DAY TEN of the Paris Olympics is upon us – and things are heating up inside the Stade de France.
Team GB have agonisingly missed out on mixed triathlon gold in the first medal event of the day, finishing in third place
Gymnastics legend Simone Biles failed in winning her fourth gold medal of the games as she fell off the balance beam during her routine in the final.
Later tonight, Keeley Hodgkinson will aim to go one better than she did in Tokyo as she vies for 800m gold, while it’s the last day to see Simone Biles in action – the goat is aiming for two more golds as she completes her campaign.
Climbers return
Eventually Zhou returned for a solo run – and it was worth the wait as she tapped the pad in just 6.54 seconds.
That was not only a new personal best but also broke the Olympic record.
Made Rita, the reigning world champion, then had Han effort on her own, again on the left route like Zhou, and clocked 6.52 seconds.
That broke her own PB and snatched the Olympic record with it, which lasted approximately 60 seconds.
More on climbing delay
Still no continuation due to the “technical maintenance” but the commentators have just announced the two “fail” climbers will get a solo go to register an official time.
Biles finishes fifth
Simone Biles ends the beam final in fifth place after falling off the apparatus during her routine.
Italy’s Alice D’Amato takes gold with a score of 14.366 ahead of Yaqin Zhou of China and fellow Italian Manila Esposito.
Biles unhappy
Simone Biles appears unimpressed with the noise inside the arena after falling off the beam.
There has been quite an atmosphere during this final, with several gymnasts taking tumbles.
Biles goes into fourth place after a score of 13.100 with one athlete remaining.
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Oooooh controversy.
In the second race, the climber on the left wall appears to get there first but again the timer is not stopped.
She isn’t happy either and now there is a brief delay to check the equipment is working properly.
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Drama!
Kelly Piper vs Zhou Yafei in the first of the women’s speed climbing.
The Chinese star flies up the 15m wall in rapid time and think she has touched the pressure pad first.
But apparently she did not make enough contact and the electronic timer did not stop, allowing American Piper to claim a bizarre victory in just over SEVEN seconds.
Crazy.
Views from SunSport’s Martin Lipton
While Caudery appeared inconsolable, it was all smiles for Amber Anning, who won her 400m heat in a comfortable 49.68.
But Victoria Ohuruogu will have to progress through the repechage after finishing fourth in her heat.
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After three nearly attempts, Toby Roberts finishes on a high.
He reaches the top hold on the fourth climb to finish on a score of 54.1 – that puts him third at the end of the bouldering semi-final.
McArthur is eighth on 34.2 before Wednesday’s lead climbing, with those scores added together to determine the eight qualifiers for Friday’s final.
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Caudery’s Olympics dream is shattered.
The Cornwall pole vaulter came to Paris as the No 1 in the world this year.
But it all went wrong as she followed Holly Bradshaw out of the competition.
Caudery passed at the two opening heights, backing herself to clear the 4.55m which would have been enough to qualify for the final.
It just did not happen for her, despite having cleared 4.92m a few weeks ago.
This time, with the pressure on, she cracked.
It looked like she had the height but not the timing, sending the bar flying with both feet.
Head in hands she sat on the bed, the tears starting to come already even as she tried to applaud the crowd.
A sad end – and a hammer blow for Team GB.
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No dice for Okoye, whose third and final discus effort only barely reaches the 60m tape. That’s it for him.
While Caudery was waiting for her final chance, Laviai Nielsen came safely through her 400m heat, following Jamaica’s Nickisha Pryce over the line in 50.36 secs.
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Caudery fails again.
This time she is seemingly comfortably clear of the bar but brushes it with her midriff on the way down.
Suddenly it really is a crisis moment for the Brit.
It probably comes down to one vault.
Clear it and – while the qualification height was 4.70m – it will probably be enough with only 10 having gone over 4.55m so far.
They have halted the other group to see if they need to go again.
Views from SunSport’s Joshua Jones
The top scores are flying in now we have got down to the top seeds – this is truly thrilling entertainment.
Alas, Roberts was not one to reach the top hold in his first jump so had to settle for a 9.8 score
Views from SunSport’s Martin Lipton
Big Lawrence Okoye has just had his first attempt in the discus, after Nick Percy fell short in his group.
Percy’s best was his second throw of 61.81 well short of the 66m automatic qualification mark.
To be fair, only three throwers went beyond that in the opening group but Percy was 12th and out.
Okoye’s first effort was only 61.17m
He needs to pull something out of the bag, pronto.
Views from SunSport’s Martin Lipton
Back to the very high bar and world No 1 Molly Caudery has not made a great start either.
