Good evening!

In case you’ve been missing the stat of the day, here are three to tide you over.

129 km/h: The average speed of Aryna Sabalenka’s topspin forehand at this year’s U.S. Open. It is the fastest average of any player (male or female) at the tournament.

10.37 seconds: The time pole vaulter Armand Duplantis ran to beat 400m hurdler Karsten Warholm in their 100m exhibition race. Pretty quick for a pole vaulter.

10: The number of runs Mongolia’s men’s T20 cricket side were bowled out for by Singapore in a T20 World Cup Qualifier. The score is tied for the lowest ever in a T20 international. A special shoutout to my mate Simmo playing for Singapore!

Paris ‘24: Medal tally

Paris ‘24: Tonight’s top moments

Thursday 5th September (All times are in AEST)

🚴‍♂️ 5:35pm: Para Cycling, Women’s H1-4 Road Race (Medal Event 🥇)
Lauren Parker goes for her third medal at the Paris Paralympics after winning gold in the triathlon and silver in the road cycling time trial.

🏊‍♂️ 5:54pm: Para Swimming (Heats)
Poppy Wilson swims in the Women’s 400m freestyle S10 heats at 5:54pm. Then, Timothy Hodge will race in the Men’s Individual 200m Medley SM9 heats at 6:29pm. Lakeisha Patterson races in the heats of the Women’s 200 Individual Medley SM9 at 6:39pm. Finally, Jenna Jones will put a marker down in the Women’s 100m Breastroke SB12 at 6:59pm. 

🏓 8:00pm: Para Table Tennis, Men’s Singles MS11 (Semi-Final)
Samuel von Einem takes on South Korea’s Kim Gi Tae in the semi-final. Win or lose, he will get a chance for a medal in either the bronze or gold medal match. 

🏃‍♂️ 8:15pm: Para Athletics (Rounds)
Luke Bailey and Samuel Rizzo race in Round 1 of Men’s 800m T54.

Friday 6th September

🏊‍♂️ 1:30am: Para Swimming (Finals 🥇)
Expect to see some of the Aussies from the morning session racing in these finals later on.

🏃‍♂️ 3:00am: Para Athletics (Rounds and Finals 🥇)
Vanessa Low will compete in the Women’s Long Jump T36 final. Angela Ballard is racing in the Women’s 400m T36 final at 3:26am. Then, Maria Strong will throw in the Women’s Shot Put F33 final at 3:31am. Jackson Hamilton goes for gold in the Men’s Javelin Throw F13 final at 4:46am. Finally, Sam McIntosh will run in Round 1 of the Men’s 100m T52.

Paris ‘24: The headlines

In case you missed it…

🏓 Australian para table tennis star Qian Yang defended her Paralympic title, once again winning gold in the women’s singles WS10 event. Yang was too strong for Natalia Partyka of Poland and won in straight sets. It is her second gold medal of the games after she won the doubles event with Li Na Lei.

🚴‍♂️ Australia’s para-road cyclists won five medals in the time trial events on the streets of Clichy-sous-Bois on the outskirts of Paris. Lauren Parker made history as the first Australian Paralympian in 44 years to win medals across two sports at the same games, after she won silver in the women’s H1-3 individual time trial and gold in the triathlon earlier this week.

🏊‍♂️ Alexa Leary starred once again for Australia in the pool at her debut Paralympics. The 23-year-old broke the world record in the heat of the women’s 100m freestyle S9 during the morning session, before breaking it again in the final, winning gold. Leary wasn’t the only Australian medallist in the pool. Ricky Betar won bronze in the men’s 200m individual medley SM14 and Grant Patterson won bronze in the men’s 50m breaststroke SB2.

🏐 Australia’s boccia mixed pair Jamieson Leeson and Daniel Michel lost their quarter-final to South Korea 4-2, ending their campaign in Paris earlier than they would have hoped. Michel and Leeson, who each won silver in their respective individual events, came into the games as the world’s no.1 ranked team but faced a tough quarter-final match-up with the reigning Paralympic champions and world no.2 South Korea.

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Anything but Paris ‘24

🎾 Alex de Minaur was beaten in straight sets (6-3, 7-5, 6-2) by England’s Jack Draper overnight. De Minaur was not his usual mobile self as he battled a flare-up of the hip injury which ruled him out of the Wimbledon quarter-final in July. Draper, the 25th seed, is the first British man to reach the final four at the U.S. Open since Andy Murray in 2012. The 22-year-old has had a stunning run, not dropping a single set on his way to the semis and dropping only 36 games, the fifth fewest on the way to a semi-final in the last forty years. Draper will play world no.1 Jannik Sinner for a place in the final on Friday.

