fancying themselves for. Follow more rowing here.

There’s been plenty badminton action this morning, but none of it will feature GB.

The biggest hope was always an outside chance, Kirsty Gilmour has ranked in the top 30 for big stretches of her career but failed to make it out the pools for a third consecutive Olympics. She opened her campaign with a 2-0 victory over Azerbaijan’s Keisha Fatima Azzahra, before losing 2-0 to sixth seed He Big Jiao of China to confirm her exit.

Ben Lane and Sean Vendy also dropped out at the group stage in the men’s doubles, losses to Malaysia and China ensuring their victory over Canada was purely consolatory.

GB’s Andrea Spendolini-Sirieix and Lois Toulson are in bronze… no wait silver after a Canadian slip up after their first two dives. They’re, as expecetd, a sizeable 14-point margin behind the Chinese duo with three dives left in this final. You never know… Although with Chen and Quan’s current form it feels like you do. Live coverage here.

Women’s pair Chloe Brew and Rebecca Edwards finish fifth in their women’s pair semi-final, Netherlands, Romania, and Greece qualifying with Denmark beating them to fourth. Our live coverage’s attention turns to Imogen Grant and Emily Craig in the semi-finals of the women’s lightweight double sculls at 10.34.

Alex Yee is out the Seine and into the cycling leg of the Triathlon. Italy’s Alessio Crociani emerges first, Yee following him 17 places and 27 seconds later. Sam Dickinson follows in 21st, giving himself some work to do on the bike with 42 seconds to make up. Follow it here.

The women’s triathlon descended into chaos in the bike element earlier, with at least seven crashes as cyclists struggled to take corners with slippy ground conditions. The sun is out now though, and the temperature as Paris approaches midday is an uncomfortable 25 degrees.

This will provide easier conditions for the men’s triathlon, but the forecast of 32 degrees this afternoon doesn’t bode well for the tennis players. Hopefully they’ll have cool water today, Jack Draper clearly suffered in the sweltering 35 degree heat yesterday and complained about the lack of refrigerated water on offer as he crashed out at the hands of Taylor Fritz.

The two recover from a precarious start to come second in the race – second to the Romanians and leading the Irish in third, meaning they qualify for the final! The women’s pair, in for the form of Chloe Brew and Rebecca Edwards are up next here…

Following Beth Potter’s bronze we have a very busy period incoming.

Alex Yee and Sam Dickinson have made the unenviable leap into the Seine, which you can follow here.

Meanwhile, Britain’s first rowers are getting underway, with Tom George and Ollie Wynne-Griffith in the men’s pair with our live coverage here.

And you can also follow Andrea Spendolini and Lois Toulson in the 10m platform synchronised diving which starts in five minutes here.

Nathan Hales came from nowhere to break the Olympic record on his way to gold in the men’s trap yesterday. Before the event he was struggling to emerge from the shadow of his teammate Matthew Coward-Holley, who disappointed yesterday having won bronze at Tokyo. During the event, however, Hales lived up to the significant shooting pedigree that runs throughout his family – his partner is none other than 2008 and 2012 Olympics alumni Charlotte Kerwood.

Whilst GB’s shooters will have no doubt been invigorated by Hales’ success as they lined up for today’s qualification events. It’s been disappointing, however; Michael Bargaron exits the 50m Rifle 3 Positions competition, finishing 29th and therefore 21 spots and six points from the qualifying threshold.

It seems Lucy Hall will be unable to emulate Hales efforts in the women’s trap, despite a strong start. She ranked first after a perfect first round but has slipped to 16th following a particularly weak second and steady third and fourth. With one round to go this morning, she is ten spots and four points behind the qualifying threshold.

Our live coverage of Andrea Spendolini-Sirieix’s bid for gold in the 10m platform synchronised diving, with partner Lois Toulson, kicks off at 9.30. Why not warm up for it by reading our exclusive interview with her. You cannot underestimate an athlete who has come back from rock bottom, and Spendolini-Spirieix has fought back from a debilitating Tokyo experience when she was aged just 16 to climb up to the platform today – read the interview here.

One of the outstanding stories from London 2012 in a fairly saturated market was that of the Brownlee brothers, they have kickstarted a generation of British triathlon fever. All four of GB’s representatives today cite the brothers as a big reason for getting into the sport and since Alistair and Jonny’s respective gold and bronze 12 years ago, GB have earned six medals in the event.

