Ellie Aldridge becomes first Olympic gold medallist in kitesurfing; there was major disappointment for John Gimson and Anna Burnet after their medal hopes were ended by disqualification in the medal race of the mixed multihull
Thursday 8 August 2024 22:02, UK
Britain's Ellie Aldridge became the first Olympic gold medallist in kitesurfing with a brilliant performance in Marseille on Thursday.
The discipline, which sees competitors fly above the water at up to 40 knots powered by huge kites, is making its Games debut.
And 27-year-old Aldridge, from Dorset, powered her way to gold by winning both races in the final series on Thursday.
"Today was all about winning races, if you don't win the races then you're not going to win so that's how I approached the day," she said.
"The first race was really close but I just about managed to get in front and stay in front and it was the same again for the second race."
The success salvages what had been a hugely disappointing regatta for Britain in one of its traditionally strongest medal sports, with Emma Wilson's bronze in windsurfing the only previous medal.
Light winds have made it a very frustrating fortnight for the sailors, with numerous races delayed and cancelled.
Aldridge went into the final tied on points with France's Lauriane Nolot but behind her on count-back after failing to even reach the start-line in the last race.
Three wins are needed in the final series for an athlete to clinch gold, but the leader begins with two wins and second place with one, so it was all or nothing for Aldridge in the opening bout.
She handled it perfectly, leading virtually from start to finish to tie things up, and Aldridge, the world silver medallist, was even more dominant in the second race, with Nolot falling off her board early on and putting herself out of contention.
Aldridge was able to cruise to the finish line before celebrating her moment of history.
"It's been incredible, we haven't had the easiest conditions and it's been tricky but it's been really cool and I hope everyone watching on TV thinks the same thing. It's been incredible," said Aldridge.
The men's final has been postponed until Friday as the competitors were not able to start by the designated time.
Emma Finucane added keirin bronze to the women's team sprint gold she won on Monday as the medals kept coming for Team GB in the velodrome.
Finucane, 21, narrowly beat her team-mate Katy Marchant to the last step on the podium after both British riders made it into the final.
New Zealand's world champion Ellesse Andrews showed her strength as she led from the front to take gold, while Dutch rider Hetty van de Wouw beat Finucane to silver.
"Going up in that final and scraping through the semi, I knew I had to find something in my legs that I hadn't seen before," said Finucane, who will now turn her attention to the individual sprint, in which she is the reigning world champion, with qualifiers to start on Friday.
"Ellesse Andrews is world champion, she has demonstrated today that she is so strong and all of the other girls in that final, we're the strongest girls in the world that's why we are in the Olympic final and to even be there next to one of my best friends Katy Marchant was such a pinch me moment.
"To get a bronze medal, it literally feels like gold to me because I left everything out there on the track."
Jade Jones crashed out of the women's taekwondo competition in the first round in Paris.
The double Olympic champion was narrowly beaten by North Macedonia's Miljana Reljikj, then saw her slim hopes of a place in the bronze medal repechage dashed when Reljikj was beaten in her subsequent bout.
Bradly Sinden's bid to return to the Olympic podium came to a painful end as he was forced to withdraw from his bronze medal match in the men's -68kg category.
Sinden damaged his left knee in his second bout, a narrow win over Croatia's Marko Golubic, and was clearly hampered as he fell to defeat in his semi-final against Zaid Kareem of Jordan.
The 25-year-old from Doncaster, who took a silver medal in Tokyo three years ago, made the tearful decision to withdraw from his subsequent bronze medal contest.
Sinden said: "I thought I was in a really good position to get gold but in my second fight I felt my knee go and it made me feel a bit unstable in my third fight.
"I thought I had a really good chance winning gold this time, but such is life and I will move on and support my girlfriend Rebecca (McGowan) in her competition on Saturday."
McGowan competes in the -67kg category against Venice Traill, of Fiji.
Earlier, there was major disappointment for John Gimson and Anna Burnet after their medal hopes were ended by disqualification in the medal race of the mixed multihull.
They went into the medal race in third position and well placed to match the silver they claimed in Tokyo.
But they crossed the start line fractionally early and, after not crossing back to start again, which would have erased the penalty, they were ejected from the race and slipped to fourth.
Gimson said: "We were over the starting line and we didn't realise we were so we continued with the race. We heard the shout but we thought we were bang on the line. We have to take it on the chin.
"We try not to judge ourselves on results. I'm unbelievably proud of how we sailed this week.
"We chipped away every day and got ourselves in medal contention for the medal race. We've won a podium at every single regatta this cycle so there's no regrets."
Gimson and Burnet's only hope was for the race to be abandoned until the wind picked up - a scenario that cost their British team-mate Micky Beckett a medal in the men's dinghy on Wednesday - but that did not happen.
"It's the worst way to lose the medal I guess because we were totally in control of the race," said Burnet. "But that's sport and that's sailing. It's been a tough old week. We've all given it our best and maybe it just wasn't to be."
Gimson and Burnet can not afford to dwell on their disappointment, though, with their wedding coming up early next month.
"Hopefully the wedding planning will be a good distraction," said Gimson. "We're about to find out how far Anna's mum's got with it. We've got a couple of weeks now. I'm sure you can sort a wedding out in a couple of weeks."
Laura Muir and Georgia Bell both saw themselves through to Saturday's 1500 metres final after securing top six finishes from the first semi at Stade de France.
Muir, the Tokyo 2020 silver medallist, was leading the pack with 300 metres remaining when Kenya's Faith Kipyegon made her move, extending her lead as she stormed to the finish in 3:58.64.
British champion Bell overtook her team-mate in the last 100 metres to cross in 3:59.49 as the second-fastest finisher behind the world record holder.
Muir was also passed by the United States' Elle St Pierre and finished fourth in 3:59.83.
Revee Walcott-Nolan had fought back to earn a semi-final spot from the repechage round, but a personal best 3:58.08 was not enough after she finished ninth in heat two.
Jack Laugher described a poor third dive as the "nail in the coffin moment" for his Olympic hopes after finishing seventh in the men's 3m springboard final.
The four-time Olympic medallist missed the chance to add another to his collection after finishing with just 410.95 points, while Team GB team-mate Jordan Houlden made an impact on his Olympic debut, finishing in fifth.
Laugher was handed a huge blow in the third round when he over-rotated on an inward three-and-a-half somersault, meaning he could only scrape 35.70 points and his medal chances slipped away.
Reflecting on that moment, he said: "It was the nail in the coffin moment at that point really.
"I gave it my everything and really put my all on the line, unfortunately it just didn't go well.
"I wish at that point I could've pulled out, but I'm really happy that I continued on because I am a fantastic athlete and I always see things through, it just wasn't the fairy-tale I wanted it to be."
China's Xie Siyi won the gold medal, while team-mate Wang Zongyuan finished with silver and Mexico's Osmar Olvera Ibarra claimed bronze.
Meanwhile, Grace Reid and Yasmin Harper both qualified for Friday's 3m springboard final, and Erin McNeice has qualified for the climbing boulder final after finishing seventh in the semi-finals.
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