⚽ Matildas star Caitlin Foord starred for Arsenal, her English club, with four goals during the side’s 6-0 victory over Scottish club Rangers in a Women’s Champions League qualifying match. Arsenal plays Norwegian club Rosenborg in the final round before the 16-team group stage.

🏏 The Australian men’s T20 cricket team beat Scotland by 7 wickets in the first of a three-match series against the world’s 13th-best side.  Travis Head and Mitchell Marsh starred for Australia with a dominant partnership of 113 runs to help Australia chase Scotland’s run total in less than ten overs.

🚴‍♂️ Australian cyclist Kaden Groves won his third stage of this year’s La Vuelta a España on Stage 17 and retained the green jersey as leader of the sprint classification. Fellow Australians Ben O’Connor and Jay Vine also held onto the red jersey (overall lead) and the polka-dot jersey (mountains classification). 

🏉 The first week of AFL Finals begins tonight with Port Adelaide (2nd) hosting Geelong (3rd) in the first of two Qualifying Finals. Given both teams finished in the top four, the loser won’t be eliminated. The winner is rewarded with a bye next week and a preliminary final in their home state.

🏃‍♂️Ugandan Olympic marathon runner Rebecca Cheptegei has died of severe burns after her former boyfriend allegedly set her on fire. The 33-year-old, who competed in Paris last month, was allegedly attacked at her home in Western Kenya this week.

I’ve got one minute…

Raygun speaks to the media for the first time since Olympics backlash

Rachael Gunn, known as Raygun, who represented Australia in Breaking at the Paris 2024 Games, appeared on Channel 10’s The Project on Wednesday night. It marks the first time Gunn has spoken to the media since the Olympics and the backlash that followed her performance. 

Performance

Gunn did not make it past the Round Robin stage of the Olympic breaking tournament, losing all three of her battles and not receiving one point from the judges. The 36-year-old’s routine was more interpretive than most, drawing on Australian imagery such as the hopping kangaroo. Footage of her performances at the Olympics quickly went viral and the breaker, who holds a PhD in cultural studies and lectures at Macquarie University, was widely criticised.

Qualification Rumours

In the wake of her Olympic performance, questions were asked online about the legitimacy of Gunn’s Olympic qualification and whether she was Australia’s top choice. One petition on Change.org which claimed Gunn had manipulated the qualification process garnered over 40,000 signatures. She addressed those claims, which have already been dismissed as untrue by the Australian Olympic Committee, by stating that her “record speaks” to the fact that she was Australia’s top candidate. She reinforced the fact that she won the Oceania Championships in front of judges she had never met to automatically qualify for the Olympic Games. 

What they said

On the negative response: “There’s been a portion of very angry and, you know, awful responses, not only attacking me but attacking my husband, attacking my crew, attacking the breaking and street dance community in Australia, my family.”

On her future: “I don’t think I’ll be competing for a while. [I’m] not really wanting to be in the spotlight.”

A message from our sponsor

Cheer on Paralympians

Deakin University has four students currently in Paris competing in the 2024 Paralympics. These four students have done an exceptional job of balancing their rigorous training schedules whilst thinking about life after sport.

Alex Viney: Alex is a para-rower currently studying a Master of Business (Sport Management) and will compete in the PR3 Mixed Cox Four event in Paris. This is her second Paralympics after coming fourth in the same event in Tokyo.

Liam Twomey: Liam is a para-triathlete who is currently studying a Bachelor of Exercise and Sport Science at Deakin. He will be competing in the Triathlon (PTS4) event. This is Liam’s first Paralympics. He came 6th at the 2023 World Championships and will have his eye on the podium in Paris.

Nathan Pellissier: Nathan is a para-table tennis player currently studying a Master of Professional Accounting and Finance and will be competing in the Mixed Doubles XD17 and Men’s Doubles MD18 events. Nathan will be looking to go one better at his second Paralympics in Paris after winning silver in Tokyo.

Sam McIntosh: Sam is a para-athlete and Bachelor of Health Sciences student. In Paris, he will compete in the 400m and 100m T52 events. Sam is a veteran of the Australian Paralympic team competing at his fourth games in Paris and chasing his first medal.

Think beyond the field. Study sport at Deakin.

Looking forward…(All times are AEST)

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