Alistair and Jonny were responsible for two more, a gold and silver respectively at Rio, whilst Alex Yee and Georgia Taylor-Brown took individual silvers at Tokyo 2020 – the two combining with Jess Learmonth and Jonny for a team gold at Tokyo too. Potter’s bronze today elevates her into a dynasty of British triathletes, one of GB’s most elite sporting groups.

It looked incredibly tight between the top three but France’s Cassandre Beaugrand has leaned into her home advantage to attack in the last lap, showing a clean pair of heels to Julie Derron six seconds behind in second, and Beth Potter 15 seconds back in third. She wins and La Marseillaise rings out over the finish line. It was a serious effort from GB’s Potter – the choppy conditions in the river and wet surface on the bike ride will have been some of the toughest circumstances she has faced in her young triathlon career, she can be very proud to medal in her first Olympic triathlon race.

Georgia Taylor-Brown comes across the line in sixth – read the reaction on our live blog here.

There are two laps – 5km – to go in the women’s triathlon. GB’s Tokyo silver medallist Georgia Taylor-Brown has been dropped from a group of four leading the race, she seems to be struggling in the increasing heat as the sun rises over Paris. It is warming up quickly and the road is drying in places which will produce an interesting dynamic for the men’s race.

Medal favourite Beth Potter is still in that leading group though, being led by Julie Derron, so is perfectly poised to continue GB’s considerable triathlon legacy. Stay tuned to our dedicated blog here to keep updated.

There are boats in the Vaires-su-Marne as the rowing gets underway – the first medals in the lake are on offer today and GB are being strongly tipped to pick them up in the men and women’s quadruple sculls. The women’s four of Lauren Henry, Hannah Scott, Lola Anderson and Georgie Brayshaw are heavy gold favourites, whilst the men’s four of Tom Barras, Callum Dixon, Matt Haywood and Graeme Thomas may struggle to keep up with the flying Dutchmen, but will be in contention for a podium.

Beforehand, the men and women’s pairs will race their respective semi-finals, as do the LWT Women’s Double Sculls. Follow all the action through this live blog.

Having survived what was a bit of a blood bath in the cycling leg, GB’s Beth Potter and Georgia Taylor-Brown are in the leading group going into the 10km run, alongside Olympic champion Flora Duffy.

Potter in particular will fancy herself having done the hard work in the river and on the saddle. She is of course a 10km runner by trade, having competed in it specifically at Rio 2016, but deferred to the triathlon in 2017, citing the race in which Alistair Brownlee carried his brother Jonny over the line as the sliding doors moment. Follow our live updates here.

Despite sweltering conditions in Paris yesterday, the rain returned through the night and the conditions are far from ideal for the triathletes on the bikes. There were several crashes in the women’s road race on day one in what seemed like wetter conditions, but today has been merciless.

There have been at least seven crashes so far, USA’s Kirsten Kasper has been responsible for three of them, and Norway’s Lottie Miller has withdrawn from the race having failed to recover from her second crash.

They’re into the last lap of this leg now, though, and GB’s Beth Potter and Georgia Taylor-Brown are still in the leading group seemingly unscathed.

It’s flown completely under the radar that in the men’s 4 x 200 metre relay swimming team, we are in the presence of British sporting greatness. Duncan Scott’s gold last nght drew him level with compatriot Sir Chris Hoy as the joint-third most successful GB Olympian of all time.

You can read our in-depth analysis, with interviews, on how the same four men made history by defending their Tokyo title, and extended GB’s medal streak in this event to three in a row through this link.

We’ll be bringing you various live blogs through the day on top of the triathlon double-header. It’s a busy morning on the rowing lake, as the men’s and women’s pairs race their semi-finals from around 9.30, before the men and women’s quadruple sculls compete for the first rowing medals on offer in Paris.

From 10am, GB aim to extend their highly successful campaign off the diving board as Andrea Spendolini-Sirieix, daughter of reality TV star Fred Sirieix, takes part in the 10m synchronised diving with partner Lois Toulson.

Then, we’ll be running a blog from midday at the BMX stadium as Kieran Reilly aims to turn around GB’s fortunes after Charlott Worthington’s performance was hindered by a case of the ‘twisties’ yesterday.

The action continues from 14.30 as Mallory Franklin takes on the rapids in the canoe slalom – she is a big hope for a medal with significant medalling pedigree in the discipline.

