It was another dramatic day at the Olympic Games that saw world records, legends slip, others soar and a relatively new sport to these Games have its breakout moment.
The day started with a dramatic triathlon. Germany took home the Olympic gold medal in the mixed relay triathlon after a late comeback by Laura Lindemann helped overcome a 12-second deficit to help the Germans get the win. The USA defending its silver medal from Tokyo and Great Britain picked up the bronze in a photo finish in front of the packed Paris streets.
The build up of the race was dominated by ongoing discussions around the safety of the River Seine.
The action then moved to the gym, where Simone Biles was aiming to go for her fourth and fifth gold medals in Paris. Instead, in the women’s floor exercise, Brazil’s Rebeca Andrade won the gold, with Biles winning her 11th medal with a silver and Jordan Chiles taking home the bronze medal.
Biles had fallen off the beam earlier in the day and then struggled with another fall during her warm up. She took to the floor with her left calf strapped with tape.
In the men’s horizontal bar, the vast majority of competitors struggled with either staying on the bars or with their landings.
Alice D’Amato’s sterling routine won her the gold medal in the women’s balance beam competition, a final that was also marked by disappointing performances from some of the sport’s top stars, who struggled to stay on the beam.
On the track, there was an early huge upset when Molly Caudery from Team Great Britain failed to clear 4.55 meters in the women’s pole vault qualification round. She will not be in Wednesday’s final.
The winners of the men’s and women’s 100-meter sprints – Noah Lyles and Julien Alfred cruised into the finals of the 200-meter sprint.
A frantic finish in the women’s 5,000-meter final saw Kenyan Beatrice Chebet streak away from her compatriot and two-time Olympic medalist Faith Kipyegon in the closing stages. Kipyegon endured some drama after the race. She was initially disqualified and then appealed the decision. Two hours after the race was over, she was reinstated, taking the silver.
Great Britain’s Keely Hodgkinson led from the front to win the women’s 800-meter final, upgrading the silver medal she won at the Tokyo Olympics.
American discus thrower Valarie Allman struck gold for the second consecutive Olympic Games. Her best throw of the day went 69.50 meters, more than half a meter better than her gold medal throw in Tokyo in 2021.
And Sweden’s Mondo Duplantis won the gold again in the men’s pole vault. Not satisfied with just taking the gold, Duplantis then beat his own world record, raising the bar to 6.25 meters.
And in the nightcap, the 3x3 basketball tournament had a breakout moment with thrilling finals in both the men’s and women’s gold matches. Both matches went down to the last shot, with Germany winning the women’s gold and The Netherlands edging out host nation France to take the gold in the men’s game.
In other events:
- Climbing record: Aleksandra Miroslaw broke her own speed climbing world record twice in one day this Monday.
- Athletes qualify for pole vault: A crowded women’s pole vault final is set for Wednesday after 20 athletes made it through the qualification round. None of the competitors needed to reach the qualifying standard of 4.70m, as lower heights proved to be more than enough.
- Men’s parallel bars: China’s Zou Jingyuan won the gold in the men’s parallel bars.
- South Korean badminton win: An Se-young of South Korea won the gold medal in the women’s individual badminton event, beating China’s He Bing Jiao in the final. Denmark’s Viktor Axelsen successfully defended his men’s singles title on Monday, beating Kunlavut Vitidsarn of Thailand.
- Team skeet shooting: First ever skeet mixed team final was won by Italy as Team USA grabbed silver.
- Badminton: Denmark’s Viktor Axelsen successfully defended his men’s singles badminton title on Monday, beating Kunlavut Vitidsarn of Thailand in the final.
- Kayak cross: French-born Australian Noémie Fox, the younger sister of C1 and K1 gold medalist Jessica Fox, won gold in the brand-new kayak cross event on Monday. New Zealand’s Finn Butcher won gold in the men’s final.