Team Ireland’s Gymnastics superstar Rhys McClenaghan has won an Olympic gold medal in the Pommel Horse final this evening, with a magnificent score of 15.533, becoming the first Irish gymnast to ever win an Olympic medal.
Cyclist Ben Healy secured Ireland’s best ever result in an Olympic road race with a brilliant 10th place finish this afternoon. Team mate Ryan Mullen who emptied the tank throughout for Healy to be in with a chance, came home 60th.
On the penultimate day for Rory McIlroy and Shane Lowry in the Men’s Individual Golf at Le Golf National both had great rounds of 66 today, to move up the leader board. A round that included five birdies sees McIlroy move into a tie for sixth; four shots off the lead going into the final day tomorrow.
In Canoe Slalom all three Irish paddlers made it through the repechage round of the Kayak Cross this afternoon to ensure another run each tomorrow when the heats take place.
Dinghy sailors Finn Lynch and Eve McMahon have six races each completed in their respective fleet series. Lynch (National Yacht Club) sits 15th overall, and McMahon (Howth Yacht Club) 17th overall with four races still to go.
Three Irish athletes contested the repechages of the men’s 1500m; Luke McCann, Cathal Doyle and Andrew Coscoran, with Doyle the one progressing to tomorrow’s semi-finals.
GYMNASTICS
Team Ireland’s Gymnastics superstar Rhys McClenaghan has won an Olympic gold medal in the Pommel Horse final this evening, with a magnificent score of 15.533.
In doing so the County Down gymnast has won Team Ireland’s sixth medal at these Paris Olympic Games. Notably it is Ireland’s third gold medal of these Paris Olympic Games.
In becoming Olympic champion today twenty-five-year-old McClenaghan writes himself into the history books yet again by becoming the first Irish gymnast ever to win an Olympic medal.
In front of a packed Bercy Arena McClenaghan displayed characteristic nerves of steel to execute a flawless routine, in what was considered the highest quality Pommel final in living memory. The first man up, Kazakhstan’s Nariman Kurbanov, really threw down the gauntlet with a huge score of 15:433 but then the defending champion, Britain’s Max Whitlock, had a shakey routine by his standards scoring 15:200. Next man up, Loran de Munck of the Netherlands, came off the horse, scoring only 13:733 to put him out of medal contention.
McClenaghan performed the routine of a lifetime, scoring 15:333 with a huge difficulty score of 6.600 and a typically brilliant execution score of 8.933. That performance put him in the lead but next up was America’s 2021 world champion Stephen Nedoroscik, regarded as a big threat, but he scored 15:300, leaving the Newtownards star in the lead with three to go.
None of the remaining three men scored over 15, which meant that the vaunted title of ‘Olympic Champion’ went to McClenaghan to see him realise his long held dream.
In the medallists press conference McClenaghan was asked if he knew he’d done enough for gold on landing: “No, I didn’t know that I’d won as soon as I landed. But I knew that I had done my job. I’d done the most difficult routine I could do on this day and that’s where the tears and the emotions came from really. This was the best pommel horse final that has ever happened in my eyes, ever, in the history of men’s gymnastics. To be a part of that is incredible and any one of those eight finalists could have taken gold today.”
On his emotions when he’d completed his routine: “I guess relief is always one when you land. Proud of myself as well for doing it under that pressure. I just saw Lews Smith there in the media zone and one of my favourite Olympic moments, maybe my favourite, was when he performed his routine at the London 2012 Olympic Games and I went to and watched the Opening Ceremony and saw posters of Lewis Smith everywhere. It seemed like the weight of the world was on his shoulders and it felt like this was my Lewis Smith London 2012 moment coming in here – I’m the double world champion coming into this, Ireland knew this could be our first ever Olympic gymnastics medal and I delivered under that pressure. That was the emotion that you were seeing there that I had done my job regardless of that pressure I was under.”
McClenaghan, who has been coached to his success throughout by Luke Carson, has had a spectacular career littered with a series of ground breaking firsts; he was the first Irish gymnast to win a medal at a world championships (2019 bronze), first to make Olympic final (Tokyo 2020), first to win world (2022) and European (2023) championship titles, and then to retain them (2023 Worlds, 2024 Europeans), so it is fitting he will forever go down in history as the first Irish gymnast ever to win an Olympic medal.
CYCLING
Ben Healy finished tenth in the 272.1km men’s road race to record Ireland’s best-ever finish in Olympic cycling after an impressive attacking performance from the Irish duo of Healy and Ryan Mullen. Mullen went on the attack with three other riders just 70m in, and bridged to the leaders who were eventually distanced by the power of the Irish rider.
Ben Healy counter attacked in typically forthright style from the main peloton alongside Alexiy Lutsenko with 92km remaining. After joining Mullen up front with 76km to go, who notably emptied the tank to put team mate Healy in with a shout, Mullen dropped back 10km later, and Healy pressed on with the Kazak rider in tow. He was joined by a quality chase group and remained in in a lead break of three inside the last 30km when eventual race winner Remco Evenepoel and silver medal winner Valentin Madouas pressed on.
