Titmus and O'Callaghan lead dominant Aussie 4x200m relay team to win gold at the Paris Olympics — as it happened (2024)

Australia's medallists today:

🥇 Mollie O'Callaghan, Lani Pallister, Brianna Throssell and Ariarne Titmus — Women's 4x200m freestyle relay

🥉 Jemima Montag — Women's 20km race walk

Australian medals book-ended the day's events, with Jemima Montag picking up bronze in the morning, and the all-conquering women's 4x200m freestyle relay team nabbing a few more gold medals in the pool.

We also saw Simone Biles pick up her sixth Olympic gold medal, and our Kookaburras, Opals, Gangurrus, Sharks and Hockeyroos going unbeaten across the day's action.

We'll of course be back this afternoon to do it all again. But for now, we bloggers need our beauty rest.

We're going to be closing the blog soon, but keep an eye on ABC Sportfor more updates from the men's and women's surfing quarterfinals later this morning.

Weather permitting, Aussie compatriots Jack Robinson and Ethan Ewing are set to go up against each other at 9:36am AEST, before Tyler Wright takes on American Caroline Marks from 10:12am.

So many things are on the docket, including Kaylee McKeown going for more gold, Ariarne Titmus returning for the 800m and the Boomers playing their last group game.

But also, the athletics program truly gets underway, with Australians Ash Moloney and Daniel Golubovic kicking things off in the decathlon.

Check out everything that's coming up on day seven in Paris.

This Olympic tennis tournament is turning into farewell week in Paris.

Yesterday we told you about Rafael Nadal saying goodbye to the Olympics and probably Roland Garros (and maybe the game itself) after his men's doubles loss partnering Carlos Alcaraz.

Today we definitively saw the end of an era, as Scottish tennis great (British for the purposes of these Games) Andy Murray ended his career with an emotional match on Court Suzanne-Lenglen.

Murray, partnering Dan Evans against Taylor Fritz and Tommy Paul of the United States, went down 6-2, 6-4.

The pair had saved seven match points over the tournament before making their exit.

An emotional Murray acknowledged the crowd and shed a tear or two before leaving the court for the last time as a professional.

Murray's 20-year professional career included a long period trying to knock off the 'Big Three' of Roger Federer, the aforementioned Nadal and Novak Djokovic.

He ended a 76-year wait for a British men's singles champion at Wimbledon in 2012, adding a second crown at SW19 (2016 and a US Open (2012). He also helped Britain win the Davis Cup in 2015.

It's fitting he went out at the Olympics, as he won back-to-back men's singles gold medals at London and Rio, plus a silver in mixed doubles alongside Laura Robson in London.

The second half of his career was blighted by hip pain, leading to 'resurfacing' surgery in 2018, not to mention surgery on his spine a month or two back.

We're relieved for him that finally in 2024, he now gets to rest. Well done, Sir Andy.

This photo of Simone Biles and the attention she attracts is one of the best of the Paris Olympics so far.

So why not enjoy some more of the best photos from the first six days of the Paris Olympics.

Let us not forget how the day started.

The sheer brutality of the conditions ensured the race walk would be a war of attrition. Every finisher is worth their weight in gold.

Simon Smale is in Paris and has painted a tremendous picture of how hard the race walk was today — where Jemima Montag WON BRONZE!

Australia has won eight gold medals at the Paris Olympics so far and that's good for fourth on the medal tally after day six.

Interestingly, all the gold medals have been won by women.

In swimming, Mollie O'Callaghan has three, Ariarne Titmus two, while Kaylee McKeown, Brianna Throssell, Lani Pallister, Shayna Jack, Meg Harris and Emma McKeon, plus heat swimmers Bronte Campbell, Olivia Wunsch and Jamie Perkins, have one each.

Plus Jess Fox has two in the canoe slalom and cyclist Grace Brown won the individual time trial on day one.

The Aussies score with one second on the clock! It's 3-3 in a heartstopper.

Amazing comeback by the Hockeyroos after a classy Argentina kept them goalless in the first half while scoring twice and dominating possession.

Australia drew level with two third-term goals then, holy dooley, what a final quarter.

Argentina went ahead 3-2 with a Maria Granatto goal but Australia kept coming and pressed hard around the D in the dying stages, winning four penalty corners in the 60th minute until Mariah Williams nailed one with the last swing of the game.

Gritty effort by the Hockeyroos against Las Leonas (The Lionesses), the world No.2 side, and without captain Jane Claxton or defender Tatum Stewart.

That was gold class, finals-style Olympics hockey and we're not even out of the pool stage.

Australia is atop Pool B, equal with Argentina on points but ahead on goal advantage. They play Spain tomorrow.

200m freestyle gold medallist Mollie O'Callaghan leads Australia off.

