Paris 2024: Finn Butcher wins kayak cross gold, all three Kiwi pole vaulters progress to final

New Zealand's favourite pole vaulter Eliza McCartney, steps up to the runway on Day 10 to begin her quest for the podium, alongside fellow Kiwi hopefuls Olivia McTaggart and Imogen Ayris.

After being denied a chance to compete at Tokyo 2020 due to injury, McCartney is aiming to repeat her efforts of Rio 2016, where she stunned the pole vault world with her bronze medal heroics.

New Zealand will also begin their campaign at the velodrome, where hot medal prospect Aaron Gate will take to the bike for the first time in Paris as part of the men's team pursuit.

The Kiwi triathletes have a chance to add to their silver in the men's individual, as Hayden Wilde spearheads the team relay.

Day 10: August 5-6 (NZT)

Triathlon
6pm: Team relay (Dylan McCullough, Hayden Wilde, Ainsley Thorpe, Nicole van der Kay)

Athletics
8.10pm: Men’s discus qualification (Connor Bell)
8.40pm: Women’s pole vault qualification (Eliza McCartney, Imogen Ayris, Olivia McTaggart)
5.04am: Men’s 3000m steeplechase heat (George Beamish)

Sailing
10pm: Nacra – mixed, races 6-9 (Micah Wilkinson, Erica Dawson)
10.03pm: Women’s kite surfing (Justina Kitchen)
10.13pm: Men’s kite surfing (Lukas Walton-Keim)
10.15pm: Women’s dinghy, races 9-10 (Greta Pilkington)
12.40am: Men’s dinghy, races 9-10 (Tom Saunders)

Sport Climbing – Speed
11pm: Qualification seeding (Sarah Tetzlaff)
11.40pm: Qualification elimination (Sarah Tetzlaff)

Wrestling
1.30am: Women’s freestyle 68kg elimination (Tayla Ford)
7.40am: Women’s freestyle 68kg semifinal (Tayla Ford - if qualified)

Canoe Slalom
1.30am: Women’s kayak cross quarter-finals (Luuka Jones)
1.52am: Men’s kayak cross quarter-finals (Finn Butcher)
2.15am: Women’s kayak cross semi-finals (Luuka Jones – if qualified)
2.28am: Men’s kayak cross semi-finals (Finn Butcher – if qualified)
2.55am: Women’s kayak cross big final (Luuka Jones if qualified)
3am: Men’s kayak cross big final (Finn Butcher – if qualified)

Cycling – Track
3am: Women’s team sprint qualifying (Ellesse Andrews, Rebecca Petch, Shaane Fulton)
3.27am: Track men’s team pursuit qualifying (Aaron Gate, Keegan Hornblow, Tom Sexton and Campbell Stewart)
4.55am: Women’s team sprint first round (Ellesse Andrews, Rebecca Petch, Shaane Fulton)
5.54am: Women’s team sprint bronze medal final (Ellesse Andrews, Rebecca Petch, Shaane Fulton – if required)
5.59am: Women’s team sprint gold medal final (Ellesse Andrews, Rebecca Petch, Shaane Fulton – if required)

RESULTS

New Zealand has jumped back up to 12th on the Olympic medal table after strong performances by the women's sprint team at the velodrome, plus Finn Butcher in kayak cross.

Triathlon
The New Zealand team of Hayden Wilde, Dylan McCullough, Ainsley Thorpe, Nicole van der Kaay battled it out in the mixed relay to finish 14th. A silver medalist in the men's event, Wilde crashed during his bike leg, resulting in a cut to his nose plus grazes to his limbs.

Speaking with Sky Sport after the race, Wilde took responsibility for the incident.

“I got into transition and, yeah, didn't realise my nose was gushing with blood. I know it's not broken, so my modelling career can continue," he joked.

“But yeah, I put my hand up, I put our team on the back foot which is not ideal. I tried everything to get us back in and it wasn't meant to be and crashes happen within a race.”

Photo: Dan Himbrechts, Photosport/AAP.

Athletics
Connor Bell won't be competing for medals after he placed 13th in the men's discus, neither will Geordie Beamish following a 7th-placed finish in his heat of the men's 3000m steeplechase.

But New Zealand's day at Stade de France belonged to the trio of pole vaulters: Eliza McCartney, Olivia McTaggart, & Imogen Ayris.

McCartney's return to Olympic competition following a long road to recovery, that included breaking down the biomechanics of her technique to reduce further injury, has been long-awaited.

Eight years on from her bronze medal win at the Rio Olympics, McCartney comfortably cleared her first attempt of 4.40m, along with the 4.55m height on her second attempt.

"Nothing's guaranteed so every height I get, every jump I do, it's like good, you've done one, you're a step closer to where you want to be," McCartney told Sky Sport.

"I never take anything for granted, it was a bit of a relief to get 4.55m because it was a sticky height. I was so ready to do 4.70m today, but here we are."

As their other competitors continued to fail to clear the 4.55m bar and were eliminated, Ayris and McTaggart were two of nine contestants who managed to qualify via a countback to fill out the final. Both Kiwis had cleared the previous height of 4.40m on their first attempt.

"It's such a rollercoaster. I had two goals going into this competition, one of them was to give it everything, the other was to make an Olympic final," McTaggart revealed to Sky Sport post-event.

"To be honest, I only got one of them, and that was to make an Olympic final, so I'm going to use the second one and do that for the final."

Photo: Simon Stacpoole, Photosport.

Sailing
The final two races of men's dinghy class were cancelled, Tom Saunders sits 7th overall and qualifies for the medal race but is outside of the points to podium. In the women's dinghy, Greta Pilkington finished 34th overall.

The mixed Nacra crew of Micah Wilkinson & Erica Dawson placed 2nd in race 7, 4th in race 8, and 9th in race 9 to be 3rd overall with three races remaining.

Justina Kitchen and Lukas Walton-Keim are both placed 15th overall five races into their respective women's and men's kitesurfing events.

Sport Climbing – Speed
Sarah Tezlaff placed 12th in the women's event after losing her elimination race vs Poland. During the qualification seeding, Tezlaff registered a personal best of 8.39.

Wrestling
In the 68kg freestyle category, Tayla Ford lost 6-0 in her 1/8 elimination against France's Koumba Larroque.

Canoe Slalom
Finn Butcher brought home New Zealand's third gold medal of the Paris Games with an incredible performance in the Olympic's first-ever running of the kayak cross final, getting past the favoured Joe Clarke of Great Britain to win.

Luuka Jones placed 5th in the women's kayak cross, revealed to the attending New Zealand media that Paris would likely be her last.

Cycling – Track
The women's sprint team of Ellesse Andrews, Rebecca Petch, and Shaane Fulton claimed silver in the gold medal final against Great Britain.

Proud father and coach Jon Andrews, spoke with Sky Sport about his team's efforts on the track.

"Really happy. Really ecstatic. We've done some awesome things in training with the girls, but the difference is, can you execute it on the night? To beat the world champions in Germany and to go really close to beating the British team, awesome."

Photo: Alex Whitehead, Photosport

In the men's team pursuit, the New Zealand team of Aaron Gate, Campbell Stewart, Keegan Hornblow and Tom Sexton placed 6th in qualifying to set up a race against Belgium in round one. However, the best the men's team can place in the event will be bronze.

PODCASTS

Finn Butcher spoke with Scotty & Izzy on Tuesday morning (NZT) to reflect on his gold medal-winning performance at the Vaires sur Marne Nautical Stadium.