Paris 2024: Cycling team shines with silver, pole vault trio misses out on medals

New Zealand had no medals to contend for yesterday, but Day 12 is shaping up as a pivotal one for the Kiwi Olympians as they look to improve the nation's current 13th-placed standing on the medal table.

The NZ contingent have won three gold medals, five silvers, and a bronze so far at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris - the women's pole vault is a highlight on the schedule with Eliza McCartney, Imogen Ayris and Olivia McTaggart, with more on the line in the sailing and at the velodrome.

Aside from the pole vault, NZ's athletics squad will also feature in the men's high jump (Hamish Kerr), women's javelin (Tori Peeters), men's 800m (James Preston), plus the men's triple jump (Ethan Olivier).

Lisa Carrington and Aimee Fisher will both line up in the women's K-1 500m kayak sprint heats from 7.30pm Wednesday, Carrington is the defending Olympic champion from Tokyo 2020.

Lydia Ko will finally tee off at Le Golf National, paired with Japan's Miyu Yamashita and Sweden's Maja Stark - currently ranked 22nd in the official world rankings, Ko is aiming to complete the Olympic medal set after she won silver at Rio 2016 and bronze at Tokyo 2020.

Be sure to check in with senzradio.nz each day for your Olympic fix 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 on SENZ.

Day 12: August 7-8 (NZT)

Canoe/Kayak - Sprint
7.30pm: Women's K-1 500m heats (Aimee Fisher, Lisa Carrington)
11.30pm: Women's K-1 500m quarter-finals (Aimee Fisher, Lisa Carrington - if qualified)

Athletics
8.05pm: Men's high jump qualification (Hamish Kerr)
8.25pm: Women's javelin qualification (Tori Peeters)
9.55pm: Men's 800m qualification (James Preston)
4.30am: Women's pole vault final (Eliza McCartney, Imogen Ayris, Olivia McTaggart)
5.15am: Men's triple jump qualification (Ethan Olivier)

Golf
10.06pm: Women's golf round 1 (Lydia Ko)

Sailing
10.13pm: Women's kitesurfing races 7-16 (Justina Kitchen)
10.23pm: Men's kitesurfing races 8-16 (Lukes Walton-Keim)
12.43am: Mixed multihull medal race (Erica Dawson & Micah Wilkinson)
1.13am: Men's dinghy medal race (Thomas Saunders)

Cycling - Track
10.45pm: Men's sprint qualifying heats (Sam Dakin)
11.26pm: Women's Keirin first round heats (Ellesse Andrews, Rebecca Petch)
11.52pm: Women's team pursuit first round (Emily Shearman, Nicole Shields, Ally Wollaston, Bryony Botha)
12.30am: Men's sprint round of 32 finals (Sam Dakin - if qualified)
1.10am: Women's Keirin repechage (Ellesse Andrews, Rebecca Petch - if required)
1.30am: Men's sprint round of 32 repechage (Sam Dakin - if required)
3.30am: Men's sprint round of 16 finals (Sam Dakin - if qualified)
4.13am: Men's 4000m team pursuit finals for 5-6th place (Aaron Gate, Keegan Hornblow, Campbell Stewart, Tom Sexton)
4.42am: Men's sprint round of 16 repechage (Sam Dakin - if required)
5.17am: Women's team pursuit bronze medal final (Emily Shearman, Nicole Shields, Ally Wollaston, Bryony Botha - if qualified)
5.28am: Women's team pursuit gold medal final (Emily Shearman, Nicole Shields, Ally Wollaston, Bryony Botha - if qualified)
5.38am: Men's sprint quarter-finals (Sam Dakin - if qualified)

Diving
1.00am: Women's 3m springboard preliminaries (Lizzie Roussel)

RESULTS

Canoe/Kayak - Sprint
Lisa Carrington and Aimee Fisher both won their K-1 500m heats to advance straight through to Saturday night's semi-finals (NZT). Carrington appeared to be saving her energy but still clocked 1:48.51, Fisher crossed the line at 1:49.16 but holds the world's best time of 1:46.19 set in May this year.

Photo: Iain McGregor, Photosport.

Athletics
In a monster day of competition for the Kiwis at Stade de France, Hamish Kerr finished top of his qualifying group with a height of 2.27m. The 27-year-old cleared that level on his first attempt, but proceedings weren't so smooth while clearing 2.20m, needing the third and final attempt to continue.

