BBC NI at the Olympics

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Ireland athletes Sharlene Mawdsley and Sophie Becker exited from the 400m at the Olympic Games in Paris as Sophie O'Sullivan and Sarah Healy's hopes of direct progression to the 1500m semi-finals were dashed.

Needing to win her repechage heat to reach the 400m semi-finals, Mawdsley was third in 51.18 seconds - 0.47 slower than the personal best she set in Monday's heats.

Becker produced the second fastest 400m of her career as she ran 51.28 seconds - 0.15 outside her personal best set in Belfast in May - to finish second behind USA's Kendall Ellis (50.44).

In the 1500m heats, O'Sullivan and Healy narrowly missed out on clinching semi-finals spots as they both placed seventh, when top-six spots would have secured direct qualification for the penultimate stage.

The 1500m duo will now go forward to Wednesday's repechage round when semi-finals spots will be up for grabs.

Healy's seventh spot was agonising as she was pipped for sixth by New Zealand's Maia Ramsden after being 10 metres ahead of the Kiwi runner with less than 80 metres remaining.

Healy, who was over five seconds outside her personal best in clocking 4:02.91, had found herself in a tough heat alongside defending champion Faith Kipyegon and US medal hope Nikki Hiltz.

O'Sullivan, daughter of Sydney Olympics 5,000m silver medallist Sonia O'Sullivan, ran a personal best of 4:00.23 but was 0.60 behind the sixth-placed USA athlete Emily Mackay.

The Irish athlete's time cut 1.92 seconds off her previous personal best and for a tangle with Japan's Nozomi Tanaka with 150 metres left, O'Sullivan probably would have broken four minutes.

Tanaka was later added to the semi-final qualifiers with O'Sullivan avoiding disqualification and thus able to compete in the repechage.

Nigel Ringland
BBC Sport NI Senior Journalist at Chateau de Versailles

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There would be no medal for Team Ireland's Daniel Coyle in the Olympic individual showjumping final at the magnificent Chateau de Versailles venue outside of Paris.

On a brutally tough course for the final, Coyle and his horse Legacy looked to be heading for their fourth clear round of the week and a place in the jump-off for the medals.

They had posted three clear rounds, including two in the team competition and another in the individual qualifier and expectations were high they would contend for the medals.

But two thirds of the way round, on a tight left hand turn to a tough double, the duo had their first fence down of the Olympics and the medal chance had gone.

Three more followed in quick succession and the Admore rider decided enough was enough and retired.

Only three of the thirty starters managed a clear round.

The gold medal went to German Christian Kukuk on Checker 47 who won the three-rider jump-off.

'I'll look forward to Los Angeles'

Despite the disappointment, Coyle was proud of his efforts on his Olympics debut.

“It was all going so well. I lost my stirrup after the fence at the bottom and didn't pick up the best distance and it was very hard for her to jump it.

“I mean, she also jumped amazing today, it just didn't come off.

“I'm proud to be representing Derry here this week as well. Yes, very, very proud and I'll go back with my head held high."

Even in the aftermath of a disappointing finish, Coyle is already looking ahead to Los Angeles in 2028.

“It's a hard luck story at this point, but I look forward to the next one.

“It's a part of everybody's plan, but I guess when I come here and I'm prepared and the horse is prepared and we already jumped two clear rounds for the team and then also a clear yesterday in the qualifier, it just caught up with us at the end.

“I think people know I can do it now and maybe even me."

Nigel Ringland
BBC Sport NI Senior Journalist at Chateau de Versailles

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Daniel Coyle, on board Legacy, missed out on the medals in the Olympic individual showjumping final at Versailles.

The Ireland duo hadn’t put a foot wrong in three rounds over the past week, posting two clears in the team event before again producing a flawless display in Monday's individual qualifier.

However this was a brutally tough test for an Olympic final.

Of the thirty starters, only three went clear and would go on to jump-off for the medals.

The Ardmore rider had to wait and watch 27 riders struggle with the course before his opportunity came.

For a while it looked like Legacy would once again put herself in a position to challenge for the medals.

But two thirds of the way round, on a tight left hand turn to a tough double, Coyle and Legacy had their first fence down of the Olympics and the medal chance had gone.

Three more followed in quick succession and the Ardmore rider decided enough was enough and retired.

Ireland’s other representative in the final, Shane Sweetnam, piloting James Kann Cruz, had three fences down to also end his hopes.

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Another day at the Paris Olympics and another day of medal opportunities for Team Ireland competitors.

