The Paris Dossier – Day 5

After the glory of the NZ women’s sevens gold, New Zealand opened Day 5 with a stunning, gut-busting silver medal for triathlete Hayden Wilde, pipped with just a few hundred metres to go by rival Alex Yee of Great Britain, with the second Kiwi Dylan McCullough helping Wilde out and still finishing 19th. Earlier in treacherous road conditions during the cycling, our two women Nicole van der Kaay and Ainsley Thorpe came home 31st and 44th.
On the water, our women are well positioned in major rowing and sailing events, poised for medal races in the next two days, so more success beckons.
In sailing in Marseille, the Women’s 49erFX crew of Jo Aleh and Molly Meech are seventh after 12 races, having now qualified for the top-10 medal race. They have battled back from being placed 19th of 20 in the field early on.
“We were coming in thinking it was our last sail in the FX, so when we got ashore and someone said we had made it, we were genuinely surprised,” Meech says. “Today wasn’t our best start. We struggled in the first race and then had two solid ones after that. We haven’t looked at the points yet, but we’re going to go out there and fight for everything one last time.”
Shannon Cox and Jackie Kiddle in the women’s lightweight double sculls impressed, finishing second in their semi-final to ease into the final, posting the fifth-fastest time. Cox and Kiddle recorded 7min 02.86s, three seconds behind Great Britain, with the USA third. The final is on Friday night at 10.22 pm.

“It’s like being at full sprint and doing a rubik’s cube at the same time.”
– Commentator Mitch Tomlinson describes a crash by Sun Jiaqi in the thrilling Freestyle BMX final. BMX is a rapid, breathtaking and dangerous spectacle with moves including “Dive Bomber,” “Suicide Barspin,” “Dork Manuel” and “Indian Giver.”
The Kiwi women rowers have got themselves where they need to be for a chance at the podium, with Shannon Cox and Jackie Kiddle’s lightweight double sculls semifinal second-place a bonus on top of single sculler Emma Twigg and double sculls duo Lucy Spoors and Brooke Francis, who race Thursday night NZT in a semifinal and final at 7.30 pm and 9.18 pm. Our coxless four also races again tonight. Cox and Kiddle race their final on Friday evening.
In the women’s windsurfing, Veerle ten Have sailed to three top-10 finishes, with placings of 11, 3, 5, 3 and has raced up the leaderboard from 16th to 8th position.
Ten Have was relieved to finally get a series of races away, but only after her marathon race was abandoned late due to a dying breeze.“I’m pretty happy to finally get some breeze and finish some races with solid results. It’s been tricky – I’ve had amazing starts and amazing first legs. I’ve never led this many races in a regatta before just to get caught every single time right at the end of the race,” she said of her results across the first three days.“I’m just trying to take in as much as I can. I haven’t had the results that I’ve wanted yet, but it’s good to finally get some reward for the hard work.”NZ equestrian Melissa Galloway bowed out of the dressage, finishing 7th of 10 in her group stage, but was all smiles as she set a New Zealand record percentage score of 68.914 at Versailles.
“I loved how he lifted as the crowd cheered when we entered and from then on, I just enjoyed it all, as did he. Overall, he felt strong and powerful. It was a moment we will treasure forever.”
The NZ Team site reports the previous New Zealand Olympic Grand Prix record was set by Julie Brougham aboard Vom Feinsten at Rio in 2016, when they scored 68.543%.
Triathletes Nicole van der Kaay and Ainsley Thorpe gave it everything in the Paris heat, finishing 31st and 44th respectively, with Thorpe one of many to come off her bike in the wet, slippery road conditions during the women’s race.
And the Football Ferns, after levelling at 1-1 just before halftime through a Kate Taylor goal, went down 1-2 against home nation France, with the second of a brace of goals to Marie-Antoinette Katoto coming four minutes after the break. That signals the end of the Ferns’ Olympic campaign, winless after three matches and ending bottom of their pool, despite Canada’s six-point deduction for spying on them.
ONE: The New Zealand Sevens team weren’t the only big winners in Paris yesterday. The USA stunned Australia 14-12 to win the bronze medal with Alex ‘Spiff’ Sedrick sprinting 80 metres on fulltime for the matchwinner.
Outspoken teammate Ilona Maher made an impassioned plea for more funding afterward – and suddenly the USA was $4 million richer.
Michele Kang a Korean-American businesswoman who made her fortune as the founder and CEO of Cognosante, a medical technology company, and Congonosante Ventures, a venture capital firm denoted the hefty sum to the Americans to “grow the sport and provide more resources ahead of the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles.”
Kang is the majority owner of the Washington Spirit football team and has an ownership stake in the Baltimore Orioles Major League Baseball franchise and football clubs in England and France.
TWO: Controversially, Imane Khelif from Algeria (under 66kg) and Lin Yu Ting from Taiwan (under 57kg) are set to compete in boxing this week. Both fighters previously competed at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 but had not recorded failed gender tests until last year when they were both disqualified at the world championships.
The gender issue has become a divisive topic in Paris. On Tuesday, the Matildas’ crazy 6-5 win over the Zambian football team made international headlines because of the performance of striker Racheal Kundananji, who scored two goals against the Aussies. Kundananji was banned from the Africa Cup of Nations tournament in 2022 after “failing gender eligibility tests” due to her natural testosterone levels being above those allowed by the Confederation of African Football.

