Paris Olympics 2024 live: Team GB divers to go for gold after McNeice misses out on climbing medal

Goes to Mexico’s Carlos Sansores who beat Guinea-Bissau’s Paivou Johnouario Gomis to book a spot in the last-eight of the men’s Taekwondo 80+kg. 

In the women’s boulder and lead climbing. 

She was the favourite and it’s not hard to see why. She had to dig deep on her way to an 84.1 score in the last climb. 

Here’s how it finished. 

1. Janja Garnbret (SLO) 168.5
2. Brooke Raboutou (USA) 156.0
3. Jessica Pilz (AUT) 147.4
4. Ai Mori (JPN) 135.1
5. Erin McNeice (GBR) 127.6
6. Seo Chae-hyun (KOR) 105.0
7. Oceania Mackenzie (AUS) 104.8
8. Oriane Bertone (FRA) 104.5

That’s because Jessica Pilz has just climbed her way into way into second spot. The Austrian’s score of 147.4 pushes the Briton down into fourth. 

Goes in the boulder and lead final. She only needs mid-50s to get into the gold-medal section. That would push McNeice down to third. 

As I type that the American climbs into the 60s and is guaranteed a medal with only two to go. 

She finishes with an overall score of 156, McNeice can now only win bronze, with still two climbers to go. 

In the boulder and lead final. That was a phenomenal climb and lift her score to 135.1, pushing McNeice down to second. 

They came so close to beating the US in the semi-finals and have the consolation of a bronze medal. They beat Germany 93-83. 

With McKenzie of Australia and Bertone of France having gone in the last part of the final of the boulder and lead climbing final. 

That’s good enough to move her into first place at the moment, but the leaders are still to go. The target is 127.6 points, the Briton’s done all she can do…it’s now a waiting game to see whether she can get her hands on a medal. 

Is halfway up the wall, the commentators are saying she’s not as smooth as she has been. 

She needs 48 points to move in to first. And she does that – she reaches the 60-point mark. 

She moves swiftly and smoothly in the early, lower part of the wall. She’s in the points already. 

The Briton was hugely impressive in easily seeing off the challenge of Fiji’s Venice Traill in the women’s Taekwondo +67kg.

That was fast and furious from the Briton. She powers through to the Taekwondo quarter-finals thanks to another 13-0 score. She had an easy draw but don’t think I am putting too much pressure on her when I say she must be looking for a medal…

A headshot follows a punch and in the blink of an eye she’s 6-0 in the second round. 

With a minute left in the first minuted she has a 13-0 lead and such is the gap that the round is stopped. Not sure you can have a more impressive start than that. 

The Team GB Taekwondo athlete is ranked third and is a decent chance for a medal. She won silver in last year’s world championships and faces Fiji’s Venice Traill. 

And not a good bit if you support the stars and stripes. That’s because for the first time ever the US have failed to win a medal in the women’s water polo. They lost 11-10 to the Netherlands in the bronze-medal match. They won gold in the past three Games.

Of the men’s 10m platform in the diving. 

Williams only just made it. The silver medalist in the synchronised (with Tom Daley) came 12th with a total of 400.90, just 0.25 ahead of 13th.

Kothari, bounced back well from his poor second dive, to finish in sixth.

China’s Cao Yuan and Yang Hao are hot favourites for the top two medals after finishing waaaaaay ahead of the chasing pack who could not have caught them even if they had an extra dive. 

The final takes place at 2 this afternoon. 

GB’s Kerenza Bryson wins the laser run earning 599 points in the process. That leaves her top the standings on 1,402. The defending champion and Team GB team-mate Kate French is also through, fifth on 1,398 points.

That final takes place tomorrow morning.

A reminder that GB’s Joe Choong defends his Olympic title in the men’s final this afternoon at 4.30.

Both Kyle Kothari and Noah Williams pick a good time to bring out their best dives. Kothari’s 88.80 for his four and a half somersaults has lifted him to sixth and Williams’ back two and a half somersaults with two and a half twists scored 86.40 to put him eighth.

One more dive to go with the top 12 making the final. 

McNeice is in fourth – good chance of a medal in the lead part later. 

Here are the current standings. 

1. Janja Garnbret (SLO) 84.4
2. Brooke Raboutou (USA) 84.0
3. Oceania Mackenzie (AUS) 59.7
4. Erin McNeice (GBR) 59.5
5. Oriane Bertone (FRA) 59.5
6. Jessica Pilz (AUT) 59.3
7. Mori Ai (JPN) 39.0

That’s because Slovenia’s Janja Garnbret finished the third wall with 74.8 out of a possible 75 points. There’s a reason she’s considered the best in the world. 