There are outside hopes in the men’s all-round gymnastics final in the form of Jake Jarman and Joe Fraser, with our blog going live at 16.15, and keep an eye out on the swimming with qualifying through the day and medals on offer in the evening. No better place to be to keep up with all the action!

The women are out the Seine and onto the bikes as GB’s Beth Potter emerges in fifth place, trailing 20 seconds behind leader and Olympic champion Flora Duffy of Bermuda – follow our updates here.

Reigning triathlon world champion Beth Potter is GB’s medal hope in day five’s first event, with pollution levels in the Seine deemed low enough at long last – you can follow our live blog of the event, and Alex Yee’s efforts on this live blog here.

Good morning and welcome to our live blog of day five of the 2024 Paris Olympics. After magic monday’s six-medal bonanza, yesterday was always going to feel like a slower day but two gold medals helped Great Britain keep their medal count ticking over to 12, placing them fifth in overall medal count.

The day was expected to be even quieter, was it not for Nathan Hales’ surprise win in the men’s trap shooting, the Briton in tears on the podium having set an Olympic record on his way to victory.

For the second gold of the day, however, it felt as though there was already a place reserved at the top of the podium for James Guy, Tom Dean, Matthew Richards and Duncan Scott as the ‘awesome foursome’ stormed to a gold in the 4 x 200 metre freestyle. The four brushed off any semblance of pressure to become the first ever British relay team of the same individuals to defend an Olympic title, and make it a third medal in a row in this event, as GB, and in particular Matthew Richards, put a frustrating few days in the pool behind them.

This morning, though, Britain’s medal hopes are high as Beth Potter, then Alex Yee, finally get their chance to compete in the triathlon after delays owing to pollution levels in the River Seine. Both races have been given the all clear in that regard – ticket logistics in the event not providing any obstacle – and take place back-to-back this morning.

Potter is up first and, following an audacious transition from track running just seven years ago, is favourite as reigning world champion, whilst Alex Yee is a Tokyo silver medallist; he and Sam Dickinson out-qualified GB great Jonathan Brownlee to line up on the pontoon today.

Katie Boulter and Heather Watson are in action for Team GB at Roland Garros against Brazilian sixth seeds Beatriz Haddad Maia and Luisa Stefani. Both players have been knocked out of the singles. Follow the latest updates on our dedicated live blog here.

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I’m a bit in shock really that it is me that is doing this, winning gold. I am just so grateful for the hundreds of people that have been behind me helping me, all the way since I was a child, youth athlete, and then to now.

If I chopped up this medal and gave a piece to all the people who have helped me get here then there would be none left for me. I am so lucky to be able to be the person to do this amazing sport, this amazing race, and what a venue too.

Joe Fraser and Jake Jarman are Team GB’s two medal chances. You can follow latest updates on our dedicated gymnastics live blog here.

Guatemala’s Adriana Ruano Oliva has won the women’s trap gold and the tale of her career is quite something.

Ruano was training for the 2011 world championships in gymnastics, a qualifier for the London Olympics the following year, when she felt pain in her back.

An MRI showed the then-16-year-old had six damaged vertebrae — a career-ending injury — and Ruano’s doctor recommended she take up shooting if she wanted to stay in sports without aggravating her injured back.

You can follow Franklin going for gold in the canoe slalom on our dedicated live blog here.

“It’s been incredible, 550,000 spectators in six days,” said World Rugby CEO Alan Gilpin. “We always said this was our chance to have a coming of age rugby sevens and it’ been amazing, everything we thought it could be.”

Veterans of Six Nations grand slams, the Rugby World Cup and Super 14 finals said the noise that greeted the French men’s victory over Argentina in the quarter-finals surpassed them all.

Racing in the debut women’s windsurfing marathon has been abandoned because of a fading breeze during a grueling hour for  sailors competing in a long-series off Marseille.

After a dramatic start, where a power boat whizzed across the front of the fleet to signal the off, the race developed into a slow slog, with the windsurfers dropping off the foils and having to ‘pump’ their sails to propel themselves.

Stephen van de Velde is up next at the Eiffel Tower stadium, he and partner Matthew Immers are taking on Chilean namesakes Esteban and Marco Grimalt. The Dutch sit in third in Pool B, above the Chilean duo, but are currently outside the threshold for knockout qualification as best of the rest. Read Chief Sports Writer Oliver Brown’s take on the controversy here.

