BBC NI at the Olympics

Andy Gray
BBC Sport NI Journalist in Paris

Image source, Getty Images/Inpho

Time has passed as quickly as Daniel Wiffen in a pool over 800 metres, but day 14 of the Paris Olympics is upon us.

From a Team Ireland perspective, two big names are in action in the River Seine and the Stade de France on Friday as Wiffen and Rhasidat Adeleke conclude their Games.

Fresh off the back of his gold and bronze medals at La Defense Arena, Wiffen is back in action for a third and final time as he swims in an event he has never competed in before - the open water 10km marathon.

Wiffen has said a big motivation for taking on the challenge is the opportunity to swim in the River Seine, and he's joked that he would be as surprised as anyone if he could medal.

However, given the way the Games have gone so far, who knows what could happen?

It's an early start if you want to tune in as the race gets underway at 06:30 BST and takes roughly two hours to complete.

Later on Friday, Adeleke has a shot at a medal in the 400 metres final at 19:00 BST in Paris.

She was fastest in her heat and second in her semi-final, as the 21-year-old became the first Irish athlete to qualify for a sprint final at the Olympics.

Kate O'Connor concludes her heptathlon campaign on Friday, while Mark English goes in the 800m semi-finals.

O'Connor sits 19th overall after the opening day and will compete in the long jump, javelin and 800m on Friday.

Last, but by no means least, Alice Sharpe and Laura Gillespie will race in the women's Madison final at the Velodrome at 17:09 BST, while Stephanie Meadow and Leona Maguire compete in the penultimate round of the women's golf at Le National.

Andy Gray
BBC Sport NI Journalist at the Stade de France

Image source, Getty Images

Team Ireland's Kate O'Connor is 19th overall after the opening four events of the Heptathlon at the Paris Olympics.

The 23-year-old was 19th after the 100 metre hurdles and high jump in the morning session.

In the evening session, O'Connor was eighth in Group B and 14th overall in the shot put, and finished the opening day by finishing fourth in her heat in the 200 metres, and 19th overall.

O'Connor, a silver medallist for Northern Ireland at the 2022 Commonwealth Games, is making her debut at the Olympics and is the last athlete from Northern Ireland to compete in Paris.

"I think I was just a little bit like a rabbit caught in headlights [in the hurdles]," O'Connor told BBC Sport NI.

"I'm really proud of myself of how I managed to pick it up in the high jump.

"I left everything out there so I don't think I could have asked for much more of myself."

She got off to a difficult start as she posted the slowest time in the 100 metre hurdles in 14.08 seconds.

However, she responded in style in the high jump and ranked first in Group A as she set a season's best height of 1.77 metres.

Her opening event of the evening session saw her record a score of 13.79 metres, which saw her place 14th overall and eighth in her group.

After struggling in the morning sprint, O'Connor put in a solid performance in the 200 metres as she finished with a season's best time of 24.77 seconds.

That time left her 19th overall in both the 200m and overall standings as the the other two heats all ran faster times.

Her first Olympic campaign will come to a close on Friday in the long jump, javelin and 800m.

Image source, Getty Images

Team Ireland golfers Stephanie Meadow and Leona Maguire continued to struggle on day two of the Olympic Games women's golf competition at Le Golf National in Paris on Thursday.

Meadow, from Jordanstown in Northern Ireland, added a two-over-par 74 to her opening 78 to sit in a tie for 52nd position on eight over.

She posted birdies at the fifth, sixth, 10th and 15th holes but her round was marred by dropped shots at the first, seventh, 11th, 12th, 13th and 14th.

Maguire is tied for 57th of the 60-strong field on 13 over as she posted a 79 after carding a 78 on Wednesday.

The Cavan woman bogeyed the first, recorded a double bogey at 12, dropped a shot a 13 and then fell to a quadruple bogey at the 18th hole.

The sole high point was a birdie four at the ninth.

Swiss player Morgane Metraux leads on eight under after firing a 66 on Thirsday to move onto eight under.

Yin Ruoning of China trails by one after shooting a seven-under 65, with New Zealand's Lydia Ko two shots further in arrears following a 67.

Image source, Getty Images

It's a big day for Kate O'Connor, who will make her Olympics debut at the Stade de France

O'Connor, the last athlete from Northern Ireland to take part in the Games, will go for Team Ireland in a stacked heptathlon field.

The 23-year-old was a silver medallist behind two-time world champion Katarina Johnson-Thompson at the Commonwealth Games in 2022 and was 13th on her World Championship debut last year.

O'Connor will compete in the 100 metre hurdles and the high jump in the morning session before the shot put and 200 metres in the evening session in Paris.

After disappointing starts in the women's golf at Le National, both Stephanie Meadow and Leona Maguire are in second-round action for Team Ireland.

Andy Gray
BBC Sport NI Journalist at the Stade de France

Image source, Inpho

Ireland's Rhasidat Adeleke has qualified for her first Olympic final after finishing second in her semi-final in the 400 metres at the Stade de France.

In doing so, the 21-year-old becomes the first Irish woman to qualify for a sprint final at the Olympics.