After a poor second dive Kyle Kothari is under pressure with his third. But he reacts brilliantly scoring 81.60, chapeau.

However, Noah Williams loses ground with 52.70 for his reverse three and a half somersaults.

At the halfway point Williams is 11th (total 206.90) and Kothari 17th (189.00).

It’s no shock to see the Chinese pair of Cao Yuan (236.90) and Yang Hao (232.05) lead.

McNeice scores 9.6, she got the early five-point hold and was close to the 25-point hold, but has to make do with 9.6. She not has 59.5 points and that’s good enough for third at the moment. The US’s Brooke Raboutou is in the gold-medal position on 74.4.

That’s because she doesn’t score on the tough third wall, apparently she won’t be the only one. 

Here’s how the leaderboard looks at the moment. 

1. O Mackenzie (AUS) 54.7
2. O Bertone (FRA) 49.9
3. E McNeice (GBR) 49.9
4. J Pilz (AUT) 49.5
5. B Raboutou (USA) 49.5
6. J Garnbret (SLO) 25.0

Only the top 12 go through and while it looks good for Noah Williams – he’s third after the second round after a dive of 77.40 – it’s not looking too great for Kyle Kothari who scored 30.60 with his second dive and is back in 16th. 

Her second appearance at the wall sees her tackle wall two. As with her first go she does brilliantly, earning the maximum 25 points. After two goes the Briton has 49.9 points out of 50. She currently leads. Impressive.

In everyone’s new favourite sport. Today, in the boulder and lead GB’s Erin McNeice is looking to emulate the 19-year old. 

First up she has a go on wall one. She does well taking 24.9 points from the opening wall. That’s just 0.1 off the top marks.

In he 10m platform. Kyle Kothari starts his first dive in handstand on the board, before executing two back somersaults with one and a half twists. He scores a more than respectable 76.80.

Noah Williams then follows and he is awarded exactly the same score after he performs an inward three and a half somersaults.

Fourth place for Emile Cairess – one of the best performances of the entire Olympics from anyone in the British athletics team when you consider the might of the African countries in men’s endurance running. That has not been bettered by a Briton in an Olympic marathon since Charlie Spedding in 1984. 

The Briton was back in sixth but he works really hard to chase Gelata and Akasaki to come fourth and match Jon Brown’s result in Athens 20 years’ ago. 

It’s been a glorious run from the Ethiopian. From the moment he broke clear, just before the 30km mark, he’s been in control and looked untroubled and calm. He’s won in 2:06:26, an incredible time on this course and an Olympic record to boot. 

That’s Ethiopia’s first athletics gold of the Games. 

1. Tamirat Tola (Ethiopia): 2:06:26 (Olympic record)  
2. Bashir Abdi (Belgium): 2:06:47
3. Benson Kipruto (Kenya): 2:07:00

I’m at the marathon finishing line, where Emile Cairess is on course for the best British finish in the event for 20 years, going all the way back to Jon Brown’s fourth place in 2004.

It has been an extraordinarily brave run in the heat from Cairess; he was the one runner who surged in an attempt to catch Ethiopia’s Tamirat Tola up a brutal climb to 30km and, while he is now paying for that effort and has slipped from second to sixth, a top-10 finish would still be an outstanding run.

He’s extending the gap and the Ethiopian is looking good for that marathon gold. 

The Briton was in second three kms ago, but that effort up the hill may well have taken it out of him. He’s going backwards at the moment. Tola, on the other hand, is still out in front and leads by 14 seconds. 

It was 0-0 in the second round but he had more non-scoring shots. That was a tough match up for the Briton (Issoufou won silver in Rio) but he came through it impressively. He is a strong medal hope and that performance bodes well. 

He’s just run through the 30km mark. In second is GB’s Cairess, he’s 15 seconds behind the Ethiopian. Great run so far can he get a medal? It’s looking good so far. 

The Briton is up against Nigerien Abdoul Issoufou in the round-of-16. 

Issoufou towers over Cunningham and has got an early head shot in and leads 3-0. 

The Briton responds well and leads 6-5 after the first round. 

And a chasing group of roughly the same number. And who’s leading that chasing group? Yep, it’s GB’s very own Cairess. He had a great London Marathon, which was, like this is proving to be, an attritional race. He’s a smart runner and this course is very much suited to the smart runners. 

Meanwhile, Kipchoge is way back and will not feature…

He, along with the US’ Mantz, has caught Faniel and at the halfway mark he’s looking good. Of the Britons, Cairess is in the pack not too far behind and Mahamed Mahamed is 45 seconds behind. 

Has also been dropped from the large chasing pack. He’s also holding his side, he doesn’t look in the best shape, he didn’t come into this race in the best shape, and while he can still get back to the pack (he’s about 50 metres behind) he has his work cut out. 