The Cornish vaulter cleared 4.92 a couple of months ago and opted to wait until the bar was raised to 4.55m to start her competition.
But she didn’t get that opener right at all – and is currently the only vaulter in the competition without a clearance.
Views from SunSport’s Joshua Jones
Absolute scenes!
Incredible stuff from the reigning world champion Jakub Schubert who is the first man to reach any of the four top holds.
It was his second attempt so he is rewarded with a 24.9.
But just seconds later, Sam Avezou who gets to the top on the final climb with seconds to go and the French crowd go utterly wild for their home hero.
Follow that, Toby Roberts. Well, he has to do that – he’s the next man out.
Peaty questions China gold
Adam Peaty has questioned China’s victory in the men’s 4x100m medley relay.
Team GB just missed out on the podium after finishing fourth in Paris.
China claimed gold almost four years after 23 Chinese swimmers tested positive for banned substance trimetazidine (TMZ) in the build-up to the Tokyo Games.
After the race, Peaty said: “One of my favourite quotes I’ve seen lately is that there’s no point winning if you’re not winning fair. I think you know that truth in your heart.
“If you touch and you know that you’re cheating, you’re not winning. For me, if you’ve been on that and you have been ‘contaminated’ twice, I think as an honourable person you should be out of the sport.
“I don’t want to paint a whole nation or group of people with one brush, I think that’s very unfair. But there have been two cases of it and it’s very disappointing.
“But I think to the people that need to do their job – wake up and do your job. I think we have to have faith in the system. But we also don’t. I think it’s got to be stricter.”
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Here’s what Hamish McArthur told SunSport just now down in the mixed zone.
McArthur said: “That was really, really great fun. This is the most receptive and entertaining crowd I’ve ever climbed in front of. They just love it.
“I’ve got a lot of my family here supporting, wearing kilts and having a great time. They’re getting rowdy I hope.
“I felt like I performed really well. I felt unbelievably close to getting more tops. The round was really hard.
“Being part of Team GB really is crazy.”
Asked how this event will propel the sport back in the UK, McArthur added: “I mean it must do, it absolutely must do. It’s already happening and something like this is just going to trampoline that.
“I feel like this event itself is going to do a lot for the sport. There’s no way it doesn’t. You can hear it. I went to see some other sports already and it just has absolutely nothing on this. This is just wild.”
But the keen cook admitted: “To be honest, I’ve been staying with my girlfriend and she’s been chef for the last couple of days. So I can’t take any credit for the charcuterie we had last night, although it was incredible.”
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That’s it for Bradshaw. A nightmare finish.
There was no acceleration going into the final effort and she bailed out half way through.
Indeed, Bradshaw doesn’t even land on the mat, falling to her right and ending up on the grass to the right of the bar, pretty close to a TV cameraman.
That could have been very painful.
Bradshaw seems to be okay as she gingerly picks herself up and packs her poles away. But it’s all been VERY disappointing.
Views from SunSport’s Joshua Jones
Hamish McArthur has completed all of his four climbs in the bouldering semi-final.
And his score of 34.2 currently has him in second spot, just 0.1 off the lead.
Toby Roberts will be up soon for GB, the No2 seed here in the competition.
Views from SunSport’s Martin Lipton
200 or so yards away, it’s calmer for Toulson and Spendolini-Sireix, who both looked comfortable after three dives.
Toulson’s best dive so far – an “Armstand Back Double Somersault 1½ Twists in the free position” apparently – moves her up the field.
Spendolini-Sireix also bounces back, scoring 72 for her forward three and a half somersaults.
Unless something goes horribly wrong, they should both be fine now.
But now it is crisis point for Bradshaw, way short again with her second attempt at 4.40.
She cleared 4.85m to win bronze in Tokyo but unless she gets it right next time she will be out.
Views from SunSport’s Martin Lipton
Back to the big long pole thing and Bradshaw clips the bar with her knee on the way down as she makes her first attempt at 4.40m.
Seven have already gone clear at this height and it’s starting to get a little concerning for Bradshaw, who has missed two out of three so far.
She doesn’t look happy at all.
Views from SunSport’s Martin Lipton
Bradshaw clears 4.20m easily at the second attempt. Not sure what all the fuss was about.
Meanwhile, Jessie Knight squeaked through in 400m hurdles after gatecrashing the top two in her repechage.
Knight was struggling down the back straight and fourth coming into the final two flights of hurdles.
China’s Mo Jiadie was well clear but Knight came from three metres back to breast the line fractionally ahead of Gemma Woodruff of Panama.
Both clocked 55.10 – 0.29 faster than Knight’s heat run – but the Brit got it by a margin of 0.005 secs – five THOUSANDTHS of a second. That’s close!
