Paris 2024: Day 2 features Fairweather and Clareburt in swim heats, Black Ferns Sevens and more

The first official day of competition gave Kiwi sports fans plenty to cheer for Saturday night through to Sunday morning, with the highlight being an incredible women's 400m freestyle final featuring four of the world's best female athletes in the pool, including New Zealand's Erika Fairweather.

While her tears post-race suggest disappointment, the pride Fairweather has in representing her country in the Olympic pool is on show, with more races to come in a busy night in the pool for the Kiwis.

It will also be a big day on the water for the NZ rowing contingent with five events across the men's and women's pairs, women's lightweight double sculls, plus the men's and women's fours.

Tennis eyes will be on the clay courts of Roland-Garros with Lulu Sun and Erin Routliffe looking to build upon their recent runs at Wimbledon to progress further in the Paris 2024 tournament.

Plus in the women's rugby sevens, the Black Ferns Sevens begin their gold medal defence facing off against China and Canada.

Be sure to check in with senzradio.nz each day for your Olympic fix over the next fortnight, with fixtures, results, plus on the ground reaction from Paris with guests joining both Scotty & Izzy and The Run Home with Kirst & Beav at opposite ends of the day.

Day 2: July 28-29 (NZT)

Equestrian
8.30pm: Eventing - cross country (Clarke Johnstone, Jonelle Price & Tim Price)

Rowing
8.30pm: Women's pair heats (Alana Sherman & Kate Haines)
9pm: Men's pair heats (Phillip Wilson & Dan Williamson)
9.30pm: Women's lightweight double scull heats (Jackie Kiddle & Shannon Cox)
10.30pm: Women's four heats
10.50pm: Men's four heats

Swimming
9pm: Women's 200m freestyle heats (Erika Fairweather)
9pm: Men's 400m individual medley heats (Lewis Clareburt)
9pm: Men's 100m backstroke heats (Kane Follows)

Tennis
10pm: Women's doubles, first round (Lulu Sun and Erin Routliffe)

Sailing
10.13pm: Women's windfoil races 1-4 (Veerle ten Have)
11.43pm: Men's windfoil races 1-4 (Josh Armit)
1.35pm: Sailing - women's 49er FX races 1-3 (Jo Aleh & Molly Meech)
1.45am: Sailing - men's 49er races 1-3 (Isaac McHardie & Will McKenzie)

Mountain Biking
12.10am: Women's cross country (Sammie Maxwell)

Artistic Gymnastics
12.50am: Women's individual all-around qualification (Georgia-Rose Brown)

Canoe - Slalom
1.30am: Women's K1 semifinals (Luuka Jones) 3.45am: Women's K1 final (Luuka Jones - if qualified)

Football
3am: Women's group stage (Football Ferns v Colombia)

Hockey
3.30am: Men's pool play (Black Sticks men v Belgium)

Rugby Sevens
4am: Women's pool stage (Black Ferns Sevens v China)
7.30am: Women's pool stage (Black Ferns Sevens v Canada)

Surfing 5am: Women's second round (Saffi Vette)
9.48am: Men's second round (Billy Stairmand)

Swimming
6.30am: Men's 400m individual medley final (Lewis Clareburt - if qualified) 6.45am: Women's 100m butterfly semifinals (Hazel Ouwehand - if qualified)
7.37am: Men's 100m backstroke semifinals (Kane Follows - if qualified)
8am: Women's 200m freestyle semifinals (Erika Fairweather - if qualified)

RESULTS

Equestrian
New Zealand is now sixth in the team eventing after cross-country, with Tim Price 9th in the individual open, Clarke Johnstone 12th, and Jonelle Price is 41st.

Rowing
Alana Sherman & Kate Haines finished last in their women's pair heat to go into the repechage, Phillip Wilson & Dan Williamson advanced through to the semi-finals after placing second in their heat of the men's pair, Jackie Kiddle & Shannon Cox were first in their women’s lightweight double scull heat to qualify for semi-finals, the Men's four crossed the line first to make semi-finals, while the Women's four were second in their heat to reach semi-finals.

Swimming
Erika Fairweather qualified for the women's 200m freestyle semi-finals, finishing second with a time of 1:56:54. Kane Follows exited the men's 100m backstroke, placing 33 of 46 in the heats.

Lewis Clareburt advanced to the men’s 400m individual medley final where he finished sixth with a time of 4:10:44. France's Leon Marchand blitzed the field to claim gold and the Olympic record at 4:02:95, almost six seconds ahead of Japan's Tomoyuki Matsushita (silver) and USA's Carson Foster.

Tennis
Lulu Sun is out of the first round of the women's singles draw, losing to Ukraine's Marta Kostyuk in straight sets 6-4, 6-3.

Sailing
Isaac McHardie & William McKenzie were first in the 49er class in race one, 3rd in race two, and 8th in race three to be first overall. In the 49erFX class, NZ flagbearer Jo Aleh & Molly Meech were 15th in race one, 17th in race two, 20th in race three to be 20th overall.

Mountain Biking
Sammie Maxwell finished 8th in the women’s cross country.

Artistic Gymnastics
In the individual all-around women's event, Georgia-Rose Brown scored 51.465 (12.333 in balance beam, 12.233 in floor exercise, 13.666 in uneven bars, and 13.233 in vault) to place 29th.

Canoe - Slalom
Luuka Jones placed 9th in the women's K1 semi-finals to qualify for the final, there she finished 8th on 102.33, Australia's Jess Fox took home another gold with a time of 96.08.

Football
Football Ferns 0 Colombia 2 (Marcela Restrepo 27’, Leicy Santos 72’). Half-time: 1-0.

Hockey
Men’s pool play: Black Sticks men 1-2 Belgium.

Rugby Sevens
Black Ferns Sevens won convincingly 43-6 against China and 33-7 versus Canada to reach the quarter-finals.

Surfing
In their respective round 2 elimination heats, Saffi Vette lost to Yolanda Hopkins of Portugal and Billy Stairmand lost to Filipe Toledo of Brazil, both failing to reach round 3.

Photo: Morgan Treacy, INPHO.

PODCASTS

Mark Watson has called countless Olympic events throughout his career as a sports commentator. On SENZ's Sunday Afternoons, Watson reflects on Fairweather's performance against a stacked field in the women's 400m freestyle final, labelling her the hardest-working female athlete in NZ sport.

In Sunday morning's (NZT) final, the 20-year-old almost secured New Zealand's first swimming medal in a women's event since Jean Stewart won bronze in 100m backstroke at the 1952 Helsinki Olympics.

Sky Sport's Kimberlee Downs joined Scotty & Izzy on Monday morning to give the latest on the ground from Paris, how she handled interviewing a tearful Erika Fairweather, plus the challenges the Kiwis have faced in the swimming finals against such strong competition.

Main photo: James Crombie, INPHO