Our next live blog is over at the canoe slalom at the Vaires-sur-Marne Nautical Stadium. GB’s Mallory Franklin qis seeded sixth place as we head into the semifinals and has significant C1 pedigree – 21 World Cup medals including seven golds in total. You can follow her fortunes through this link, as she endeavours to add a sixth medal today and add to the two canoeing medals so far in Paris – a silver for Adam Burgess in the men’s equivalent for this event and a bronze for Kimberley Woods in the K1.

Gold medal incumbent Torres Gil applauds… IT’S SILVER!! A look of mixed emotions on his face, it’s a great achievement but he was oh so close, 0.91 off the victorious Argentine. That’s GB’s 5th medal of the day, the first coloured silver!

The margins were razor thin on the scoreboard, and on the bike as you can see below:

Kieran Reilly is guaranteed a bronze medal! He’s about to embark on his second run now to try and upgrade it! Follow here!

Double Olympic gold medallist Helen Glover competes in the women’s four final tomorrow morning, aiming to emulate the dramatic scenes from the women’s quadruple sculls today, and help Britain make amends for a gold-less Tokyo Olympics.

However, Glover’s story has an extra dimension. Yes, Pinsent and Redgrave ruled the waves for a generation, but they never had to combine training with bringing up three children under six. They did not have to squeeze in squats and lunges while cooking the dinner, nor report at 3pm every weekday for the “non-negotiable” nursery pick-up.

“There’s been a huge surge of support,” said Glover…

Read the special report here.

Kieran Reilly has just finished his first run of two in the BMX Freestyle final. He has the crowd on their feet but is placed in silver medal in the provisional standings, second to Argentina’s Jose Torres Gil who leads by 1.12 points – Reilly has a 3.35 cushion from bronze though. You can watch his run below, and follow live updates here.

Roland Garros action continues today, although Andy Murray and Dan Evans’ fixture has been rescheduled for tomorrow following the renewal of their fairytale yesterday.

Today, Heather Watson and Katie Boulter pick up the mantle for GB; they’re third on court 6 against Brazil’s Beatriz Haddad Maia and Luisa Stefani. They’ll have to wait first, though, for German pair Jan-Lennard Struff and Dominik Koepfer to finish, but they face a delayed start given Koepfer has only just finished on the singles court, losing to Novak Djokovic.

Elsewhere, top seeds such as Stefanos Tsitsipas, Tommy Paul, and Lorenzo Musetti are through, the latter beating Taylor Fritz after the American knocked out Brit Jack Draper yesterday.

Carlos Alcaraz is currently in action following his doubles win with Nadal yesterday, whilst high profile seeds such as Iga Swiatek, Danielle Collins, and Angelique Kerber are all through in the women’s singles.

With four medals this Wednesday is henceforth known as Wonderful Wednesday, because it’s the Olympics so illiteration is obligatory. You can read reports from the two golds, two bronzes and one missed podium through the following links:

Beth Potter kicked off the morning with a bronze in the green-lighted triathlon.

We’re well underway at La Concorde urban park, with the women’s BMX freestyle competition having been wrapped up just moments ago with a podium comprising of China, USA, and Australia. That final was missing GB hopeful Charlotte Worthington after she succumbed to the now infamous Olympics ‘twisties’.

The men are up now, and it looks promising for GB’s Kieran Reilly, who topped the log in yesterday’s qualifying. You can track his progress through this live blog.

…Here’s one of 7”4 French Olympic posterboy Victor Wembanyama, literally towering over Yuki Kawamura during yesterday’s 94-90 victory over Japan

Olympic table tennis players from North and South Korea posed together for a selfie in a rare show of cross-border unity between the hostile neighbours.

In what could prove one of the most enduring images of these Games, the two nations nestled together on the medal podium in Paris to take the shot.

The timing of the picture is remarkable given North Korea only this week spoke of “surging hatred” towards South Korea and the US.

Read the full piece here…

Amidst this morning’s medal-infused morning, four GB swimmers entered heats.

Luke Greenbank and Oliver Morgan swam in the 200m backstroke, but the former was shocked by a disqualification for swimming underwater for too long on a turn, cancelling out his first place finish in his heat. Meanwhile, Morgan has qualified for the seventh lane in tonight’s semi-final so faces an uphill battle to proceed to a shot at a medal.

In the women’s 200m butterfly, two brits, Keanna Macines and Laura Stephens, are both in outside lanes for tonight’s semi-finals having qualified with some middling times and, crucially, no dramas.