Among the highlights on Tuesday are boxer Kellie Harrington's bid for a second gold medal at successive Games and Daniel Coyle and Shane Sweetnam taking part in the showjumping individual final.

Harrington will attempt to retain her Olympic title and change her guaranteed silver medal into gold when she faces top seed Wenlu Yang of China in the 60kg lightweight division final at 22:06 BST.

For the 34-year-old, it is set to be her final international contest after a distinguished career.

The Dubliner showed up impressive form in her semi-final to defeat second seed Beatriz Ferreira and more of the same will likely be required if she is to strike gold at the Roland-Garros Stadium.

Earlier in the day, from 09:00 BST, Team Ireland showjumpers Sweetnam and Coyle will chase showjumping medals at Chateau de Versailles.

Both produced superb clear rounds to occupy second and third positions in the qualifying competition on Monday.

Riding James Kann Cruz, Cork man Sweetnam went clear in 73.35 seconds while county Longonderry man Coyle, riding Legacy, clocked a time of 73.64.

Athletics, cycling and diving

In athletics, Ciara Mageean had been scheduled to participate in the women's 1500m heats on Tuesday morning but it was announced on Monday night that a persistent achilles problem had ruled her out of the Games.

The 32-year-old was fourth at last year's World Championships and won at the European Championships in June.

Her last outing over 2000m in Monaco on 12 July had given some cause for concern however as she tailed off last.

Mageean's absence from the 1500m heats leaves Sophie O'Sullivan [09:05 BST] and Sarah Healy [09:17] to fly the flag for Team Ireland.

Meanwhile Sharlene Mawdsley [10:20] and Sophie Becker [10:44] aim to make Wednesday's 400m semi-finals through the route of the repechage.

Alice Sharpe, Lara Gillespie and Kelly Murphy are in cycling action in the Women's Team Pursuit qualifying while Jake Passmore competes in diving preliminaries at 09:00.

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Ciara Mageean has been ruled out of the Olympics with an Achilles injury.

The Team Ireland athlete's withdrawal was announced on the eve of her scheduled participation in Tuesday's women's 1500m heats in Paris.

Mageean, 32, said: "I'm absolutely heartbroken not to be able to compete in my third Olympic Games.

"I gave it everything to make it possible to be on the start line, but time was against me. I want to thank everyone for all their support."

A statement released by Team Ireland on Monday evening read: "In her final weeks of preparation for these Paris Olympic Games Ciara has been dealing with painful chronic Achilles issues.

"Despite every effort made by Ciara and the Team Ireland medical team, the European champion will unfortunately be unable to toe the line tomorrow [Tuesday] morning."

Mageean was fourth in last year's World Championships and won the 1500m event at the European Championships in June.

However, her last outing over 2000m in Monaco on 12 July gave some cause for concern as she tailed off last.

She represented Team Ireland at both the 2016 Olympics in Rio and the Tokyo Olympics, which were staged in 2021 because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Analysis by BBC Sport NI's Andy Gray in Paris:

"On the eve of her heats, Ciara Mageean's withdrawal is the latest in a number of Olympic heartbreaks for the county Down athlete.

Despite her success in other major events, Mageean had yet to reach a final in her previous two Games - she didn't make it out of the heats in Tokyo after injuring her calf a week before racing.

However, she was heading to Paris after winning the European Championships in June, with dreams of putting things right on the sport's biggest stage.

Speaking to her mother, Catherine, before coming to Paris, you could sense the excitement for the entire family in what could be a final Olympics for the 32-year-old.

Or, in true Mageean fashion when she has had to dig deep after injuries in the past - she could press on and use it as fuel for a last hurrah in Los Angeles.

It is also particularly cruel given the multiple successes for athletes from Northern Ireland and Team Ireland so far in Paris.

While she would have been going in a stacked 1500 metre field, Mageean deserved to ride that wave of success in Paris after being a trailblazer for so long.

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Team Ireland showjumpers Shane Sweetnam and Daniel Coyle both produced superb clear rounds to qualify for the individual final at the Olympic Games.

The Ireland duo occupied second and third positions after being among 20 riders to post clear rounds as the top 30 progressed.

Riding James Kann Cruz, Cork man Sweetnam went clear in 73.35 seconds.

County Londonderry man Coyle, riding Legacy, was the 37th of the 74 hopefuls in action as he then produced his third straight clear round of the Games when clocking a time of 73.64.

Ardmore man Coyle had a double clear in last week's team competition in Versailles.