Has broken up a bit. Bekele has been dropped, he’s not too far back and the pack may come back together, but he’s got a bit of work to do to get back to the likes of Belgium’s Abdi and Ethiopia’s Tola, two of the highly fancied runners. 

Meanwhile, Faniel’s lead is down to 18 seconds. 

…26 seconds. He’s been out on his own for about the past three kms and maybe I was a bit harsh saying he’s having his 15 minutes of fame. Maybe he’ll have at least a good half an hour, or more? 

Emile Cairess and Philip Sesemann are at the back of the large group chasing down Faniel. 

Is having his 15 minutes of fame. He’s decided to sprint off into the lead in the marathon. He’s worked a gap of about 50-60 metres. How much of a lead will the medal contenders let him have before they decide to reel him in? 

In 30.59 minutes. Yang of China leads the still-large leading group. 

In the marathon is a very large group indeed. They’re running past the Eiffel Tower at the moment about 9kms in. They’ve run past the Louvre already…they’re making sure all the big tracks from Paris: The Greatest Hits get an airing…

The crowds are large, especially for a Saturday morning. The marathon is one event you can get to see if you weren’t lucky in getting a ticket to some of the big, stadium events. 

07:00: Men’s marathon (GB’s Emile Cairess, Mahamed Mahamed & Philip Sesemann)

08:00: Taekwondo – men’s and women’s last 16 (including GB’s Caden Cunningham v Abdoul Issoufou)

08:35: Women’s golf – final round (GB’s Georgia Hall & Charley Hull)

09:40: Women’s modern pentathlon semi-final show jumping (GB’s Kate French & Kerenza Bryson)

10:10: Women’s modern pentathlon semi-final laser run (GB’s Kate French & Kerenza Bryson)

10:50: Basketball – men’s bronze medal match (Germany v Serbia)

11:35: Sport climbing – women’s boulder and lead final (GB’s Erin McNeice)

12:15: Volleyball – men’s final (France v Poland)

12:20: Diving – men’s 10m platform semi-finals (GB’s Noah Williams and Kyle Kothari)

13:30: Taekwondo – men’s and women’s quarter-finals (possibly GB’s Caden Cunningham)

14:00: Diving – men’s 10m platform final (possibly GB’s Noah Williams and Kyle Kothari)

14:00: Handball – women’s gold medal (Norway v France)

15:50: Table tennis – women’s gold medal (China v Japan)

As if running 26.2 miles wasn’t hard enough the athletes will also have to cope with a hill towards the end and it will be up above 20C in the last hour of the gruelling race. Several of the runners are wearing cooling headbands. 

Kenya’s Eliud Kipchoge is attempting an unprecedented hat-trick of Olympic marathon titles. With fellow all-time great Kenenisa Bekele, Ethiopia’s oldest ever Olympian at 42, also on the start line.

They’re 4kms in so far so just the 38.2 kms to go! 

So here we are entering the home straight of these Paris Games with today offering up as many as 39 golds.

The early focus will be on the men’s marathon with Eliud Kipchoge going for historic third gold. The streets of the French capital will provide a fitting backdrop for an supreme athlete looking to add to his bulging list of accolades. Going for Team GB in the 26.2 mile feat of endurance and speed are Emile Cairess, Mahamed Mahamed and Philip Sesemann. One suspects they may have their work cut out to get on the podium but both Cairess and Mahamed finished in the top four at this year’s London Marathon so you never know. That race gets under way at 7am.

Then just after 8 Caden Cunningham goes in the Taekwondo round-of-16 80kg class.  The Briton is a serious medal contender and a part-time model to boot. GQ magazine dubbed him “an Olympic prince (and a menswear king)”.

Cunningham is only 21 but has already won a host of medals and became the European heavyweight champion in May. Whatever happens the Briton will not be lacking in self-confidence.

“Regardless of whether I win or lose [in Paris],” he said. “I’m confident I could go for the next four years and really pick up speed in Taekwondo and conquer this heavyweight division. I am starting to do it now.”

Cunningham faces Abdoul Issoufou at 08:21. Rebecca McGowan goes in the women’s 67kg class round-of-16 at just gone 11am.

An hour or so later Erin McNeice goes in women’s boulder and lead final from 09:15 looking to emulate Toby Roberts. The 19-year-old was an unexpected gold medallist yesterday as benefited from dramatic fall by his Japanese rival.

At midday GB’s Noah Williams and Kyle Kothari go in the men’s 10m diving platform semi-finals. So, once again it’s going to be an action-packed day.

Can Team GB do as well as Friday when they added six medals to their already-impressive tally? We’re about to find out, so please stay here for all the action from another sporting feast in the French capital.