Amidst day 5’s medal-rush, a fascinating sub-plot of GB’s first week is their shortcomings in the boxing ring. GB’s Chantelle Reid has just lost a split decision to Morocco’s Khadija Mardi in the 75kg division, taking GB to 0/5 in the ring so far. Given the judges were split three and two, it will be interesting to hear Reid’s take – will she follow Delicious Orie and Rosie Eccles in calling out judging ineptitude?

Either way, Britain’s indefinite boxing hopes at the Olympics now rest solely on Lewis Richardson in this evening’s 71kg bout against Serbia’s Vakhid Abbasov before boxing is removed from the 2028 Games.

“I’m so happy”, said Potter. “I was going for the gold but Cassandre and Julie were just too good for me today and I’m super happy to come away with the bronze.

“I’ve come a long way in eight years. I did it for me but I also did it for everyone who has helped me in eight years and believed in me from day one. It is for them back home as well.”

That eight years of course a reference to her decision to quit 10km running after a 34th placed finish at Rio 2016, and take up triathlon instead – read her full story here.

“I don’t think there is anyway to describe what we are feeling”, said Spendolini-Sirieix. “We are so happy. We have worked so hard.

On leaving it late: “I am sorry we gave everyone a hard time but we always know how to close a competition.”

Lois Toulson said: “There was a blip in the middle with our third dive which is usually one of our strongest. We stayed confident and calm.”

Teammate Hannah Scott added: “It’s been a long time in the making and I still can’t quite believe it. I don’t know if I’m emotional yet but that will come. I think we were so process-driven today and the immensity of what this is, it hasn’t caught up with me.

“The crew today were amazing. We kept it so cool to the end. We had the confidence, we’ve done so many hard miles in training and for anyone out there just go for it. If you think you can you might just do it one day, and that’s the really cool thing about the Olympics.”

As evident below in this stressfully coloured graph, a medal-saturated morning ensures GB’s record breaking start to Paris 2024 continues:

…Not quite as dramatic as the rowers but if you get a chance to see Yee’s facials for the preceding 5km you’ll understand the magnitude of this sprint finish.

First up, men’s triathlon winner Alex Yee following a late comeback to beat New Zealand’s Hayden Wilde:

I don’t even know, I just have so much respect for Hayden and how much he made me dig for that. Fair play to him, he’s an amazing athlete. For me, almost two laps in I thought silver was on the cards. I owed it to myself to give myself one last chance and with about 2k to go I thought I’d give it everything I had. I’m just so proud I was able to do that for my family, for everyone who has worked hard, for my girlfriend Liv. There’s so many more people than just me that have worked towards this. I am the lucky one who gets to do it.

I was in quite a bad place to be fair. I really wanted to do a swim, bike and run. Maybe I did a bit too much swimming and biking today! That meant that run was really hard. I was going through a really bad patch. For me, I rode that wave and just said one more try and let’s see if I can do it. I didn’t give up.

A thrilling race with a tense ending….. and it’s a photo finish!!! And they’ve won it, what a comeback!!! They were half a boat length away with less than 500m of the 2,000m to go but reeled in The Netherlands just in the nick of time! This is turning into quite some morning for GB, a fourth medal from five available, and a second gold!!

Lauren Henry, Hannah Scott, Lola Anderson and Georgie Brayshaw snatch a gold, and in the space of 30 minutes GB have produced two instantly memorable comeback victories.

You couldn’t take your eyes off that triathlon climax as Alex Yee made his superhuman attack at the end, but in the meantime Britain missed out on a medal – the first podium they’re absent from so far today – in the men’s quadruple sculls. Heartbreak for Tom Barras, Callum Dixon, Matt Haywood and Graeme Thomas. They succumb to the strong efforts of the Netherlands, Italy, and Poland.

The women’s equivalent are up next, hoewever, with a chance for vengeance here…

Incredible finish!!! Yee takes gold with a sensational sprint finish! He looked down and out, with a seemingly insurmountable deficit behind New Zealand’s Hayden Wilde. Then out of nowhere he resurges and eats into Wilde’s lead in rapid fashion, sprinting to the line to win a dramatic gold – shades of Pidcock’s attack on Monday! Yee breaks down into tears immediately on the line, he’s been standing on the shoulders of giants for his whole career but now he solidifies himself as one in his own right. What a race, what an ending! Reaction here!