Bahrain's Salwa Nid Naser won the opening heat in a time of 49.08 seconds ahead of Adeleke, who clocked 49.95 seconds.

"It was quite messy, but I'm going to hopefully be able to talk to my coach and fix the things I need to fix for the final," Adeleke told BBC Sport NI.

"I think this is where I've raced my whole life. I'm going to be able to go out there and give my all."

The first start was called off due to a false start by Dutch runner Lieke Klaver, who was shown a warning by officials.

The second start was successful as Adeleke, who comfortably won her heat on Tuesday, went out hard with Naser in the opening 200 metres.

The Bahrain athlete was able to pull away in the final 100 metres, and Adeleke looked to ease off in the closing stages and just held off Norway's Henriette Jaeger, who was third in 50.17 seconds.

"I was looking at the screen the whole time," Adeleke added.

"It wasn't my goal to chase her [Naser] down, just to make sure I was in second place."

The final at the Stade de France takes place on Friday at 19:00 BST.

Image source, Getty Images

Ireland's Jack Woolley missed out on a quarter-final spot in the men's 58kg Taekwondo at the Olympic Games in Paris after defeat by Azerbaijan's Gashim Magomedov.

Magomedov took a 2-0 victory over Woolley in a best-of-three-rounds bout at the Grand Palais, scoring 4-7 in round 1 and 7-12 in round two.

Woolley, 25, who is now a two-time Olympian, was eliminated later in the repechage for a place in the bronze medal match when he lost 2-0 to Spain's Adrian Vincente Yunta.

In 2021, Tallaght man Woolley made history becoming Ireland's first ever Taekwondo Olympian at the Tokyo Games but finished 11th overall after a close first-round encounter with Lucas Gomez of Argentina.

Image source, Inpho

Ireland sailor Finn Lynch finished 10th in the men's dinghy class at the Olympic Games on Wednesday after placing eighth in the concluding medal race in Marseille.

Lynch had squeezed into the concluding double-points race after the previous three races had been cancelled because of insufficient wind in the south of France.

The Irishman was the last of the 10 qualifiers for the medal race but was already too far off the pace to get on the podium.

He did make a valiant attempt to improve his position by leading the medal race before it had to be abandoned as the weather again didn't behave.

Following the re-start, Lynch was unable to repeat that as he remained in 10th place with gold won by Australia's Matt Wearn and silver and bronze going to Cyprus' Pavlos Kontides and Peru's Stefano Peschiera.

On Monday, Lynch's Ireland team-mate Eve McMahon missed out on qualification for the medal race in the women's dinghy class after Race 10 had to be abandoned.

Olympic debutant McMahon had earlier in the day given herself an outside chance of getting into the top 10 when finishing seventh in Race 9.

That moved her up to 13th place overall but the abandonment of Race 10 ended her Olympic campaign.

Image source, Getty Images

Team Ireland players Stephanie Meadow and Leona Maguire both toiled on day one at the Olympic women's golf tournament as six-over-par rounds of 78 left them 13 off the pace.

Meadow, who was out in the first group at Le Golf National, carded seven bogeys with her only birdie coming at the par-five 18th.

Europe Solheim Cup star Maguire doubled bogeyed the first and a triple bogey at the ninth dropped her to seven over with three back-nine birdies doing little to undo the damage.

Home hope Celine Boutier leads after a superb eight-birdie 65 which gave her a three-stroke lead over South Africa's Ashleigh Buhai.

Only 11 players were under par nearing the end of play with world number one Nelly Korda sharing 12th place on level par.

Meadow, 32, went out in 41 shots after bogeys at the second, fourth, fifth, seventh and ninth.

The Jordanstown woman dropped further shots at the 10th and 12th before her only birdie of the day at Le Golf National came at the closing par-five 18th.

Despite not "having my best stuff" on day one, Meadow described her the experience of playing at her third Olympics as "fantastic".

"Being in the first group there were tons of French out there, some Belgians and quite a few Irish were behind me," said the county Antrim woman.

"It was great to have the support behind me and really for women's golf to play in front of crowds like that."

Meadow and Maguire were sharing 50th spot while Great Britain's Solheim Cup star Charley Hull was in third-last spot after an 81.

Image source, Inpho

Ireland athletes Mark English and Sarah Lavin both produced composed performances to reach the semi-finals of their events at the Olympics.

Letterkenny athlete English, 31, was runner-up in the second 800m heat after running a tactically impressive race as his time of 1:45.15 left him only 0.02 seconds behind new French star Gabriel Tual.

Lavin, 30, clocked 12.73 seconds - only 0.11 seconds off her personal best - to finish second in her 100m hurdles heat behind Jamaica's two-time World Champion Danielle Williams, who won in 12.59.

The Limerick woman finished ahead of Switzerland's Ditaji Kambundi who clocked 12.81 in third which was 0.40 down on her European Championships' silver-medal winning run in June.

The Irish woman was a disappointing seventh in the Rome final after clattering the first hurdle.

