Swimming
On an unforgettable day for Ireland in the Olympics, Mona McSharry secured an impressive bronze medal in the 100m breaststroke. The swimmer from Sligo clinched Ireland’s first medal in the Games, managing to edge out Italy’s Benedetta Pilato for third place by a fraction of a second. In a time of 1:05:09, she was a mere 0.8 seconds away from her national record.
“I can barely believe I’ve bagged a medal,” McSharry confessed after the event. “It’s mind-blowing. My years of determined effort has finally reaped rewards. It’s a wondrous feeling. The first 50 was a bit of a struggle. My goggles got a bit swamped, so the race wasn’t faultless – but you’re in it until it’s over and you just have to plough on.
Earlier, Daniel Wiffen leaped into the 800m final with the quickest qualification time from the preliminary rounds. The current world champion logged a time of 1:05:51, the third best of his career, seeing him as the prime contender in Tuesday’s final. Ellen Walshe secured eighth place in the 400m medley final, whilst Danielle Hill ranked eighth in the 100m backstroke semi-final after a powerful swim in the preliminaries.
Boxing
Kellie Harrington skilfully began her Olympic title defence with a unanimous 5-0 win over Italy’s Alessia Mesiano. The Tokyo gold medallist executed a flawless display of strategic boxing, exploiting her jab adeptly and frequently switching her lead to outscore her feisty Italian opponent.
Questioned about her performance after a surprising loss at the European Championships this year, Harrington resolved, “Not at all! You need to stumble in order to rise again. If you never rise, you may as well not compete. It’s just a loss if lessons aren’t learned, and I aim to extract wisdom from it.”
Harrington is scheduled to box for a medal against Colombia’s Angie Valdas in the quarter-final on Wednesday.
Canoe Slalom
With a vigorous seventh-place finish in the final, Liam Jegou narrowly missed securing the silver medal due to a two-second penalty at the penultimate gate. Despite ranking 16th in the semi-finals, which was the final qualifying position, Jegou pulled off an impressive performance that secured his place in the final at the sixth position. Despite matching his semi-final time in the final round, it wasn’t sufficient for a spot on the podium.
On not securing a medal, Jegou enthused about his satisfaction with his performance stating that it was his best since a year or two ago. He expressed his disappointment in not winning any medal, but acknowledged being in contention for one was both a privilege and honour.
Switching to Rugby, Ireland’s team suffered a heavy loss to Australia in the rugby sevens quarter-finals at Stade de France. Three early tries by Madison Levi contributed to Australia’s 26-0 lead at half time, leaving Ireland with no chance for a comeback. Despite Stacey Flood making a score for Ireland, Australia sealed their victory with a sixth try, winning 40-7. Notably, earlier in the day, Ireland had suffered a close 19-14 loss to Australia in their final pool match.
In the sailing arena, Robert Dickson and Sean Waddilove hold the second position in the men’s skiff event after two days of competition and six races. Despite a disqualification in Monday’s third race due to a successful protest by the Spanish crew, it did not impact their overall standing. The medal race pendulum is at its halfway point, with only the top 10 boats qualifying for Thursday’s medal race.
In rowing, the Irish crew, Margaret Cremen and Aoife Casey, excelled in their lightweight women’s double category, winning their repechage confidently. They crossed the line three lengths ahead of Canada, who were fourth in the previous year’s World Championships. With this victory, Cremen and Casey are set to compete in Wednesday’s semi-finals with the fastest time from the repechages.
Finally, in hockey, the details of the match were not provided.
In their second group game, Ireland suffered a 2-1 defeat at the hands of Australia, the world’s third-placed team, despite a valiant display. Lee Cole netted Ireland’s inaugural goal for this Olympic tournament through an excellent penalty corner, offsetting Corey Weyer’s initial effort. However, Blake Covers reinstated Australia’s advantage with a penalty straight before the interval. Ireland faces India on Wednesday and the top four teams from each six-team group will progress to the knockout phases.
Equestrian
Austin O’Connor and his horse Colorado Blue secured the 17th spot in the showjumping individual finals. Although they knocked poles over the last two fences during the initial round, they managed a clean jump in the subsequent round. In the team event, Ireland landed the ninth position out of 16.
Badminton
Nhat Nguyen triumphed in his second group game, overpowering Prince Nahal from Nepal 2-0. Nguyen dominated the sets with scores of 21-7 and 21-5.