Alex Yee has been subjected to some ruthless attacking running from Hayden Wilde, the Kiwi maintaining a gap of over 10 seconds, increasing his pace anytime Yee looks to be closing the gap. 2km to go now and it’s last chance saloon for the Brit.

GB, as they have for the final three quarters of this match, ensure South Africa are kept well clear of their box to close out a hard-fought, and crucial, victory. They face USA tomorrow, and Argentina on Saturday to keep hold of their qualification spot.

The cycling produced an equally gripping leg as the women’s race, but for different reasons as a bunch of 32 collected to form a fast-paced peloton. GB’s Sam Dickinson put in some notable hard graft towards the end, and tries – and fails – to rev up the French crowd as Alex Yee makes the first attack of the run.

Only New Zealand’s Hayden Wilde – having made up a lot of ground in the cycling leg – is able to follow, and now the Kiwi attacks as we approach the half way mark! Yee currently unable to follow, keep up with the action here!

GB’s hockey team are in a strong position heading into the last five minutes of their match vs South Africa. They went 1-0 down courtesy of a Kayla de Waal goal, but Amy Costello equalised shortly before half time, building momentum for Hannah French to hit the post before giving GB the lead in the third quarter.

The team were sitting in fourth of six in their pool before this game, so this win will be very helpful in helping them hold that position and qualify for the knockouts after two losses to open their campaign.

They’ve done it! GB’s superb streak in the diving pool continues as Andrea Spendolini-Sirieix and Lois Toulson’s tournament-best final dive is enough to secure bronze behind China and North Korea! Toulson’s boyfriend, Jack Laugher, who is due to compete in the 3m springboard final on friday is in tears, hugs all around. GB’s second medal of the day. Get all the reaction here.

Diving contests are notoriously difficult to follow and Great Britain briefly move to silver before a North Korea dive sends them back to bronze. It’s a precarious position though, all eyes on the Canadians here…

The British pair have executed their last dive and face a nervous wait to see if Canada can open the door to bronze. As expected, China have wrapped up gold, with North Korea surging into silver with a strong few dives. GB saved their best till last, and now need a Canada error to take Britain’s 3rd diving medal in Paris.

In the rowing, Britain’s Imogen Grant and Emily Craig coast into the final of the women’s lightweight double sculls. They led from the start of the race and earn themselves a shot at a medal that they will very justifiably be fancying themselves for. Follow more rowing here.

There’s been plenty badminton action this morning, but none of it will feature GB.

The biggest hope was always an outside chance, Kirsty Gilmour has ranked in the top 30 for big stretches of her career but failed to make it out the pools for a third consecutive Olympics. She opened her campaign with a 2-0 victory over Azerbaijan’s Keisha Fatima Azzahra, before losing 2-0 to sixth seed He Big Jiao of China to confirm her exit.

Ben Lane and Sean Vendy also dropped out at the group stage in the men’s doubles, losses to Malaysia and China ensuring their victory over Canada was purely consolatory.

GB’s Andrea Spendolini-Sirieix and Lois Toulson are in bronze… no wait silver after a Canadian slip up after their first two dives. They’re, as expecetd, a sizeable 14-point margin behind the Chinese duo with three dives left in this final. You never know… Although with Chen and Quan’s current form it feels like you do. Live coverage here.

Women’s pair Chloe Brew and Rebecca Edwards finish fifth in their women’s pair semi-final, Netherlands, Romania, and Greece qualifying with Denmark beating them to fourth. Our live coverage’s attention turns to Imogen Grant and Emily Craig in the semi-finals of the women’s lightweight double sculls at 10.34.

Alex Yee is out the Seine and into the cycling leg of the Triathlon. Italy’s Alessio Crociani emerges first, Yee following him 17 places and 27 seconds later. Sam Dickinson follows in 21st, giving himself some work to do on the bike with 42 seconds to make up. Follow it here.

The women’s triathlon descended into chaos in the bike element earlier, with at least seven crashes as cyclists struggled to take corners with slippy ground conditions. The sun is out now though, and the temperature as Paris approaches midday is an uncomfortable 25 degrees.

This will provide easier conditions for the men’s triathlon, but the forecast of 32 degrees this afternoon doesn’t bode well for the tennis players. Hopefully they’ll have cool water today, Jack Draper clearly suffered in the sweltering 35 degree heat yesterday and complained about the lack of refrigerated water on offer as he crashed out at the hands of Taylor Fritz.

