A history-making Australian teenager and patient American runner stole the show during another unforgettable sequence of events at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games.
At 14 years and 86 days, Australia’s Arisa Trew became the nation’s youngest ever gold medalist, after claiming the women’s skateboard park final event.
Trew produced a score of 93.18, which outlasted a solid effort of 92.63 from Japan’s Cocona Hiraki.
Trew’s golden effort eclipsed the achievement of Australian swimmer Sandra Morgan – who at 14 years and 184 days – won a gold medal at the 1956 Melbourne Olympics.
Later in the evening, US track star Cole Hocker produced an equally impressive effort, stunning the world in a pulsating men’s 1500m final at the Stade de France.
To understand the significance of this achievement, some context is required.
Since August last year, Norway’s Jakob Ingebrigtsen and Great Britain’s Josh Kerr have been engaged in a fierce war of words.
This feud spilled over into Paris, with both men appearing capable of backing up their actions with a gold medal in this event.
But Hocker didn’t appear to be fazed. He merely took his time at the rear of the field, while Ingebrigtsen raced to the front in the early moments and forced the hand of others around him.
During the bell lap, Hocker emerged to join Kerr, who was racing on Ingebrigtsen’s shoulder as they reached the top of the home straight.
It was at this very moment that Ingebrigtsen blocked Hocker’s path on the inside in a bid to snuff out his hopes of a medal.
But the dogged American didn’t give up and in the straight, motored past them both to win in a time of 3min:27.65, which was a new Olympic record.
Such was the close nature of the finish, the difference between Hocker, Kerr and silver medalist Yared Nuguse of the US was .15 of a second.
Ingebrigtsen finished fourth.
Overall Medal tally (Wednesday, 6am WST)
The US (24 gold, 31 silver and 31 bronze) leads the medal tally, with China (22 gold, 21 silver and 16 bronze) in second. Australia (14 gold, 12 silver and nine bronze) is in third.
Athletics – While the majority of the field appeared to be struggling, Gabrielle Thomas seemed to be striding effortlessly.
The 27-year-old American, a graduate of Harvard University, breezed through the women’s 200m to win gold in 21.83 seconds, while St Lucia’s Julien Alfred – who took out the 100m earlier this week – earned silver with her 22.08 second effort.
Records fell everywhere in the women’s 3000m steeplechase final, which was won by Bahrain’s Winfred Yavi in a new Olympic record time of 8min:52sec.76.
Incredibly, four personal bests, three national records, two season bests and a new Olympic record were set by the first 11 runners who crossed the finish line.
Greece’s Miltiadis Tentoglou,26, also defended his men’s long jump title, producing a sensational 8.48m jump on his second attempt during the competition.
Gingin's Alanah Yukich finished seventh in her women's 400m hurdles semifinal heat.
Basketball – Australia bowed out of the men’s tournament, following a 95-90 overtime loss against Serbia on Tuesday night.
Incredibly, the Boomers held a 24-point lead in the second term – on the back of brilliant early offensive execution – but were unable to put the result to bed.
Post-game, Boomers coach Brian Goorjian confirmed he would end his tenure as coach.
In the early hours of Wednesday morning in Paris, Team USA also booked its place into the semifinals, defeating a plucky Brazil 122-87.
The Brazilians rode their luck during the first quarter and a half, trailing 40-31 with four minutes and change left in the opening period.
However the US, led by LeBron James, quickly put their foot down, putting together a silky 12-3 offensive run in the space of two minutes.
This sapped the life out of the underdogs. Their shots began to rim out and their promising build-up play became littered with sloppy passes and ill-timed footwork.
By half-time, Steve Kerr’s side led 63-36, had shot 23/39 (59 per cent overall) and had no intentions of letting them get back into the game.
Elsewhere, France saw off Canada 82-73, while Germany outlasted Greece 76-63.
The men’s semifinals have been set, with France hosting Germany on Thursday night at 11.30am WST. On Friday morning at 3am WST, Team USA lock horns with Serbia.
Beach volleyball – The Australian pairing of Mariafe Artacho del Solar and Taliqua Clancy have reached the women’s semifinals, after defeating Swiss duo Zoe Verge-Depre and Esmee Boebner 21-19, 16-21, 15-12.
Boxing - Ireland's Kellie Harrington defended her title in the women's 60kg division, defeating China's Yang Wenlu by split decision, 4-1.
Cycling – Australian trio Matt Glaetzer, Leigh Hoffman and Matt Richardson won bronze in the men's team sprint.
Additionally, Australia also set a new men’s team pursuit world record of 3:40.730, which has ensured a gold medal showdown against Great Britain on Thursday morning at 12.33am WST.
In the women’s team pursuit, Australia has qualified sixth ahead of Wednesday night’s heat against France, which will get under way at 7.12pm WST.
Diving – Australian divers Ellie Cole and Melissa Wu both participated in the women’s 10m platform final, finishing in seventh and 11th respectively.
Equestrian – Germany’s dominance in equestrian continued, with Christian Kukuk winning gold ahead of Swiss counterpart Steve Guerdat and Maikel van der Vleuten in the jumping individual final jump-off.
Earlier this week, the Germans won their third consecutive Olympic team dressage title.
Football – The US women’s team will compete in an Olympic final for the first time since London 2012, following a tense 1-0 semifinal win over Germany in Lyon.
Despite having brushed past ‘Team Deutschland’ 4-1 in the group stage, the Americans found things vastly different against Horst Hrubech’s side, which were extremely organized and disciplined in the middle of the park.
It took a moment of magic from in extra time from Sophia Smith to send the Emma Hayes’ Americans through, who managed to slide the ball past oncoming German ‘keeper Ann-Katrin Berger.
Despite defeat, it was an incredible tournament in goal from Berger, who entered the tournament with only 10 international caps to her name.
Initially diagnosed with thyroid cancer in 2017, Berger publicly revealed last year it had returned and she would undergo more treatment, after having lived four years cancer-free.
The US will play Brazil in the final on Saturday night at 11pm, after the Brazilians took care of Spain 4-2 in their semifinal.
Hockey – The Netherlands wasted little time in getting down to business in their men’s semifinal against Spain and were up 3-0 inside the opening 32 minutes, much to the delight of the pro-‘Oranje’ crowd in attendance at the Yves-du-Manoir Stadium.
A late goal from Duco Telgenkamp was icing on the cake for the Dutch, who will face reigning world champions Germany in the final on Friday morning at 1am.
India, which took home bronze at the 2020 Tokyo Games, were expected to force the hand of the Germans, presently ranked second in the world.
Sure enough, both sides duly delivered, with Germany twice coming from behind to record a thrilling 3-2 win.
Focus now shifts to the women’s tournament, with the Netherlands hosting Argentina at 8pm on Wednesday night, in the first of two semifinals.
A few hours later, Belgium squares off against China, which knocked out the Hockeyroos 3-2 in the quarter finals.
Surfing – Margaret River’s Jack Robinson took home silver in the men’s gold medal match in Tahiti against local Kauli Vaast, who was representing France.
Water Polo – Australia’s hopes of a women’s medal remain alive, following their 9-6 quarter final win over Greece.