Sophie O'Sullivan and Sarah Healy both exited from the women's 1500m after finishing fourth in their repechage races.

Both missed automatic qualification for the semi-finals by one place on Tuesday after finishing seventh in the opening heats.

They suffered a similar fate on Wednesday morning as O'Sullivan's time of 4:03.73 left her 0.58 behind third-placed Spain's Esther Guerrero and Healy clocked 4:07.60 as she was 0.65 adrift of another Spaniard Aguedo Marques, who took the last qualifying spot.

Brian Fay failed to reach the 5,000m final after finishing 13th in 13:55.35 in a heat won by Jakob Ingebrigtsen as he regrouped from his disappointing fourth place in Tuesday's 1500m final.

The 5,000m heats were a chaotic affair with athletes falling in both races which left organisers faced with the difficult task of deciding whether some fallers should be given final berths.

Ireland's only realistic medal hope Rhasidat Adeleke competes in the women's 400m semi-finals in the evening programme at 19:45 BST.

Image source, Getty Images

Stephanie Meadow and Leona Maguire begin their bid for Olympic glory for Team Ireland in the women's golf first round at Le Golf National on day 12 of competition at the Paris Games.

Meadow, from Jordanstown in Northern Ireland, is competing in her third Olympic Games after a tied for 31st finish in 2016 and a seventh place finish at the 2020 Games in Tokyo. She tees off at 08:00 BST.

Maguire [11:17], like her teammate, will compete in the Olympics for a third time, and goes in as a strong contender, having won the Aramco Team Series in July, where she became the first Irish golfer to win on the Ladies European Tour.

In athletics, Ireland medal hope Rhasidat Adeleke is back in action at the Stade de France in the 400m semi-finals at 19:45.

The 21-year-old stormed her way through a comfortable heat on Monday morning 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.

Athletics and Taekwondo

Also in action in the Stade de France on Wednesday will be Team Ireland's Sarah Lavin in the first round of the women's 100m hurdles at 09:39 BST while Brian Fay competes in the first round of the men's 5000m at 10:30.

At 11:03 Mark English participates in the men's 800m round one before women's 1500m duo Sophie O'Sullivan [11:45] and Sarah Healy [11:57] take part in the repechage.

Jack Wooley is in round of 16 action in men's Taekwondo (-58kg) against Azerbaijan's Gashim Magomedov at 10:48.

Image source, Inpho

Ireland women's track cycling pursuit team finished in ninth position at the Olympics.

The Ireland quartet comprised of Lara Gillespie, Mia Griffin, Kelly Murphy and Alice Sharpe.

They missed out on a top-eight position by 0.242 seconds as Great Britain kept their hopes alive by qualifying in third spot.

Ireland's time of 4:12.447 seconds was a national record.

Ten teams were in action at the Olympic velodrome with the Irish finishing ahead of Japan.

Andy Gray
BBC Sport NI Journalist at the Stade de France

Image source, Inpho

Ireland's Sophie O'Sullivan says it "feels pretty good" to join her mother Sonia as an Olympian.

Sophie, 22, made her debut at the Games in the heats of the 1500 metres and narrowly missed out on an automatic place in the semi-finals.

Her mum was a silver medallist in the 5,000 metres at the Sydney Olympics in 2000.

"I saw that there had been only maybe three mother/daughter Olympians, so that's been fun," Sophie told BBC Sport NI after her heat.

"It feels pretty good. She is here with me and it's great to have her here."

On her Olympic debut, O'Sullivan put in a strong showing at the Stade de France and set a personal best to qualify for the repechage on Wednesday morning.

She believes she could have broken into the top six if not for a collision with Japan's Nozomi Tanaka with 150m remaining.

"Immediately, I'm a little bit disappointed as it's right there," she said.

"I really thought I had it but maybe that is the problem. When you think you have it you can get too excited.

"I didn't think it was very fast at all, which I guess is a good sign. I feel better than that.

"I got a big caught up and tripped at the last bend. That slowed me down and I can come back tomorrow and have a good crack at it."

Image source, Inpho

Ireland diver Jake Passmore narrowly missed out on qualification for the men's 3m springboard semi-final at the Olympic Games after finishing 21st overall.

Passmore, competing at his first Olympics, needed a top-18 finish to reach the semi-finals later on Tuesday.

The 19-year-old produced a combined total of 360.90 which was 2.25 points outside a qualifying spot.

Passmore looked set to progress when he stood in 11th place after his opening four dives but slipped out of contention over the two concluding rounds.

On Monday, Passmore's Ireland team-mate Ciara McGing had the misfortune to be inhibited by illness as she finished last in a field of 29 in the 10m platform qualification.

The Olympic debutant revealed that she had been hooked up to a drip over the previous 48 hours and would have been unable to compete if they event had been scheduled for Sunday.

Only the top 18 secured passage to Monday afternoon's semi-final as the qualifiers were led by China's HC Quan with 421.25 points.

McGing scored 188.50 from her five dives.

Image source, Inpho

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

Image source, Getty Images

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

Image source, Inpho

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.

Image source, Getty

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.

Image source, Getty

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.