The two recover from a precarious start to come second in the race – second to the Romanians and leading the Irish in third, meaning they qualify for the final! The women’s pair, in for the form of Chloe Brew and Rebecca Edwards are up next here…

Following Beth Potter’s bronze we have a very busy period incoming.

Alex Yee and Sam Dickinson have made the unenviable leap into the Seine, which you can follow here.

Meanwhile, Britain’s first rowers are getting underway, with Tom George and Ollie Wynne-Griffith in the men’s pair with our live coverage here.

And you can also follow Andrea Spendolini and Lois Toulson in the 10m platform synchronised diving which starts in five minutes here.

Nathan Hales came from nowhere to break the Olympic record on his way to gold in the men’s trap yesterday. Before the event he was struggling to emerge from the shadow of his teammate Matthew Coward-Holley, who disappointed yesterday having won bronze at Tokyo. During the event, however, Hales lived up to the significant shooting pedigree that runs throughout his family – his partner is none other than 2008 and 2012 Olympics alumni Charlotte Kerwood.

Whilst GB’s shooters will have no doubt been invigorated by Hales’ success as they lined up for today’s qualification events. It’s been disappointing, however; Michael Bargaron exits the 50m Rifle 3 Positions competition, finishing 29th and therefore 21 spots and six points from the qualifying threshold.

It seems Lucy Hall will be unable to emulate Hales efforts in the women’s trap, despite a strong start. She ranked first after a perfect first round but has slipped to 16th following a particularly weak second and steady third and fourth. With one round to go this morning, she is ten spots and four points behind the qualifying threshold.

Our live coverage of Andrea Spendolini-Sirieix’s bid for gold in the 10m platform synchronised diving, with partner Lois Toulson, kicks off at 9.30. Why not warm up for it by reading our exclusive interview with her. You cannot underestimate an athlete who has come back from rock bottom, and Spendolini-Spirieix has fought back from a debilitating Tokyo experience when she was aged just 16 to climb up to the platform today – read the interview here.

One of the outstanding stories from London 2012 in a fairly saturated market was that of the Brownlee brothers, they have kickstarted a generation of British triathlon fever. All four of GB’s representatives today cite the brothers as a big reason for getting into the sport and since Alistair and Jonny’s respective gold and bronze 12 years ago, GB have earned six medals in the event.

Alistair and Jonny were responsible for two more, a gold and silver respectively at Rio, whilst Alex Yee and Georgia Taylor-Brown took individual silvers at Tokyo 2020 – the two combining with Jess Learmonth and Jonny for a team gold at Tokyo too. Potter’s bronze today elevates her into a dynasty of British triathletes, one of GB’s most elite sporting groups.

It looked incredibly tight between the top three but France’s Cassandre Beaugrand has leaned into her home advantage to attack in the last lap, showing a clean pair of heels to Julie Derron six seconds behind in second, and Beth Potter 15 seconds back in third. She wins and La Marseillaise rings out over the finish line. It was a serious effort from GB’s Potter – the choppy conditions in the river and wet surface on the bike ride will have been some of the toughest circumstances she has faced in her young triathlon career, she can be very proud to medal in her first Olympic triathlon race.

Georgia Taylor-Brown comes across the line in sixth – read the reaction on our live blog here.

There are two laps – 5km – to go in the women’s triathlon. GB’s Tokyo silver medallist Georgia Taylor-Brown has been dropped from a group of four leading the race, she seems to be struggling in the increasing heat as the sun rises over Paris. It is warming up quickly and the road is drying in places which will produce an interesting dynamic for the men’s race.

Medal favourite Beth Potter is still in that leading group though, being led by Julie Derron, so is perfectly poised to continue GB’s considerable triathlon legacy. Stay tuned to our dedicated blog here to keep updated.

There are boats in the Vaires-su-Marne as the rowing gets underway – the first medals in the lake are on offer today and GB are being strongly tipped to pick them up in the men and women’s quadruple sculls. The women’s four of Lauren Henry, Hannah Scott, Lola Anderson and Georgie Brayshaw are heavy gold favourites, whilst the men’s four of Tom Barras, Callum Dixon, Matt Haywood and Graeme Thomas may struggle to keep up with the flying Dutchmen, but will be in contention for a podium.

Beforehand, the men and women’s pairs will race their respective semi-finals, as do the LWT Women’s Double Sculls. Follow all the action through this live blog.