Home rider Julien Epaillard later produced a marginally faster clear round on Dubai Du Cedre to move to the top of the standings but the Irish duo's place in Tuesday's final had already been guaranteed.

Their Ireland team-mate Cian O'Connor, who won the individual bronze medal at London 2012 after being stripped of the Athens 2004 gold when his horse was found to have a banned substance in its system, missed out on qualification after his four faults in 75.17 seconds did not prove fast enough to progress as he finished up in 33rd spot.

O'Connor was among the later starters and his round had to be delayed after his course Majestic lost a shoe during his warm-up.

Great Britain riders Harry Charles and Scott Brash both produced clears to progress with their team-mate, defending champion Ben Maher among nine riders on four faults who also squeezed into the final.

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Ireland medal hope Rhasidat Adeleke comfortably won her 400m heat to ease into Wednesday's semi-finals at the Olympic Games in Paris.

Adeleke, 21, had a big lead entering the finishing straight and was able to jog the final 30 metres as she took victory in 50.09 seconds.

Despite turning off the power in the closing stages, the Dublin athlete still finished 0.26 seconds ahead of US athlete Alexis Holmes.

Adeleke, who finished second at the European Championships in June after placing fourth at last season's World Championships, is the third fastest this season of the 400m entries at the Games.

"It was really fun," Adeleke told BBC Sport after the heat.

"The track feels really good, and the stands are absolutely packed at this time of day but it's the Olympic Games - what can you say!".

Sharlene Mawdsley produced a personal best of 50.71 seconds and while her fourth place wasn't enough to secure direction progression to Wednesday's semi-finals she looks capable of reaching the penultimate stage via the repechage route.

The Irishwoman was unfortunate to be drawn in the same heat as gold medal favourite Marileidy Paulinho of the Dominican Republic who won in 49.42 seconds ahead of USA's Aaliyah Butler (50.42) and Austria's Susanne Gogl-Walli (50.68).

The other Irish 400m hopeful Sophie Becker was 0.71 seconds outside her personal best set at the Belfast Irish Milers Meet in May as she clocked 51.84 to finish sixth in the opening heat.

Bahrain's Salwa Eid Naser, who has returned to the sport last after serving a two-year ban for whereabouts failures, won in 49.91 seconds ahead of Jamaica's Stacey Ann Williams (50.16) and Romania's Andrea Miklos (50.46) who produced a personal best.

The strength of the heat by was emphasised by Puerto Rico's Gabby Scott producing a national record of 50.74 seconds to take fourth and US athlete Kendall Ellis way off her personal best of 49.46 set at her national trials as she clocked 51.16 to finish fifth.

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Rhys McClenaghan has spoken of those anxious seconds when he waited to hear whether his Olympic Games gold medal dream remained alive.

The Ireland gymnast said his broad smile after he dismounted from the pommel horse in Saturday's final was the sense of relief "that I had done my job".

But he admitted he couldn't be certain he had beaten the "monster score" of 15.433 produced by the very first competitor in the final, Kazakhstan's Nariman Kurbanov.

"No absolutely not," said the 25-year-old Newtownards man whether he immediately knew that he had done enough after finishing his routine.

"When we went 0.1 above that was the crazy realisation that this might be the day I become Olympic champion."

The county Down man still had to wait for the remaining competitors to do their programmes before his gold medal was confirmed.

McClenaghan acknowledged that not adding an Olympic gold to his previous World, European and Commonwealth Games titles would have left "that empty gap" even though "I still would have walked away as Ireland’s most successful ever gymnast and one of the sport’s best".

"This whole Olympic Games cycle was a redemption, the back-to-back World and European titles and then rounding it off with the Olympic title," the gymnast told BBC Northern Ireland's Good Morning Ulster.

"That was the redemption era for Rhys McClenaghan there. I’m so glad it was completed."

The gymnastics prodigy had made clear his ambition to win the Olympic title for a decade.

"I’ve been saying that since I probably around 15 or 16.

"To be saying it back then to a lot of people maybe came across as arrogant, or too confident, like ‘what gives this guy the right to say that?’. Now everyone is realising why I said that'."

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Ireland's Finn Lynch has lifted himself into the qualifying spots for Tuesday's medal race in the men's dinghy with another strong day's sailing on Sunday.

The 28-year-old had moved from 25th to 15th overall on Saturday, with his performances in races seven and eight then taking him into 10th spot.

Should he stay there through Monday's two races, he would qualify for Tuesday's medal race.

On the women's side, Eve McMahon came sixth in the seventh race before finishing 15th in the eighth, lifting her from 17th to 15th in the overall standings.

