The Paris Dossier – Day 7

New Zealand added a sailing Silver to our medal table overnight in the men’s 49er, and we now sit at two golds, three silver and a bronze.
But all eyes will turn to the five-time Olympian Emma Twigg at 8.18 tonight (NZT) as she looks to back-up her rowing gold medal from Tokyo in the single sculls.
Twigg, mum to toddler Tommy, rowed fast enough in her semifinal to prompt talk of an Olympic-best time being in prospect but she faces tough competition. She has taken first in all her races at Paris. And remarkably she has made this single sculls final race in four of her five Games.
Sprinter Zoe Hobbs looked commanding in the 100m heat, running her season best 11.08 to take second place and finish seventh fastest of 16 progressing to the semifinals. Briton Darryl Neita was the fastest qualifier with 10.92s on the new purple track which is looking fast.
Hobbs said: “I felt awesome out there today. When there was about 30 or 40 metres left, I knew I was in second and just needed to relax and let it flow.  If I can add another element in the semi-finals, that’s pretty exciting.”
In the 800m at the pool, Erika Fairweather, who has already finished 4th in the 400m super-race, and 7th in the 200m, took third place in her heat to finish seventh overall and into another final. Adding her efforts to help the women’s 200m relay team make the final, where they finished eighth, Fairweather has made a remarkable four finals.

“Sorry. Next time”
– In stark contrast to the class sportsmanship of Kiwi triathlete Hayden Wilde, World Tennis No.1 Iga Swiatek refused to shake the umpire’s hand and gave perhaps the shortest and surliest interview of the Olympics after her 25-match winning run at Roland Garros was snapped by Qinwen Zheng of China in the women’s singles semifinals.  Swiatek has been utterly dominant on the red clay in Paris, winning four of the last five French Open titles but she’ll have to settle for a bronze medal (at best) after a 6-2, 7-5 loss.
Canoeist Luuka Jones posted the fourth fastest time among 37 competitors in the kayak time trial event ahead of tonight’s first round. Almost all entrants progress, with time trials a chance to establish a pecking order.
Erika Fairweather is into the 800m Freestyle final after finishing third in her heat and seventh overall, taking the Dunedin swimmer into her fourth final at these Games. Eve Thomas finished fifth in her heat and did not progress.
A fourth place in their medal race saw our Women’s 49erFX crew of Jo Aleh and Molly Meech finish their Olympics in seventh, capping a spirited comeback from 19th of 20 in the early stanzas of racing off Marseilles.

Trampolinist Madaline Davidson scored well twice to finish a creditable seventh in the Women’s Trampoline final. Bryony Page of Great Britain won gold.

New Zealand’s nearest miss on day 7 came in the lightweight double sculls in rowing, with Shannon Cox and Jackie Kiddle finishing a close fourth in the final, behind Great Britain, Romania and Greece.
“You never want to walk away fourth,” Kiddle said afterwards, “but we put absolutely everything out there. You shoot for the moon and sometimes you fall among the stars.”
And in her first Olympics in the Judo, Sydnee Andrews fought strongly but was eliminated in the Round of 32 by Larisa Ceric of Bosnia-Herzegovina. Andrews lost by an ippon around 3 minutes into her first bout, albeit against a former world champion.
Sharon Firisua of the Solomon Islands finished 72nd in the marathon at the Tokyo Games. When she didn’t qualify for Paris, her country’s Olympic officials decided to award her a wildcard spot granted to small countries as a way of providing their athletes a chance to compete in the big time, even if they don’t meet the needed qualifying standard.
When approached with the opportunity, the country’s officials were told the 100m on the track was the only race that had room. Firisua set a personal best of 14.31 in a heat won by two-time Saint Kitts and Nevis national champion Zahria Allers-Liburd in 11.73. Firisua’s time was 3.37 seconds slower than what reigning world champion Sha’Carri Richardson ran in a first-round heat later in the day. 
Jovita Arunia, with a PB of 13.15, is the country’s best sprinter. Arunia was incensed that Firisua competed.  “We’re the (actual) sprinters … I don’t know what went wrong, it’s unbelievable,” she told Australia’s ABC News. Arunia was considering quitting the sport.
The Solomon Islands, also known simply as the Solomons, is a country of 21 major islands and over 900 smaller islands in Melanesia, part of Oceania, to the northeast of Australia.  It has competed at every Olympics since Los Angeles in 1984 (31 athletes).  Isabella Millar (16) is their other competitor in Paris in freestyle swimming
The Solomons most famous Olympian was weightlifter Jenly Tegu Wini who finished 17th and 15th in the 58kg category at the London 2012 and Rio 2016 Olympics. Twice she was named flagbearer for her team. In 2018 Tegu Wini became the Solomons first Commonwealth Games medallist, finishing third in the 58kg class on the Gold Coast. Today she is a coach. 
““It’s been a long road for Emma Twigg to get to the start line for her fifth Games, but she’s ready to defend her OIympic single sculls title today.
“She’s had a great regatta so far, but this is what she came for. 
“Becoming a mum to Tommy – who will be in the grandstand with her wife, Charlotte – has given Twiggie a new perspective and another impetus to get out on the water every day.”
New Zealand’s soaring highlight on day 7 was the sailing silver medal for Isaac McHardie and William McKenzie in the 49er, taking the Kiwi medal total to two golds, three silvers and a bronze so far.
It’s the event in which Blair Tuke and Peter Burling took NZ to silver, gold and silver in the past three Games, so McHardie and McKenzie continue a fine tradition.
“It’s a sweet feeling now, awesome. We’re worked for this for seven years. We knew when we started sailing together we could achieve great things,” said McHardie. “We stayed pretty calm out there but going round the last mark, there was a feeling of ‘Let’s get it done.’”
Spain took gold ahead of NZ and the USA. The NZ Team site reports McHardie and McKenzie recorded placings of 1, 3, 8, 8, 1, 1, 11, 18, 17, 1, 10, 15, 3.
In athletics, 1500m runner Sam Tanner got boxed towards the back of the field and finished 13th in his heat, forcing him to run a repechage overnight to attempt to save his Olympic campaign.
This morning Dylan Schmidt, who took bronze in Tokyo, finished eighth in the Men’s Trampoline final. 
And swimmer Lewis Clareburt was knocked out in his bid to reach the men’s 200m individual medley semi-finals.
Shooting – Chloe Tipple (Skeet), Qualification, 7:00 pm
Rowing – Emma Twigg (Single Scull), Final, 8:18 pm
Sailing – Erica Dawson, Michah Wilkinson (Nacra – Mixed), Races 1-3, 10:00 pm; Greta Pilkington (1-person Dinghy), Races 5-6, 12:25 am
Canoe/Kayak – Luuka Jones (Slalom KX), Round 1, 1:30 am; Repechage, 4:05 am
Athletics – Zoe Hobbs (100m), Semi Final, 5:50 am, Final 7:20 am
Swimming – Eve Thomas, Erika Fairweather, (800m Freestyle) Final, 7:09 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).