Swimming
Mona McSharry won a stunning bronze in the 100m breaststroke on a sensational day for Ireland in the Olympic pool. Winning the first Irish medal of these Games the Sligo swimmer held on for third place by .01 of second, from the Italian Bennedetta Pilato, in a time of 1:05:09, only 0.8 of a second outside her Irish record.
“I’m very excited, I don’t think it’s fully sunk in yet that I’ve actually won a medal,” McSharry said immediately after the race. “It’s just amazing. Years of hard work has paid off. It feels amazing. I had a bad first 50. My googles filled up with water a little bit so not a perfect race but you’re in it until the end and you’ve got to keep going.
[ In Pictures: Mona McSharry secures famous bronze medal for Ireland in the poolOpens in new window ]
Earlier in the day Daniel Wiffen reached the final of the 800m with the fastest qualifying time in the heats. The reigning world champion swam the third best time of his career, 1:05:51, to go into Tuesday’s final as the top seed.
Ellen Walshe finished eighth in the final of 400m medley, having qualified for the final with a strong swim in the morning. Danielle Hill also finished eighth in the semi-final of 100m backstroke.
Boxing
Kellie Harrington opened the defence of her Olympic title with a unanimous 5-0 over Italy’s Alessia Mesiano. The Tokyo gold medallist gave a trademark masterclasses in tactical boxing, using her jab brilliantly and switching her lead regularly to pick off the Italian who came at her aggressively from the start.
Asked if she had any worries about her form after suffering a rare loss at European Championships this year, Harrington said: “None! You have to fall to get back up. If you didn’t get back up you may as well stay down. It’s only a loss if you don’t learn from it and hopefully I learned from it.”
Harrington will fight for a medal against Colombia’s Angie Valdas in Wednesday’s quarter-final.
Canoe Slalom
Liam Jegou finished seventh in the final, after a two second penalty at the second last gate cost him a silver medal. Having only reached the semi-finals in 16th, the last qualifying spot, Jejou produced a terrific performance to make the final in sixth place. In the final he produced the same time as he had in the semi-final but it wasn’t quite good enough for a podium finish.
“I had a blast,” he said. “That’s the best paddling I’ve produced in probably a year or two. I’m delighted that I put it down on the day that it counted, it was a really competitive run.”
“It’s tough right now but I had to go for it and finish up strong. It’s the slightest touch that puts me out of the medals but it’s such a privilege and honour to be in the fight for the medals. It’s what we all dream of and today I was almost there.”
Rugby
Ireland were blitzed by Australia in the quarter-final of the rugby sevens at Stade de France. Three tries by Madison Levi in the opening six minutes helped Australia into a 26-0 lead at half-time and there was no way back for Ireland. Stacey Flood scored for Ireland with less than three minutes left but Australia responded with their sixth try to win 40-7.
Earlier in the day, Ireland had played Australia in their final pool match and lost by just five points, 19-14.
Sailing
After six races and two days of competition Robert Dickson and Sean Waddilove sit in second position in the men’s skiff event, despite being disqualified in their third race on Monday. A protest from the Spanish crew was upheld, but the outcome didn’t affect their overall standing. The crews are at the halfway point in the opening series, with a medal race on Thursday. Only the top 10 ranked boats will qualify for that medal race.
Rowing
The lightweight women’s double of Margaret Cremen and Aoife Casey won their repechage in convincing fashion, crossing the line three lengths clear of Canada – who finished fourth at last year’s World Championships. The Irish crew had a clean start and were in a commanding position from early in the race. Cremen and Casey head into the semi-finals on Wednesday with the fastest time of the two repechages.
Hockey
Ireland lost their second pool match, 2-1, after a battling performance against Australia, the third ranked team in the world. Lee Cole scored Ireland’s first goal of these Olympics, after a brilliant penalty corner, cancelling out Corey Weyer’s early strike. But Australia regained the lead just before half-time when Blake Covers converted a penalty. Ireland play India on Wednesday, with four teams from each of the six team pools qualifying for the knock-out stages.
Equestrian
Austin O’Connor and Colorado Blue finished 17th in the showjumping individual final. The pair knocked poles at the final two fences in the first round but jumped clear in the second round. In the team competition Ireland finished ninth of 16.
Badminton
Nhat Nguyen won his second group match, beating Prince Nahal from Nepal 2-0 with an authoritative performance. Nguyen won the sets 21-7 and 21-5.
