Paris Olympics 2024 - Day 4

Triathlon

At 6:45 am this morning I woke up to the sound of my alarm, set so I could enjoy the Men’s Triathlon at the Paris Olympics. I turned on my television excitedly, looking forward to watching Alex Yee and Samuel Dickinson compete in this event.

As 7 am fast approached, I thought it was strange that the programme had not started, as the event was scheduled to begin at that time. As I turned on my phone, to confirm I had the right time, I was greeted by BBC News’ headline “Men’s triathlon postponed due to poor water quality”.

This marks the third consecutive day that the River Seine has been deemed unsafe due to its poor water quality. After a £1.2 billion investment by Olympic organisers into sewage filtration, as reported by the Independent’s Tom Watling, it should be expected that the men’s, women’s and mixed relay triathlons will go ahead.

On the 17th of July, Anne Hildago, Mayor of Paris, tried to prove it was safe for competition by swimming in it herself. Following her venture into Paris’ river, she expressed how it is “a very lucky and happy day… for the planet, for the river, and for the ocean”.

Almost two weeks later, her efforts weren’t enough to convince Olympic officials and the men’s event was postponed. It will instead follow the women’s triathlon – which commences at 8 am local time – at 10:45 am local time. An overall disappointing start to the Olympics for the triathlon event.

Rowing

Mathilda Hodgkins-Byrne and Rebecca Wilde competed in the women’s double sculls semi-final accomplishing second place behind Romania and ahead of Norway. They will all face New Zealand, Netherlands and France, in a six-way battle for gold in Final A. Final B will consist of those who didn’t make it into the top 3 in the semi-finals, including Australia, who missed out to Norway by 0.22 seconds. Both finals are scheduled for Thursday 1st August at 9:30 (Final B) and 10:18 (Final A) BST.

Swimming

Jacob Henry Whittle and Matthew Richards both finished fifth in their respective heats, in the Men’s 100m Freestyle. Richards qualified for the semi-final with a time of 48.4, 0.83 seconds behind American athlete, Jack Alexy, with Whittle just missing out.

Anna Hopkin advanced from her heat in the Women’s 100m Freestyle, after finishing in 4th place. She qualified for the semi-final, where she later finished in 6th place.

Great Britain were victorious in their Men’s 4 x 200m Freestyle Relay heat as they beat both Australia and China to the win. James Guy initiated Britain’s Olympic title defence by creating a 1.55-second lead in the first stint, which was extended by Jack McMillan to 2.65 seconds by the halfway point. Kieran Bird maintained a considerable margin in his penultimate stint, with Tom Dean bringing it home to beat Australia by half a second in the second heat of the event.

Ahead of a crucial race this evening, Matthew Richards competed in the semi-final of the Men's 100m Freestyle, finishing 6th. He now has to prepare for his race in the Men's 4 x 200m Freestyle Relay, which commences at 21:45 BST.

Great Britain are back-to-back Men's 4 x 200m Freestyle Relay champions. First in Tokyo, now in Paris. James Guy, Tom Dean, Matthew Richards and Duncan Scott have brought the gold medal back to the United Kingdom, the same combination that brought the gold back from Japan. This would not have been possible without the contribution of Jack McMillan and Kieran Bird who helped Great Britain qualify very convincingly for the final.

Tennis

Jack Draper has been eliminated from the Second Round of the Men’s Singles by Taylor Fritz. Draper beat Japan’s Kei Nishikori very convincingly in the First Round, taking both sets (6-1, 6-4), but where the Briton managed to take the first set from Fritz, he lost the final two.

Andy Murray and Dan Evans competed in the Second Round of the Men's Doubles beating the Belgium pair, Sander Gille and Joran Vliegen, two sets to one. In the First Round, Murray and Evans beat Japan's Taro Daniel and Kei Nishikori, two sets to one, while Gille and Vliegen beat France's Arthur Fils and Ugo Humbert, two sets to love.

The former world number one and double Wimbledon and Olympic singles champion, Andy Murray, announced his retirement following the conclusion of the Olympic games, bringing what has been an incredibly decorated career to its conclusion. He won Gold on home soil at London 2012, and subsequently won it again in Rio de Janeiro 2016, making him the only male player to do so. Additionally, he won two Wimbledon singles championships by beating Novak Djokovic in 2013, and Milos Raonic in 2016.

Shooting

Nathan Hales and Matthew John Coward-Holley competed on the second day of qualification for the Trap Men's Final. Only the top 6 athletes could progress, with China's Qi Ying finishing at the top of the pile in front of Great Britain's Nathan Hales. James Willet (New Zealand), Rickard Levin-Andersson (Sweden), Jean Pierre Brol Cardenas (Guatemala) and Derrick Scott Mein (USA) completed the final. Unfortunately, Coward-Holley did not qualify, coming 25th overall in the qualification stage.

It was the third gold medal for Great Britain as Nathan Hales won the Trap Men’s Final, shattering the Olympic record. The record previously stood at 43, accomplished by the Czech Republic’s David Kostelecky and Jiri Liptak at Tokyo in 2021, which has been broken by Hales today, reaching an incredible 48 - one away from his own world record (49). Ying and Brol Cardenas, respectively, completed the podium.

Judo

Lucy Renshall beat Australia's Katharina Haecker in the elimination round of 32, but unfortunately, she fell at the next hurdle losing to Austria's Lubjana Piovesana in the round of 16.