Healy was absorbed by the chasers but was still hung on with considerable grit an eight-rider group 1m16s down sprinting for the bronze medal at the Trocadero in the shadow of the Eiffel Tower on a memorable day for Irish cycling. After his breakaway heroics Ryan Mullen completed the race in 60th position, just under 16m 56s behind Evenepoel.
Afterwards Healy said: “I did what I could and played my cards the best way I knew how to, which gave me the best opportunity of trying to go for a medal. I’m super proud of the performance and the team. I’ve got to be happy with that. Maybe if I had a little more in the tank I could’ve been super close to a medal but top ten is something to be proud of.”
GOLF
Rory McIlroy has catapulted himself into medal contention in the Men’s Individual Golf Singles with a blemish-free round of 66 at Le Golf National today.
Knowing he had to shoot a low score to kickstart his hopes of a podium finish at Paris 2024, McIlroy carded five birdies on Saturday to sit on 10-under-par and four shots behind co-leaders Xander Schauffele of America and Spain’s Jon Rahm heading into tomorrow’s final round.
McIlroy is in a tie for sixth and part of a star-studded top 10 including defending Olympic champion Schauffele, Rahm, Tommy Fleetwood, Hideki Matsuyama and world number one Scottie Scheffler.
“It was a really good round,” McIlroy said. “I said over the past two days that I had made a few too many mistakes and that’s why I wasn’t further up the leader board but today I could limit those mistakes and not have any bogeys. I played a really solid round of golf to give myself a chance of a medal tomorrow.”
Meanwhile, Shane Lowry also powered up the leader board on Saturday morning, as eight birdies helped him to a third round 66. He sits on a tie for 23rd nine shots off the lead.
Speaking afterwards, Lowry said: “I gave it my best today, I made a lot of birdies and I thought going down the last if I could birdie it, I would have a real real outside chance going into tomorrow with a low number. I am very happy with how I played but ultimately the damage was done the first couple of days out there as I needed to shoot better scores. I’m playing for a lot of pride this weekend and giving it my best.”
SAILING
In sailing in the Women’s Dinghy twenty-year-old Eve McMahon (Howth Yacht Club) has finished 22nd in race 4 of her fleet series, and 34th in race 5, which will probably be her discard score. McMahon finished the day in more positive fashion with a 13th in race 6 to leave her 17th overall.
McMahon reflected on her day: “We’ve had tough day today to be honest with you, I’m disappointed with my sailing, but I picked it back up in the very last race, but really tricky conditions and wasn’t the best today. The wind shifts were kind of crazy and I just seem to always be on the wrong side of them today and couldn’t click into it for the first two races at all and was just leaking places. Then I kind of just had to reset my mind then for the third race, and I was doing really well, I think I was lined seventh, and then lost to 12th on the last leg.
“I’m just a little bit disappointed in today’s racing – three races and when you know you can do a lot better than that, of course you’re going to be a bit annoyed at yourself, and yeah, my frustration is high but you have a reset again for tomorrow, and there’s still four more races to go.“I don’t know if I’m one of the youngest or the youngest, so these girls have a lot more experience than me, I can race a lot better than what I did today and I can beat a lot of those girls. I’m glad I pulled it back in the in the last race to make it a counter. Hopefully tomorrow will be a bit better.”
In race 5 of the Men’s Dinghy Finn Lynch (National Yacht Club) placed 12th improving to an impressive 7th in race six to end the day lying 15th overall.
Lynch spoke afterwards: “Today was better, I managed to get two solid results so I’m happy with that. The conditions were epic, huge waves and maybe 15 to 20 knots (of wind). I wouldn’t say it’s my preferred wind range but I feel like fitness is a strength of mine. So hopefully in the next few days, some other people will tire a bit and I can climb the leader board a bit.
“It’s actually a little bit different (the venue) this week than a lot of the training we’ve done. That’s because it’s been so hot that the wind has been more unstable, the sea breezes have been unstable, and even the windy Mistral was very shifty and going back-and-forth, so it’s not like how we trained, but we just need to adapt.”
CANOE SLALOM
All three canoeists successfully move through to the next round of Kayak Cross. Madison Corcoran is through to tomorrow’s Women’s Kayak Cross heats after a second-place finish in the repechage. She crossed the line in fourth place this morning in Round 1 which meant that she had to race again this evening in the repechage. Struggling at the first upstream gate, Corcoran was left behind by the Chinese and Polish canoeists. Catching up with China in the next upstream gate, she made sure to fully complete the gate. China crossed the line ahead of Ireland but they picked up a fault on the gate, so it was Corcoran taking that place through to the heats.
After the race Corcoran spoke about how she put pressure on the Chinese athlete coming into the last gate; “I just saw my competitor in the ride up and knew that if I went in with a bit of force I could squeeze in around the pole, so that’s what I tried to do and it worked out in the end.”