"I've faced a few of those jumps in my life and not all of them were pulled off. I had to dig pretty deep for that one," Kerr told New Zealand media in the mix zone.

"I’m so grateful I had my coach around me, my team around me and the people that knew what I needed to do in that time. They’re the ones that gave me the belief that I could do it."

Photo: Simon Stacpoole, Photosport.

James Preston will race in the men's 800m repechage after finishing 8th in his heat, Tori Peeters' best throw of 59.78m wasn't enough to qualify for the women's javelin final, and Ethan Olivier failed to qualify for the men's triple jump final, registering 16.16m.

With the trio of Eliza McCartney, Olivia McTaggart, and Imogen Ayris in the women's pole vault final, there was hope for another track and field medal at Paris 2024.

Ayris recorded a new personal best of 4.60m on her second attempt at the height, bowing out at the 4.70m mark to finish 12th overall.

"It was amazing, I've known there's been a big bar there for a while," Ayris told Sky Sport.

"To do it on the biggest stage in the world was just incredible. I came in ranked last (32) and I finished 12th, so I'm over the moon."

Photo: Simon Stacpoole, Photosport.

McTaggart appeared to struggle with the 4.60m height, where she had a scare on the first attmept, landing awkwardly on the edge of the protective mats in front of the box, but managed to clear on her third and final attempt with a much cleaner-looking approach. The 24-year-old finished 13th overall after failing to clear 4.70m.

"I was definitely jumping a lot better than I was in qualifiers, I got all my goals today. Honestly, I'm really proud myself especially after the buildup I had. I really enjoyed out here and I'm so proud of all three of us," McTaggart said to Sky Sport post-event.

Photo: Simon Stacpoole, Photosport.

That left McCartney as New Zealand's remaining medal chance, who had skipped the opening height of 4.40m to comfortably go over the 4.60m bar on the first attempt.

The Rio bronze medalist also cleared 4.70m on the first attempt, doing so with the trademark smile on her face, but clearing 4.80m was a gap too far, although McCartney came agonisingly close to succeeding on the second attempt.

Considering the journey to reach the final after injury ruled her out of Tokyo 2020, NZ supporters will be right behind McCartney, along with McTaggart and Ayris, as the nation's future in the event looks to be in good hands.

"I didn't know if I'd ever be able to do this again," McCartney told Sky Sport.

"This crowd is amazing, the atmosphere is amazing - I love being able to be out there and express myself in pole vault, I'm tearing up now, I didn't know if this would be possible again and here I am. I'm stoked."

McCartney concedes that she could have asked for more from her performance, but acknowledges the odds haven't always been stacked in her favour during this Olympic circle.

"Given how the last few months have gone, I think we made good decisions and we did the best with the cards I was dealt and that's all you can do. I wasn't as prepared as I wanted to be, but I was still able to get out there and jump."

Photo: Simon Stacpoole, Photosport.

Golf
Even-par after the first round at Le Golf National, Lydia Ko is T13 alongside USA's Nelly Korda and eleven others, seven strokes back of the lead held by France's Celine Boutier. Canada's Brooke Henderson is two-over par in T30.

Photo: Ryan Byrne, INPHO.

Sailing
Light winds caused headaches with the scheduling again on Day 12 - Micah Wilkinson & Erica Dawson will now race overnight (NZT) on Day 13 in their mixed multihull medal race.

Lukas Walton-Keim and Justina Kitchen are out of their respective men's and women's kitesurfing medal races with all remaining races abandoned.

Tom Saunders finished 5th in the medal race to stay 7th overall at the completion of the men's dinghy class.

Diving
In the women's 3m springboard, Lizzie Roussel's score of 233.70 put her in 26th place and out of the semi-finals.

Photo: Iain McGregor, Photosport.

Cycling - Track
The women's pursuit team of Emily Shearman, Nicole Shields, Ally Wollaston, Bryony Botha will bring home silver after finishing second in a tight gold medal race against USA. The Kiwis clocked 4:04.306, the Americans crossed the finish line at 4:04.927.

In the women's Keirin, Ellesse Andrews and Rebecca Petch are both through to the quarter-finals.

Sam Dakin was 14th in the men's individual sprint, needing a good result in the repechage to progress further after losing his round of 32 race, but didn't advance further.

Photo: Joel Carrett, AAP

PODCASTS

Sky Sport's Kimberlee Downs is on the ground in Paris and joined Scotty & Izzy on Thursday morning following a packed schedule.