She has Australia on world record pace with a first leg of 1:53.52.

Lani Pallister, back from her COVID stint, keeps the team ahead of that world record pace as she hands off to Brianna Throssell.

Throssell drops behind the record pace, but she's being challenged big time by Ge Chutong of China and American superstar Katie Ledecky.

Ariarne Titmus hits the water and she's back in front of the world record pace.

They've done it! More gold for Australia!

They can't break their own world record, but it's another victory and an Olympic record for these phenomenal swimmers.

The team of Lani Pallister, Jamie Perkins, Brianna Throssell and Shayna Jack got Australia into this final as the fastest qualifier by SEVEN SECONDS.

And today the Aussies swap out Jack and Perkins for the gold and silver medallists in the 200m freestyle, Mollie O'Callaghan and Ariarne Titmus.

I have only just learned about this myself!

BMX Racing is a speed-based competition where the faster you are, the fewer points you score.

So the rider who finishes the course first is given one point, the rider who comes in second gets two points, and so on.

The goal is to have the lowest score during the course of a competition.

Due to the number of riders in the Olympics, there's an added bit of jeopardy: at the end of the three runs, the 12 riders with the lowest point totals automatically advance to the semi-finals, while those from 13-20 go to a last-chance qualifier.

In that qualifier, the top four finishers advance to the semis.

From that semi, the eight riders with the lowest point totals go through to the final - a single run - to compete for medals.

Whoever crosses first, wins!

The crowd goes wild and the "Léon!" chants go up as this young superstar walks out for his 200m individual medley semifinal.

Marchand, surprisingly, wasn't first after the butterfly leg, but he made up for it with his turn into the backstroke and held onto the lead comfortably from there.

He'll be back tomorrow shooting for his fourth gold medal of his home Games. And a slice of history along with it.

While the Aussie surfers are having a pretty good time at the Olympics, the same can't be said for an Aussie judge who has been sent packing.

Or maybe it was having too good a time that cost him …

Anyway, Ben Lowe was relieved of his duties after posing for a happy snap with Australian star Ethan Ewing.

Fair to say surfing bosses weren't happy.

Read more about it here:

Australian medley swimmers Tommy NeillandWilliam Campbell Petric are both looking to make their first-ever individual Olympic final.

But Petric finishes sixth and Neill seventh, so it will take an incredibly slow second semi for either to make it through.

The Aussie gold medal favourite for this event wins the third and final run of heat 1, making it a clean sweep of all three runs in this quarter-final.

Her countrywoman Lauren Reynolds was not quite so lucky, finishing in third once again.

The broadcast hasn't shown their times for some reason, but both Aussies are comfortably through to the next stage. Reynolds finishes the quarter-final in ninth, whileSakakibarais first overall.

Huge fightback by the Hockeyroos. It’s 2-2 but Australia could so easily have been in front of Argentina at the final break after a two-goal term.

Stephanie Kershaw nails a penalty corner on the stroke of three-quarter time to level it up after co-captain Kaitlin Nobbs dragged Australia back into it with a mid-range shot that deflected off an Argentine stick and into goal.

Nobbs could so easily have two goals but for an incredible save by Las Leonas keeper CristinaCosentino, who dived one way but somehow stopped Nobbs' penalty stroke with an extended left leg.

What a game. Big finish ahead.

Sydneysider Grae Morris is guaranteed a medal in the men's windsurfing competition – it's just the colour to be decided.

Morris earned his place in the three-man final after finishing the qualifying series in first place.

It means he'll become the first Australian to win a medal in windsurfing since Lars Kleppich collected bronze at Barcelona in 1992.

"It does ease my mind a little knowing that I'll be coming home with something in my hand, but I won't be fully satisfied until it's over," Morris said.

The last two riders for the final will be decided across quarterfinals and semifinals, which take place Friday night (AEST time).

The final is likely to happen in the early hours of Saturday morning.

Morris's recipe for victory: "Big dinner, good dessert and a great sleep."

Sensational ride by the Aussie, whose overall standings will be hugely helped by his first-placed finish in the third and final run of heat 3 with a time of 31.835.

He was in gate one and needed a powerful start to get in front of a chaotic pack, which he did after sailing over the first jump.

Colombia's Ramirez, the two-time bronze medallist, crashed around half-way through, but slowly rolled over the line a minute later.

It takes Kennedy up to sixth overall, qualifying him for the next stage. The bottom four have been eliminated.

Already with the back-to-back 100m backstroke titles under her belt, Kaylee McKeown remains on track for the double-double as she coasts into the 200m final.

McKeown looked to barely be trying in her semi, just dominating with her underwaters and doing just enough to go through as the second-fastest qualifier.

Her time of 2:07.57 is more than four seconds slower than her world record. It feels like she was keeping plenty in the tank.