Having survived what was a bit of a blood bath in the cycling leg, GB’s Beth Potter and Georgia Taylor-Brown are in the leading group going into the 10km run, alongside Olympic champion Flora Duffy.

Potter in particular will fancy herself having done the hard work in the river and on the saddle. She is of course a 10km runner by trade, having competed in it specifically at Rio 2016, but deferred to the triathlon in 2017, citing the race in which Alistair Brownlee carried his brother Jonny over the line as the sliding doors moment. Follow our live updates here.

Despite sweltering conditions in Paris yesterday, the rain returned through the night and the conditions are far from ideal for the triathletes on the bikes. There were several crashes in the women’s road race on day one in what seemed like wetter conditions, but today has been merciless.

There have been at least seven crashes so far, USA’s Kirsten Kasper has been responsible for three of them, and Norway’s Lottie Miller has withdrawn from the race having failed to recover from her second crash.

They’re into the last lap of this leg now, though, and GB’s Beth Potter and Georgia Taylor-Brown are still in the leading group seemingly unscathed.

It’s flown completely under the radar that in the men’s 4 x 200 metre relay swimming team, we are in the presence of British sporting greatness. Duncan Scott’s gold last nght drew him level with compatriot Sir Chris Hoy as the joint-third most successful GB Olympian of all time.

You can read our in-depth analysis, with interviews, on how the same four men made history by defending their Tokyo title, and extended GB’s medal streak in this event to three in a row through this link.

We’ll be bringing you various live blogs through the day on top of the triathlon double-header. It’s a busy morning on the rowing lake, as the men’s and women’s pairs race their semi-finals from around 9.30, before the men and women’s quadruple sculls compete for the first rowing medals on offer in Paris.

From 10am, GB aim to extend their highly successful campaign off the diving board as Andrea Spendolini-Sirieix, daughter of reality TV star Fred Sirieix, takes part in the 10m synchronised diving with partner Lois Toulson.

Then, we’ll be running a blog from midday at the BMX stadium as Kieran Reilly aims to turn around GB’s fortunes after Charlott Worthington’s performance was hindered by a case of the ‘twisties’ yesterday.

The action continues from 14.30 as Mallory Franklin takes on the rapids in the canoe slalom – she is a big hope for a medal with significant medalling pedigree in the discipline.

There are outside hopes in the men’s all-round gymnastics final in the form of Jake Jarman and Joe Fraser, with our blog going live at 16.15, and keep an eye out on the swimming with qualifying through the day and medals on offer in the evening. No better place to be to keep up with all the action!

The women are out the Seine and onto the bikes as GB’s Beth Potter emerges in fifth place, trailing 20 seconds behind leader and Olympic champion Flora Duffy of Bermuda – follow our updates here.

Reigning triathlon world champion Beth Potter is GB’s medal hope in day five’s first event, with pollution levels in the Seine deemed low enough at long last – you can follow our live blog of the event, and Alex Yee’s efforts on this live blog here.

Good morning and welcome to our live blog of day five of the 2024 Paris Olympics. After magic monday’s six-medal bonanza, yesterday was always going to feel like a slower day but two gold medals helped Great Britain keep their medal count ticking over to 12, placing them fifth in overall medal count.

The day was expected to be even quieter, was it not for Nathan Hales’ surprise win in the men’s trap shooting, the Briton in tears on the podium having set an Olympic record on his way to victory.

For the second gold of the day, however, it felt as though there was already a place reserved at the top of the podium for James Guy, Tom Dean, Matthew Richards and Duncan Scott as the ‘awesome foursome’ stormed to a gold in the 4 x 200 metre freestyle. The four brushed off any semblance of pressure to become the first ever British relay team of the same individuals to defend an Olympic title, and make it a third medal in a row in this event, as GB, and in particular Matthew Richards, put a frustrating few days in the pool behind them.

This morning, though, Britain’s medal hopes are high as Beth Potter, then Alex Yee, finally get their chance to compete in the triathlon after delays owing to pollution levels in the River Seine. Both races have been given the all clear in that regard – ticket logistics in the event not providing any obstacle – and take place back-to-back this morning.

Potter is up first and, following an audacious transition from track running just seven years ago, is favourite as reigning world champion, whilst Alex Yee is a Tokyo silver medallist; he and Sam Dickinson out-qualified GB great Jonathan Brownlee to line up on the pontoon today.