In Round 1 of the Men’s Kayak Cross both Noel Hendrick and Liam Jegou missed out on direct qualification to the heats and had to race in this afternoon’s repechage. Hendrick finished third in his Round 1 race and Jegou finished in fourth place. In a strong performance in the reps, Hendrick took the win in his race, guaranteeing his spot in tomorrow’s heats.
Hendrick reflected on his race when coming off the water saying, “It was a good, it was exciting, I was fortunate enough to be in the heat with the French paddler, so I got to experience the French crowd. It was really fun, it was exciting to be part of that crowd and yeah, it’s an intense event, it’s definitely rough and I definitely have a few knocks and scrapes I didn’t want to get but I’ll survive and I’m going to race again tomorrow.”
Liam Jegou also had a win in his repechage putting him into the mix for the next round. Initially getting out, all three boats were sandwiched together but it was Jegou who broke away first getting a lead on the two others coming into the first gates and barrel roll zone. It stayed tight with the GB canoeist in the middle but after he missed a gate he trailed back, and it was Jegou leading towards the line.
ATHLETICS
Cathal Doyle produced a clinical performance to advance to the semi-finals of the Men’s 1500m on day eight of these Olympic Games in Paris. The 26-year-old Dubliner demonstrated all his tactical nous to stride clear to victory in his repechage of the event in a time of 3:34.92.
The Clonliffe Harriers clubman was delighted when speaking after the race:
“This was the goal of my championships; every round was an Olympic final for me, so I treated like any race today and ran it like I’ve done all season. I proved that yesterday was only a bit of an off day due to nerves and inexperience, I feel much better now,” he said.
“I did the basics there like I’ve been doing all season. I was at the business end when the race started to get going and I put myself in a good position. In that last 100m I felt that I had more gears, so I’m really excited for tomorrow.”
Luke McCann finished seventh in the same race, running 3:36.50, and with only the top three advancing failed to qualify. There was also disappointment for Andrew Coscoran who was off his best in his repechage. The Balbriggan man came home in 12th position in a time of 3:39.45.
Coscoran said: “I’m devastated. Last time I came to the Olympics I made a semi-final so it seems like I’ve taken a step backwards. The lead up wasn’t perfect I had a couple of that were out of my control; injuries and sickness. I usually run better when I put the Irish vest on and unfortunately here I just couldn’t perform.”
Cathal Doyle will return to the track tomorrow night for the 1500m semi-finals knowing it will take the race of his life to advance to an Olympic final.
LATER
In boxing reigning lightweight (60kg) champion Kellie Harrington faces a very familiar and feisty foe in Brazil’s Beatriz Soares Ferreira, the woman she defeated 5-0 in the Tokyo Olympic final, at the North Paris Arena shortly (9.08pm Irish time).
RESULTS DAY 8 – SATURDAY 3RD AUGUST 2024
Swimming, Women’s 50m Freestyle heats, Danielle Hill, 8th in heat in 25.02, 21st overall, does not advance to semi-finals
Swimming, Men’s 1500m Freestyle heats, Daniel Wiffen, won heat in 4:41.34, through to final Aug 4th
Swimming, Men’s 4x100m Medley relay, 6th in heat in 3:33.81 new NR, 11th overall, do not advance to final
Swimming, Women’s 4x100m Medley relay, 6th in heat in 4:00.12 new NR, 11th overall, do not advance to final
Sailing, Women’s Dinghy, Eve McMahon, 22nd in Race 4
Sailing, Women’s Dinghy, Eve McMahon 34th in Race 5
Sailing, Women’s Dinghy, Eve McMahon 13th in Race 6, lying 17th overall
Sailing, Men’s Dinghy, Finn Lynch, 12th in Race 5
Sailing, Men’s Dinghy, Finn Lynch, 7th in Race 6, lying 15th overall
Golf, Men’s Individual, Round 3, Shane Lowry, round of 66, five-under for tournament, tied 23rd
Golf, Men’s Individual, Round 3, Rory McIlroy, round of 66, 10-under for the tournament, tied 6th
Cycling Road, Men’s Road Race, Ben Healy, 10th in 6:20.54
Cycling Road, Men’s Road Race, Ryan Mullen, 60th in 6:36.31
Women’s Kayak Cross Round 1, Madison Corcoran – goes to repechage
Men’s Kayak Cross Round 1, Noel Hendrick, Liam Jegou – both to repechage
Women’s Kayak Cross, Madison Corcoran, Repechage – advances to heats Aug4th
Men’s Kayak Cross, Noel Hendrick, Repechage – advances to heats Aug 4th
Men’s Kayak Cross, Liam Jegou, Repechage – advances to heats Aug 4th
Gymnastics, Men’s Pommel Horse FINAL, Rhys McCleneghan – GOLD MEDAL, score of 15.533
Athletics, Men’s 1500m, Cathal Doyle, repechage 1, wins in 3:34.93, through to semi-final Aug4th
Athletics, Men’s 1500m, Luke McCann, repechage 1, 7th in 3:36.50, does not advance to semi-finals
Athletics, Men’s 1500m, Andrew Coscoran, repechage 2, 12th in 3:39.45, does not advance to semi-finals
