It was another unforgiving day for Stephanie Meadow and Leona Maguire at Le Golf National, as the Team Ireland pair fell further adrift of the leaders at the Women’s Individual Golf Singles.
Meadow carded a two-over-par round of 74 on Thursday to sit on eight-over-par overall, while Maguire is at 13-over-par on the leader board after a second round 79.
Meadow’s round contained four birdies – two on each nine – but six bogeys cost her, and ultimately put pay to her efforts of climbing back up the standings after a damaging 78 on Wednesday.
It was a similarly frustrating afternoon for Maguire, whose disappointing round unfortunately concluded with a quadruple bogey nine on the 18th.
Switzerland’s Morgane Metraux leads the field on eight-under-par after a round of 66 propelled her up the leader board today, with China’s Rouning Yin lying two shots back.
After the opening session this morning of 100m hurdles and High Jump O’Connor, who is coached by her father Michael, sits on 1908 points currently in 19th place overall.
Last year O’Connor finished 13th in the event at the World Athletics Championships but her build up to her debut Olympic Games has been hampered by recent injury.
Wiffen, who has never competed in an international open water race, will set another piece of Irish history as he becomes Ireland’s first ever competitor in Marathon Swimming at an Olympic Games.
Rhasidat Adeleke will be the first Irish woman to contest an Olympic 400m final tomorrow night at the Stade de France in Paris. The 21-year-old from Tallaght takes to the track at 7pm Irish time aiming to be in the mix, but the task ahead will be far from straightforward, with a particularly high calibre field vying for podium places.
Amongst them are reigning world champion and Tokyo silver medallist Marileidy Paulino (Dominican Republic) who won the second semi-final last night by a distance.
Also featuring are European champion and 2023 world silver medallist Natalia Kaczmarek (Poland), and world bronze medallist Sada Williams (Barbados). Great Britain’s Amber Anning beat Kaczmarek to the line last night looking quite controlled posting a new PB in the process.
Salwa Eid Naser (Bahrain), a former world champion, who won Adeleke’s semi-final last night in a season’s best, and the fastest time of all eight qualifiers, also poses a major threat. Naser returned this year having served a two year ban from the sport for whereabouts violations.
Adeleke has been drawn in lane four and will have Anning on her right and Norwegian Henriette Jaeger on her inside.
The morning session features several Irish athletes, with two featuring in individual semi-finals.
Sarah Lavin from Limerick looked strong in automatically advancing out of yesterday’s heat. The Emerald AC athlete knows however that she will need the race of her life to become the first Irish female sprint hurdler to make an Olympic final. She goes in the second of the three semi-finals with only the top two in each making the final, along with two non-automatic time qualifying spots across the three races.
There are five women with faster personal bests than Sarah Lavin in her semi-final and it features Netherland’s Olympic finalist Nadine Visser, double European medallist Ditaji Kambundji of Switzerland, and America’s Alaysha Johnson who has the fastest PB in the field (12:31).
Despite a brilliant run in his heat Mark English also may need to significantly lower his national record to make a final in the Men’s 800m. Six of those he will be competing against have faster seasons best times than the Finn Valley AC man. He goes in the first of three semi-finals with only the first two booking a place in the final, along with two non-automatic time qualifying spots across the three races.
Earlier in the session the Women’s 4x400m Relay team will race in heat two of their event. Having had an excellent year and not lacking squad depth, they will be aiming to secure one of three automatic spots in Saturday evening’s final. There are also two non-automatic time qualifying spots up for grabs.
Their heat features some serious competition in European champions Netherlands, world championships silver medallists Jamaica, as well as Poland whose team won relay silver in Tokyo. The Irish team will not be confirmed until final declarations are submitted.
Meanwhile Kate O’Connor will be in action in the Heptathlon in both sessions. In the morning she competes in the Long Jump, where her best is 6.10m, and her strongest event the Javelin Throw where she has come close to breaking 53metres (52.92m), while her Olympic campaign concludes with the gruelling 800m finale event.