On the ground in Paris, LockerRoom writer and London Olympics heptathlete Sarah Cowley-Ross says: “It’s finals time on the water at Vaires-sur-Marne Nautical Stadium, where our women’s four and double sculls crews are in the real hunt for medals.
“The ‘mums’ – Lucy Spoors and Brooke Francis – are looking really strong in the double sculls, spurred on by their little ones, Rupert and Keira.
And the four – with siblings Kerri Williams and Jackie Gowler, Spoors’ sister Phoebe, and Davina Waddy – were beaten in their heat only by gold medal favourites, Great Britain. The sisters already know how to win Olympic medals.”
Hayden Wilde’s gutsy 10km run, being caught in the final stanzas by friend and rival Alex Yee, will long live in the memory. But his reaction and sportsmanship after crossing for silver, hugging Yee and then giving a masterclass of sporting spirit and gratitude for team-mate Dylan McCullough’s help will stay with viewers for almost as long.
The 49er crew of Isaac McHardie and William McKenzie currently sit in third place overall after 12 races, and will race for a medal tomorrow.
Swimmer Kane Follows nabbed second in his heat in the 200m backstroke but failed to reach the final as his time was 21st fastest and needed to be in the top 16 to advance.
Rowing: (Single Scull) – Emma Twigg Semi Final, 7:30 pm; (Double Scull) – Lucy Spoors, Brookie Francis, Final, 9:18 pm; (Coxless Four) – Jackie Gowler, Keri Williams, Davina Waddy, Phoebe Spoors, Final, 9:50 pm
Judo: (78 kg) – Moira Koster, Round of 32, 8:00 pm, Finals Block, 2:00-4:09 am
Swimming: (4 x 200m Freestyle Relay) – Caitlin Deans, Laticia Transom, Erika Fairweather, Eve Thomas, Heat, 9:00 pm, Final, 7:48 am
Sailing: (Foil) – Veerle ten Have, Races 12-16; 103 am (1-person Dinghy) – Greta Pilkington, Races 1-2, 1:35 am, (49er FX) – Jo Aleh & Molly Meech, Medal Race, 1:43 am
Cycling: (BMX Racing, Individual) – Leila Walker, Quarter Final 2, Races 1-3, 6:20 am, Last Chance Qualifiers, 8:15 am

To see the full schedule of when New Zealand athletes are competing on Sky Sport, go to https://www.sky.co.nz/discover/sky-sport/olympics#schedule
To watch in New Zealand go to Sky Sport, stream on Sky Sport Now, or watch free-to-air on Sky Open (Freeview Channel 15 or stream free via Sky Go).