It was good news all round for Team Ireland on the second evening of these Olympic Games.
In front of a capacity crowd at the La Defense tonight Sligo swimmer Mona McSharry set a new Irish record of 1:05.51 in the semi-final of the women’s 100m breaststroke as she qualified in style for tomorrow night’s final ranked second on times.
Sallynoggin boxer Jack Marley secured the first win for the Irish boxers in Paris when he overcame Bereznicki of Poland in the last 16 of the heavyweight (92kg) division.
The Women’s Rugby Sevens team recorded an impressive 38-0 win over South Africa in their second game at the Stade de France this evening.
Swimming
Team Ireland’s Mona McSharry had the swim of her life in the 100m Breaststroke semi-final tonight recording a new Irish Record to book her place in Monday’s final. The now two-time Olympic finalist progresses as second seed.McSharry posted her second fastest time ever in this morning’s heats in 1:05.74 and went on to lower that to 1:05.51 this evening, which shaves four hundredths of a second off her own Irish Record of 1:05.55 from the 2023 World Championships.
Swimming in the second semi-final McSharry was out in 30.96, slower than this morning’s 30.82, but a back half 34.55 was quicker than the 34.92 split this morning. The Sligo woman was second in her semi-final behind South Africa’s Tatjana Smith (1:05.00) while 2024 World Champion China’s Qianting Tang won the first semi-final in 1:05.83. World Record holder Lily King was third behind McSharry in 1:05.64.
A delighted McSharry spoke after the race: “It was very good, I’m happy with that, progressing through the rounds, I can’t ask for anything better and I have a place in the final, that was really the only job of the semis – to progress, so yeah I’m happy with that.”
Boxing
Dublin’s Jack Marley got Ireland’s first boxing victory in Paris 2024 by defeating Poland’s Mateusz Bereznicki in the last 16 of the 92kg division. His sensational start puts the Monkstown BC man straight into the quarter-finals and just one fight away from an Olympic medal.
Marley had beaten the same Polish opponent en route to his European U22 title in 2022 but he treated him with the ultimate respect and started like a train, landing an early right hook and a barrage of counter punches to win the first round 4-1.
Twenty-one year old Marley took an early right hand from his much taller opponent early in the second round but kept attacking at great pace and won the second round by the same 4-1 margin.
With just one round to go he played it slightly more evasive in the third but still landed some big punches and earned another 4-1 result, winning the fight on a majority 4-1 margin.
Afterwards Marley said: “It was my Olympic boxing debut, I knew I had to start as I mean to go on and that’s what I did. He was actually a different fighter than when I fought him last, he was much more on the back foot this time. Last time he was trying to meet me. He was using his distance this time so every step I took, he was taking two back so I had to adapt and that’s why I upped the pace, it worked well. I got told ‘have no regrets!’ about two minutes before I stepped into the ring and I’ll aways remember that.”
Asked about the pressure now of being within one win of making an Olympic podium Marley stressed: “I was one fight away this morning because if I lost I wasn’t getting anywhere near that podium. Each fight’s the same, it’s the same as an Olympic qualifier. If I lose I’m out.”
Marley’s victory puts him through to the quarter-finals next Thursday (Aug 1) where he will fight Daviat Boltaev (Tajikistan), the 2022 Asian Games’ champion. Jack is the first Irish heavyweight to qualify for the Olympics since Atlanta 1996 and the first Olympian from his Dublin club, making his victory a very special night for Monkstown BC.
Women’s Rugby Sevens
Ireland Women’s Sevens produced a brilliant performance in their second Pool B outing on Sunday evening, bouncing back from their earlier defeat to Great Britain to inject huge momentum into their Olympic campaign with a 38-0 victory over South Africa at Stade de France.