The Olympic debutant is still 22 points outside the crucial top 10 with only Monday's races to make up the ground and advance to the medal race.

In the men's kayak cross, Noel Hendrick and Liam Jegou both finished third in their heats with only the top two advancing to the quarter-finals, while, in the women’s event, Madison Corcoran finished fourth to also miss out.

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Rory McIlroy finished in a tie for fifth in the men's golf competition at Paris 2024 after a costly double bogey at the 15th hole saw him tumble down a leaderboard ultimately topped by American Scottie Scheffler at 19-under-par.

The 35-year-old from Northern Ireland had started the final round four shots off the leaders but over the front nine appeared to lose any momentum he had gained from playing his first three holes in two-under-par.

He would catch fire at the turn, however, with a run of five consecutive birdies lifting him into a tie for third.

The double bogey would abruptly end that hot streak, his second shot on the 15th rolling off the green and into the water to effectively derail his medal hopes.

Finishing with three consecutive pars, his 15 under total saw him end up two shots behind the bronze medallist, Japan's Hideki Matsuyama.

McIlroy's Irish team-mate Shane Lowry finished five-under-par and in a tie for 26th place.

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Nicola Tuthill has failed to progress to the women's hammer final in Paris after finishing 16th in qualifying on Sunday morning.

The 20-year-old Cork athlete had a best throw of 69.90 but that was good enough to make the top 12 to go through.

Tuthill was just 1.16m short of making the final on her Games debut.

Finland's Krista Tervo topped qualifying with 74.79 with Camryn Rogers of Canada second and American DeAnna Price third.

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Daniel Wiffen has joked that he "feels like Simone Biles" after his first Olympic gold medal brought him some newfound fame.

Wiffen won Team Ireland's first gold of the Paris Games when he triumphed in a thrilling 800 metre freestyle final on Tuesday.

In doing so, he also became the first athlete from Northern Ireland to win an Olympic gold medal in 36 years.

Wiffen said his success has brought him plenty of new attention, which led him to compare himself to the USA's superstar gymnast Simone Biles, who won her third gold of the Games on Saturday.

"I actually think I'm probably like one of the most famous Olympic champions," the 23-year-old said.

"I've got a distinct look about me because I think every sport comes up to me in the dining hall and asks for photos.

"I feel like Simone Biles."

When asked if he was enjoying being recognised, Wiffen said: "Yeah, I like it"

"I mean, why not? It's pretty cool."

He also said that he's had "five hundred" photos taken with him since his win.

"I've been signing autographs and everything.

"They wait outside my building when I come out for breakfast for photos."

Wiffen will look to secure a historic second gold medal when he competes in the 1500m freestyle final at La Defense Arena at 17:37 BST.

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Rory McIlroy says he is "excited" for the opportunity to chase an Olympic medal when the men's golf event concludes on Sunday.

The 35-year-old from Northern Ireland goes into the final round at Le Golf National in a tie for sixth and four shots off leaders Xander Schauffele of the USA and Spain's Jon Rahm.

McIlroy was initially sceptical of golf's introduction to the Olympics, and did not compete for Team Ireland at the first opportunity in Rio, but says his rounds in Paris have been "a lot more fun" than in more traditional big events.

"You don't get this at the Masters," he told BBC Sport in front of a chanting crowd.

"It's a lot more fun. The crowd are so enthusiastic, it's awesome.

"It's an incredible environment to play in and I'm excited to play one more time in it tomorrow."

McIlroy, who won the last of his four majors in 2014, finished in a six-way tie for fourth place in Tokyo three years ago and joked this week that he had never tried so hard to finish third in his career.

This time around, while Schauffele, Rahm and Britain's Tommy Fleetwood will start the final round in the medal positions, McIlroy is joined in the chasing pack by the likes of world number one Scottie Scheffler and former Masters champion Hideki Matsuyama.

"I'm in a really good place in the leaderboard," added McIlroy.

"I was really close to getting a medal last time in Tokyo, I'm in contention to try and get a medal this time around, and I'm excited for that opportunity."

McIlroy, in his first action since missing the cut at the Open last month, is 10 under going into the final round after a 66 on Saturday that featured five birdies and no bogeys.

"I can't complain too much, to play a bogey-free round today with that really being the gameplan," said the world number three.

"I went out today to really try and limit the mistakes. I played the front nine incredibly well again, I've played that nine in three-under-par each day.

"I played the back nine a little better today which was nice to see."