Matt Hudson-Smith was forced to settle for silver in the men’s 400m, the British star unable to hold off a late charge from the USA’s Quincy Hall as he finished second by four one-hundredths of a second.
The 29-year-old was aiming to become the first British champion in the event for a century, and bagged a new European record of 43.44 seconds – also the fifth fastest time ever – to go with his first Olympic medal, but was undone on the line by a burst of closing speed from his American opponent.
Indeed, the ending was somewhat reminiscent of Tuesday night’s 1500m final, which had GB’s Josh Kerr pitted against Norway’s Jakob Ingebrigtsen as the heavy favourites before another last-gasp surge from an American – Cole Hocker in that race – saw the title of Olympic champion go to neither, with the British man bumped into the silver medal spot.
This time, Grenada’s Kirani James – a gold medal favourite alongside Hudson-Smith – suffered a similar fate to Ingebrigtsen, finishing off the podium entirely as Zambia’s Muzala Samukonga grabbed bronze three tenths of a second behind Hudson-Smith.
“Sometimes the journey is better than the outcome,” the Team GB runner told the BBC post-race, adding: “My time is going to come”.
That latest silver – which took Team GB up to 1,002 total medals won in modern Olympic history and just shy of 50 so far at these Games – followed a pair of medals at the velodrome earlier in the evening.
Bagging Britain’s first piece of silverware on day 12 of Paris 2024 was the men’s team pursuit crew of Ethan Hayter, Charlie Tanfield, Ethan Vernon, Ollie Wood and Dan Bigham.
Bigham replaced Wood – who is in the omnium event on Thursday – for the gold medal race, and the Brits kept world record holders Australia in their sights almost all the way, but couldn’t quite get over the line first and came away with a silver medal.
Hayter was happy, apologetic and embarrassed all at the same time after he failed to lead his team-mates to an unlikely team pursuit gold.
The Australians had started as heavy favourites after breaking the world record in qualifying but Great Britain had stayed within two tenths of a second throughout the first 15 laps before Hayter slipped off the saddle with less than 200 metres to go, killing GB’s hopes of a shock victory.
“Sorry to the guys but I think we gave everything and we can be proud of that silver medal,” said the 25-year-old. “We were so close and I could see it.
“We were super happy to win a silver medal but it was really there for the taking for us and we kind of knew that. We went out to get it but just came short in the end, so it’s a shame.”
GB’s Ethan Hayter is seen unseated during the men’s team pursuit final at the National Velodrome, Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (Photo: David Davies / PA)
It initially appeared that Hayter had been clipped from behind by teammate Tanfield – but, as former rider Adam Blyth explained, it was a more a result of Hayter pushing too hard for an unlikely victory.
“The riders are pulling up so hard and pushing down so hard,” Blyth said. “With each pull and push, they’re pulling on the handlebars to try and squeeze their glutes as much as they can to get as much power out. It does sometimes happen that you get right on the edge of your saddle.”
Less than an hour later there were more British cyclists out on that track, and this time it was the women’s squad of Elinor Barker, Josie Knight, Anna Morris and Jessica Roberts who rode their way onto the podium.
That quartet came from behind to win their final race against Italy and secure a bronze medal to send Team GB clear at the top of the track cycling medal table after two days of competition, following Tuesday’s gold (and world record) and silver for the women’s and men’s team sprint groups, respectively.
At the Place de la Concorde, Andy Macdonald may not have progressed to the final on his Olympic debut but the 51-year-old Team GB skateboarder drew plenty of cheers from an energised crowd that included skating legend Tony Hawk.
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It was always going to be a stretch for Macdonald to crack the top eight, but he completed two out of his three runs with the final one giving him his highest score of 77.66 points, good for a finish of 18th overall.
More importantly, though, he looked like he had great fun – and the crowd loved him, too.
Elsewhere on Wednesday, Micky Beckett was left to rue the brutal nature of his sport after a disappointing finish in the men’s dinghy event.
The 29-year-old Welshman could still have won a medal right up until the crucial double-points medal race – which was delayed by a day and then abandoned mid-way through a first run – in the ILCA 7 class.
But after taking a hyper-aggressive approach, needing to finish two boats ahead of Peruvian Stefano Peschiera, Beckett sank to tenth in the medal race and placed sixth overall.
“It was incredibly light, incredibly hot,” said Beckett, who is one of over 1,000 athletes on UK Sport’s National Lottery-funded World Class Programme. “The race chewed me up, spat me out and I went from fourth with a really good chance of bronze to sixth, which is just a bit crushing for me.
“In time I’ll get over it. Right now I’m just very grateful to have family and friends here and the British Sailing Team, and everyone who’s played the National Lottery at home as well, directly getting us here and giving us this opportunity.
