ATHLETICS

Team Ireland’s Rhasidat Adeleke advanced to the final of the Women’s 400m in the evening session at Stade de France last night. In doing so the Tallaght athlete makes history by becoming the first Irish female sprinter ever to qualify for an Olympic final.

Adeleke, who was racing in the first of three semi-finals tonight, clocked a time of 49.95 seconds to finish second behind Salwa Eid Naser of Bahrain in a seasons best of 49.08.

21-year-old Adeleke will now look ahead to Friday’s final where she knows that she has room for improvement.

“It was very messy, a very messy race. I’m just really excited that I’m able to get into the final, and fix everything for what I need” she said.

“At first he [the starter] held us really long, I think I was ready to go then but when we went again I feel like I was thinking about it too much, and I didn’t execute my first 200m like I should have.

They are all things we can fix for the final. I think I also panicked a little bit which made me break form really early but no I’m excited. I’ve made the final – now I can give it my best shot.

I’ve been in a place where the round may not have went as I wanted it to, but the final went great so I’m not too worried about it.”

Adeleke was given the loudest cheer of all when introduced pre-race and praised the support.

“It was unreal again today, when I got into the blocks I was like ‘let’s do this’ and hopefully it’s going to be the same for the final, I’m sure it will be. I’m so grateful to everyone – it means so much.”

TAEKWONDO

Irish Taekwondo star Jack Woolley got a deserved second bite of the cherry when the man who defied his seeding (10th) and beat him 2-0 in the first round – Azerbaijan’s Gashim Magomedov – went all the way to the -58kg final yesterday.

Anyone beaten by the Azeri beforehand then got a second chance through the repechage system, which pitted Woolley against Spain’s number two seed; Adrian Vincente Yunta, just one fight away from one of the two bronze medal bouts.

The 25-year-old Tallaght star (ranked seventh) was narrowly beaten 2-0 (9-10, 2-2) but the margin of his defeat was tiny.

The first round was toe-to-toe and included a four-point score from Woolley with a great rotating kick to the body. He trailed 6-10 with five seconds to go but then claimed another three-point move and lost it by just 9-10.

His opponent just escaped a gam-jeom (penalty) on the buzzer, when the referee used his video review and Woolley explained: “If his foot had hit that mat before the clock hit 0.0, I would have won that round.”

Both men upped their defence in a very cagey second round which was scored 2-2 draw but Woolley lost it on the judges’ countback.

“I think I scored a gam-jeom and a punch, but he scored a body shot which outweighs them. If it’s all equal at the end of the fight, on points, it goes down to contacts,” he explained.

The South Dublin TC star still found great consolation in the quality and closeness of his second fight at the spectacular Grand Palais venue.

“I loved every second of that although the result wasn’t there. I’m proud of myself that I showed a true representation of my ability. Me and that Spanish lad have taken matches off each other. I beat him in the European Championships two years ago. He beat me in the final of the European Games last year. Now, he’s beat me by a point at the Olympics.”

Woolley was also greatly consoled that his initial opponent knocked out the Olympic champion en route to the final.

“I did a lot of psychology work recently. I’m enjoying it and I think that’s all anyone can ask,” he said. “I hope that showed at home and encourages everybody else to get involved in the sport or keep going in it because we’re having fun. It’s the Olympics and not every young guy from Tallaght can say he’s a two time Olympian.”

GOLF

Team Ireland’s Stephanie Meadow and Leona Maguire endured a difficult start to the Women’s Individual Golf Singles at Le Golf National on Wednesday.

The pair, who are appearing at their third Olympics, both carded six-over-par opening rounds of 78.

Five bogeys on the front nine made for a challenging day for Antrim’s Meadows, who endured two more on the back nine, before finishing on a more positive note with a birdie on the final hole.

“It’s one of those courses that you’ve got to be in the short stuff and that hurt me today but I did some things well and hopefully I can take those positives into the next three days,” Meadow said afterwards.

“It was nice to finish there on 18 with a birdie. It’s probably one of the most daunting second shots on a par five I’ve ever hand, and only a five iron in my hand so it was nice to pull that off. It’s golf right, it happens – it wasn’t my best stuff but did I have fun out there – I definitely did,representing my country and hearing the crowds. It feels like home out there with all the Irish flags.”

Hometown hero Celine Boutier of France holds the lead on seven-under, three shots ahead of South Africa’s Ashleigh Buhai, with Mexico’s Gaby Lopez two further back.

Leona Maguire endured the worst kind of start with a double bogey on the first hole, and another couple on holes seven and eight, with an eight on the par five ninth costing her dearly.

Despite another couple of bogeys after the turn Maguire rallied well to pick up three birdies on the back nine and to finish the day on 78.

The Solheim cup star is back on the course at 9.22am Irish time today, while Meadow gets her second round underway at 9.55am Irish time.

SAILING

In sailing the rescheduled men’s dinghy medal race featuring Finn Lynch was postponed again yesterday morning, owing to light winds in Marseilles.

After a couple of hours delay it got underway with Finn Lynch (National Yacht Club) performing excellently leading the ten boat field at the halfway mark, before the wind intervened again, and the race was abandoned on the way to the third mark, as it had dropped below the required five knots for fair conditions.

In the eventual decider an hour later, which was moved further offshore in search of a better breeze, two time Olympian Lynch placed eighth in the race to remain unchanged in tenth (of 43 nations) on the final standings for Paris 2024 in this men’s dinghy (ILCA 7) class.

Afterwards Lynch reflected on his Paris Games: “I’ve mixed emotions – I’m happy how I fought back but underlying disappointment with my results. It was a cool experience to lead the medal race until they abandoned it after there was a 40 degree wind-shift. I Just needed to refocus and get a good start which I did but there weren’t too many options to pass out the leaders.

“I would have liked to have got the last two fleet races in on Monday, my form had come around so I could have closed the 20 point gap more and been in with a chance at the medals.

“I’m looking forward to time with my girlfriend, catching up with family and friends plus a few weddings – being normal for few months, then looking forward to getting back into it.”

 

 

 

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