Matt Wearn has assured himself of a Gold Medal in the Men's Laser. Image: Aus Sailing Team / Twitter
Another strong day for Australia with more medals. more heartbreak, and more thrills on Day 7 of Tokyo 2020 Keep up to date with all the happenings at Tokyo 2020 through The Inner Sanctum’s Olympic hub and Olympic Central.
Kerr-tailing any chance of it coming home
The Matildas took an early lead in their quarter final before being pulled back early in the second half. When Great Britain were 2-1 up, Sam Kerr found the back of the net, and in extra time, she found the back of the net again to secure the 4-3 win and send Australia into the semi finals.
Read the full recap here.
Sailing gold on its way
Mara Stransky had a strong day in the Women’s Laser Radial. She finished third in Race 9 and first in Race 10 of the competition. Unfortunately, her strong finish was not enough for her to qualify for the medal race, and she finished 14th in the competition.
The news was better for Matt Wearn, who has raced so strongly in the Men’s Laser, that he has an insurmountable points lead going into the medal race on Sunday. he will win a gold medal after the coronation race.
Mat Belcher and Will Ryan maintained their lead on the third day of racing in the Men’s 470, with six races remaining. There are hopes that there will be more medals as the sailing continues in coming days.
More Tokyo 2020 News
Emma McKeon’s Olympic Record-beater earns her first individual Tokyo 2020 gold
Alcott headlines four-member Paralympics Tennis team
Georgie Rowe-ing her boat to Tokyo 2020
Just shy of Sevens Heaven
The Women’s Rugby Sevens gold medal defence started to show signs of being in trouble when the Aussies lost to the USA 14-12 in the morning. It put them second in Pool C, and put them on the more difficult side of the draw.
The loss put them in the path of Fiji in the quarter final, and despite a yellow card to Fiji before the half, and Charlotte Caslick’s best efforts, the Aussies fell short to Fiji by the same margin as their earlier loss.
The defeat puts paid to the hope of defending their Rio 2016 gold medal, and to any hope of a medal at Tokyo 2020.
Ezi doesn’t quite do it
Despite Ezi Magebro’s heroics (15 points and stout defence) again, and a late Jenna O’Hea three pointer, the Opals fell to the Chinese Women’s Basketball team, 76-74. It is their second consecutive loss, and puts their chances of progressing to the knockout stages in doubt.
Read our full recap here.
Saya it ain’t so
Saya Sakakibara and Lauren Reynolds both qualified for the Women’s BMX final. That was unfortunately where it ended for Sakakibara, after she suffered a serious crash in the race.
There were immediate concerns for her health, as she was stretchered away from the course. While Sakakibara was later shown walking around and moving, she melted Australian hearts for her post-race presser.
Sakakibara was racing. with her brother in mind, after his serious crash left him with a spinal injury. Her grace was on show, despite the troubles of today, and her performance left those watching around Australia beaming in their living rooms.
Reynolds would go on to finish fifth in the gold medal race, unable to walk away as she battled through the effects of earlier crashes of her own.
Lightning McKeon
Emma McKeon added another medal to her cabinet, with a gold medal from the Women’s 100m Freestyle. Teammate Cate Campbell finished with bronze, and was visibly delighted by both her own performance and her teammates.
Both backed up their strong performances with strong qualifying times for the Women’s 50m Freestyle, including an Olympic record for McKeon as she qualified fastest (Campbell is third fastest).
Read our recap of all the swimming action here.
Beach Volleyballers dig in to progress
The Australian Women’s Beach Volleyball due of Mariafe Artacho de Silva and Taliqua Clancy were up against the ROC in the final match of Pool E. They came in unbeaten, and the streak was ended as they went down in three sets, 21-8, 15-21, 15-12.
Despite the loss, the Aussies will progress to the Round of 16 to continue their Tokyo 2020 campaign.
No Sting for the Water Polo team
The Aussie Stingers suffered their first loss of the Olympics, going down 15-9 to Spain. The Stingers were down by one goal at half time, but were unable to continue the momentum in the second half, as the Spanish side showed their class.
Read our full recap here.
Kookaburras have the last laugh
The Kookaburras and Spain played out a 1-1 draw. Tom Wickham’s goal was cancelled out by a late Spanish equaliser in the dying minutes of the match. While the draw ended the Kookaburras’ winning streak, they will still progress to the knockout matches in pursuit of a gold medal.
Read our full recap here.
Starc Contrasts
Brandon Starc had a successful day in the qualifying in the men’s high jump, easily passing the 2.28m threshold to automatically qualify for the final. The day had less joy for Hana Basic, Catriona Bisset and Morgan Mitchell, who all bowed out of their respective events.
Patrick Tiernan’s performance in the 10,000m showed the courage and determination that has long been associated with Australian sport, as he persisted to finish the race, despite clear physical difficulty.
Read our recap of all the athletics today here.
Barty Party ends
The Australian Mixed Doubles Tennis Team crashed out in the semi finals, falling to ROC duo of Anastasia Pavyluchenkova and Andrey Rublev. After taking the first set 7-5, Peers and Barty lost the second set 4-6.
In the tiebreak, the Aussies were unable to overcome their opposition and fell 13-11 in the tiebreak. As consolation, the Aussie pairing will play off for the bronze medal against the Serbian duo of Novak Djokovic and Nina Stojanovic.
Smith and Qin make (no) splash
Esther Qin and Anabelle Smith kicked off the Women’s 3m Springboard campaign. After five dives, the field was narrowed to 20 ahead of the finals.
Smith qualified in 18th with a score of 272.05, and Qin sits in 9th with 292.80 ahead of the semi-finals tomorrow.
Subscribe to our newsletter!
About Author