Allan Temple-Jones’ side scored six tries during a blistering display in front of another packed out crowd in Saint Denis, clinching their first ever Olympic victory. Galway’s Béibhinn Parsons scored a try in each half, while Stacey Flood, Vicky Elmes Kinlan, Amee-Leigh Murphy Crowe, and Eve Higgins also crossed to leave Ireland third in Pool B heading into tomorrow’s clash with Australia at 1.30pm.
Following this afternoon’s 21-12 loss to Great Britain in their Paris 2024 opener, it was imperative Ireland bounced back and they did so impressively, dominating possession against South Africa and eventually turning their territory into points, as Parsons, Flood and replacements Elmes Kinlan and Higgins all scored their first Olympic tries.
It leaves Pool B delicately poised heading into Monday’s action, with the top two teams and the two best third placed teams advancing through to the quarter-finals. Earlier Australia impressed massively in beating Great Britain 38-5 in their second Pool encounter.
Speaking afterwards, winger Parsons said: “We were extremely disappointed with our result against Great Britain so we needed to come together and find a response against a tough South African team. There was a big focus on accuracy for us in this game and we were able to execute at key moments, presenting us with try-scoring opportunities that we took. It was really pleasing to build up a big score too as we know it will be a tight fight for the quarter-finals, so every point will matter tomorrow.”
Tomorrow
Team Ireland will be in action across nine sports tomorrow. The Men’s Hockey team get day three of Paris 2024 underway when they play Australia in their second pool game.
In Equestrian the Eventing team of Susie Berry and Austin O’Connor with Aoife Clarke now replacing Sarah Ennis, will contest the third and final element of their competition when they go in the show jumping at the Palace of Versailles. They lie eighth overall in the team event.
O’Connor lies in 14th place, individually, on his dressage score of 31.7 after his impressive cross country test.Tomorrow’s final day will feature the team show jumping phase in the morning, followed by a second round of jumping for the top 25 combinations, after which the individual medals will be decided. The Cork man is within striking distance of a top 10 finish.
One Irish rowing crew will be back on the water; women’s lightweight double Mags Cremen and Aoife Casey race in the repechages of their event, and must finish in the top three to advance to the semi-finals.
In the morning swimming session at the La Defense three Irish swimmers will feature. Dubliner Ellen Walshe will contest the heats of her favoured event; the women’s 400m Individual Medley, in which she swam a new Irish record of 4:37.18 last month. Danielle Hill will race afterwards in the heats of the women’s 100m backstroke; an event in which she became the first Irishwoman to break the minute mark in last May. Reigning world champion Daniel Wiffen will make his first appearance at these Games when he lines up in the heats of the men’s 800m freestyle; he is the third fastest entrant on a time of 7:39.19.
In Sailing, after their impressive win in race three today (Sun), Robert Dickson and Seán Waddilove return to the water in Marseilles for races four, five and six of the men’s Skiff.
Off the back of their win against South Africa the women’s rugby Sevens team return to the Stade de France to face Australia in their final Pool game. Australia impressed hugely beating Great Britain 38-5 in their second Pool game on Sunday.
In Canoe Slalom double Olympian Liam Jegou returns to action tomorrow when he goes in the semi-final of the men’s C1 at the Vaires-sur-Marne Nautical Stadium. 16 paddlers will each get just one run down the 250m course with the top 12 gaining a spot in the Olympic final. Clare man Jegou, who qualified in 16th place will be the first to take on the course and try and post a strong time when the event starts at 2.30pm.
Next into the boxing ring tomorrow afternoon for Team Ireland is defending lightweight champion Kellie Harrington who faces Italy’s Alessia Mesiano in the last 16. Mesiano was a lightweight world bronze medallist in 2022 and comes into the fight with one victory already under her belt in Paris; a 4-1 victory over a Turk in the preliminary round. The duo have met once before, in an Ireland v Italy international in Belfast in 2021 which Harrington won 5-0.
Following his brilliant win in his opening game on Saturday Badminton double Olympian Nhat Nguyen will face Prince Dehal of Nepal in his second group game tomorrow night.