“Sorry I’m not coming home with a medal but I’m just very grateful. It’ll sink in in time but right now it’s pretty tough.”
Beckett left himself with too much to do, finishing 19th and 15th in two of the first three races, but a strong middle stage of the regatta included two fourth-placed finishes and saw him climb to the brink of a podium finish.
In the end he finished seven points short of Peschiera on a total of 87 with Norwegian Hermann Tomasgaard and Jonatan Vadnai of Hungary also edging ahead of the Welshman on the final day.
The gold medal went to Matthew Wearn of Australia, who retained his title from Tokyo.
A sailing medal could soon arrive for Team GB if the low winds in Marseille stops causing postponements, as Tokyo silver medallists John Gimson and Anna Burnet come into the mixed multihull medal race currently on track for at least a bronze medal.
Meanwhile, Jack Laugher believes he can break China’s diving hegemony on Thursday and dash their hopes of completing a Parisian golden clean sweep.
The Chinese are hoping to become the first nation to win every diving title on offer since 1952, and start the men’s 3m springboard final as the favourites for both gold and silver.
Laugher, a four-time Olympic medallist, qualified third behind Zongyuan Wang and Siyi Xie and knows he is likely in a 10-man battle for bronze.
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Wang finished more than 70 points ahead of the Harrogate diver, with Xie close behind. But the 29-year-old Brit, who has already won bronze in Paris via the 3m synchro with Anthony Harding, believes he can cause an upset.
“I’d love it to be me [challenging the Chinese divers for gold],” said Laugher, who is joined in the final by fellow GB diver Jordan Houlden.
“Obviously I try and bring my best every time, and I am in admiration of how good they are, but I know that if I turn up and do everything as good as I can I’ve got a shot at trying to beat them.”
China are five for five so far and have three events to go to make history. They nearly did it in Tokyo, but Team GB’s Tom Daley and Matty Lee won 10m synchro gold, while Laugher and Chris Mears emerged with the three-metre springboard title in Rio.
Team GB’s divers are sweeping up behind the Chinese in Paris, though, with one silver medal and three bronze so far. Daley and Noah Williams won 10m platform silver and bronze medals in the other three synchro events made for a clean sweep, with four medals already topping Britain’s best-ever haul from the sport at a single Games.
Grace Reid and Yasmin Harper could also add to that tally, having on Wednesday booked their spots in the women’s 3m springboard semis.
Over at Le Golf National, GB’s Charley Hull refused to blame a venue smoking ban for her Olympic hopes turning to ashes in Paris.
The Team GB star, who regularly lights up cigarettes while competing at major tournaments, shot 81 at the iconic course on Wednesday and sits third-bottom of the 60-strong leaderboard after the first round.
Hull, 28, arrived in the French capital earlier this week only to be informed that smoking was prohibited at all Olympic venues.
The world No. 11 suffers from attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and after her practice round on Tuesday claimed smoking while she played kept her ‘relaxed’.
Charley Hull has been known to smoke on golf courses around the world (Photo: Getty)
Hull endured a torrid time on the famous Le Golf National fairways as a double bogey on the very first hole set the tone for the day.
She never recovered and went on to rack up seven more bogeys to sign for a score nine over par and sit above only Finnish duo Ursula Wikstrom and Noora Komulainen on the leaderboard.
She looked to be struggling with being forced to play in different conditions during a horror-show opening round, but insists a freak injury sustained while travelling back from America last month was the problem.
Asked if being unable to smoke affected her performance, the two-time LPGA Tour winner insisted: “No, not at all.
“Definitely not – it’s just because I’ve been injured.
“I don’t think a lot of people realise that I took 10 days off golf and had an MRI and everything.
“That is 100 per cent why [I played the way I did] – and not because of the smoking. This is my first week back after injury, and it’s just about getting that first round out of the way.
“It’s been five weeks since I last played properly, so I feel a bit rusty and it’s my first four-day event. I feel so frustrated.”
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Hull tied for seventh when representing Team GB as a fresh-faced 20-year-old at Rio 2016 before opting to withdraw from Tokyo 2020 due to the Covid-related bubble restrictions.
And she is hoping for a significantly improved performance on day two as she bids to spark an improbable comeback.
“I’ve got one round under my belt, so hopefully tomorrow it won’t feel like the first one back,” added Hull, who remained visibly upbeat and jovial with media in the mixed zone. “It’s a scoreable golf course, very short and you can get a good score- I just didn’t hit it in the right positions.
“Hopefully I’ve got the rust out of me and I’m looking forward to hopefully shooting nine under tomorrow!”
Later in the day, Hull’s British teammate and close friend Georgia Hall shot 74 to sit in the middle of the pack on her Olympic debut, nine shots off French home favourite and day one leader Celine Boutier.
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Publish date : 2024-08-07 09:10:00
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