Image source, Getty ImagesGreat Britain’s women’s hockey squad, including Cardiff’s Sarah Jones, are out of the Olympics after losing 3-1 to the Netherlands in the quarter finals.
The Netherlands scored in the first 45 seconds but Team GB were able to equalise from a penalty corner.
The Netherlands showed their class by clinching victory with two more goals.
Image source, Getty ImagesLow winds in Marseille meant Welsh sailors Micky Beckett and Chris Grube had their Monday races cancelled.
After his ninth and 10th races were called off, Beckett will now go into Tuesday's men's dinghy medal races in fourth place.
To claim bronze on his Games debut, he must beat third-placed Peruvian Stefano Peschiera by three places.
In the mixed dinghy event, Grube hopes he and helm Vita Heathcote's ninth and 10th races will go ahead after races seven and eight fell by the wayside.
If favourable winds return on Tuesday, Beckett's medal race should take place from 14:43 BST.
Grube and Heathcote's races - in which they hope to rise from 11th into the top 10 for the medal race - are scheduled to start from11:15 BST.
GB break World record in first track cycling appearance of the games
Watch as Great Britain break the women's team sprint world record during the track cycling qualifying rounds at Paris 2024.
Image source, Getty ImagesCarmarthen’s Emma Finucane helped Great Britain to a new world record in the qualifying round of the women’s team sprint at the Olympics.
In the first event of the track cycling programme at the Paris Games, the Team GB trio of Finucane, Sophie Capewell and Katy Marchant qualified fastest in the women’s team sprint with a time of 45.472.
They will now face Canada in the first round this evening. The next stage will then see the top two fastest trios face each other for the Olympic gold tonight.
Tom Brown
BBC Sport Wales
Image source, BBC SportEmma's parents, Rory and Susie, have driven from Carmarthen to Paris to cheer their daughter on
You know it's a big deal when you get the matching T-shirts printed.
But then again, it's not every day your oldest daughter becomes an Olympian.
Rory and Susie Finucane have hired a camper van and driven the whole family over from Carmarthen to Paris.
All worth it, as they're about to watch Emma compete at an Olympic Games.
Tom Brown
BBC Sport Wales
Image source, Emma FinucaneEmma (c) started riding in Carmarthen with her sister Rosie (l) and brother Sean (r)
It all started at Carmarthen Velodrome in 2011.
Eight-year-old Emma would go along with her sister, Rosie, and brother, Sean. She began with pink tassels hanging off her handlebars, but it was not long before she started training - and racing - with local cycling club, Towy Riders.
“Looking back at the 10-year-old me always has a special place in my heart,” she says. “Even when I’m competing today, 10-year-old Emma’s proud no matter what.
“I’m literally living her dream. If I told her, in 10 years time you’d be world champion going to your first Olympics, I would’ve been like ‘no I’m not’. I really need to cherish that. That’s what keeps me grounded.
“My family love me no matter if I cross the line last or first. They are my values and as long as I hold onto them, the outcomes will be what they will be.”
Image source, Getty ImagesDani Rowe (nee King) celebrates winning women's team pursuit gold at London 2012
Dani Rowe, Olympic gold medallist from London 2012, is among a host of former track stars that can't help but get excited about the potential of Emma Finucane.
The 21-year-old Welsh cyclist goes for Team GB in the women’s team sprint later today, and will also compete in the individual sprint and keirin.
“I’ve followed her journey from when she started riding and she’s tipped to be the next big superstar,” Rowe said.
“She is already a superstar of course, she is coming into the Olympics as the current world champion in the sprint, but she has got a huge opportunity to bring three gold medals home.
“I’ve been listening to a lot of podcasts recently about the pressure she is feeling coming into these Games, but I think she felt it in the world championships when there was a lot of attention on her.
“She said herself she had to take herself into the toilets and started crying because she felt so overwhelmed, but I think actually that will be advantageous coming into the Olympics, because she knows how to deal with that pressure.
“She’s got the best team behind her as well to make sure she’s well equipped to be able to deal with those nerves.”
Rowe agrees with the likes of Sir Chris Hoy and Dame Laura Kenny in thinking Finucane will be GB’s next golden girl.
“Looking at the whole of the track team, she is the one to watch because she has got the biggest chance of getting three gold medals," Rowe said.
“I think if they gain a gold today [in the team sprint] you almost get success breeding success, that motivation and inspiration for the whole of the team, not just Emma.
“Hopefully that will get the ball rolling and we will see the success we have had in previous Olympic Games on the track.”
Ceri Coleman-Phillips
BBC Sport Wales
Image source, BBC SportThree of Team GB's Paris cyclists got their start at Towy Riders
It may have been a miserable Monday, but Carmarthen’s soggy velodrome had a sprinkling of stardust this morning.
Olympic gold medallists Ed Clancy and Dani Rowe were guests at a special event hosted by Towy Riders to celebrate the achievements of their very own golden girl.
It was on this concrete track some 13 years ago where world champion Emma Finucane rocked up on a mountain bike with beads on the spokes and streamers on the handle bars.
“She just wanted to ride around in circles and have fun,” recalled her first coach Robyn Davies.
Fast forward to the Paris Olympics and Finucane, now 21, has Team GB medal hopes on her shoulders as the track cycling gets under way this afternoon.
“There was a little something with Emma, we used to do lots of skills, riding between cones, learning how to corner and brake, but at the end of every session we used to do races, and there was a switch that used to turn on with her, she wanted to win," added Davies.
“She’d race against anyone, boys, girls, older kids, she wanted to win and most of the time she did."
Davies thinks Finucane has got what it takes to bring home the gold.
“We are so glad that she’s just there as an Olympian, she is the form athlete, she is the world champion, she’s the one with the speed," he said.
"If everything goes to plan and she’s able to show her talent, there is absolutely no reason she can’t get one, maybe three gold medals.
“The town will go nuts if she does.”
Image source, Getty ImagesWelsh swimmer Matt Richards said he was "hungrier than ever" for Olympic medals after taking his overall tally to three with a gold and silver in Paris - but he has also got a hunger for Welsh cakes!
The morning after finishing fourth in the men’s 4x100m medley relay, Richards reflected on his 2024 games and paid tribute to the support of his family.
"They've been amazing, my mum, dad, grandparents, my fiancee and just the wider family, everybody's been rallying behind me and supporting me," the 21-year-old freestyler told BBC Radio Wales Breakfast..
"I can't wait to get home and see them all and hopefully granny will have some Welsh cakes made for me when I get back."
Unlike the Covid-affected Tokyo Games three years ago, when Richards won relay gold, this summer he was able to share his successes with some family members in Paris.
"I'm very much a family man, my family are the most important thing in the world to me," said Richards.
"Being able to share the whole experience with them and finish my races, whether it's been a good one or a bad one, to be able to get out and give them a hug just makes it that little bit more special.
"This is what I do it for, doing it for my family. It's been truly incredible to have them here and hopefully long may it continue."
Richards missed out on becoming the first Welsh athlete to win three Olympic medals at a single Games as GB finished fourth in the men’s 4x100m medley.
The gold was won by China leading to Richards' team-mate Adam Peaty saying "there's no point winning if you're not winning fair".
Two of the four gold medallists, Qin Haiyang and Sun Jiajun, were among 23 Chinese swimmers who reportedly returned positive doping tests prior to the Tokyo Olympics.
They were not banned because the China Anti-Doping Agency determined they had unintentionally ingested the substance because of contamination.
"When people have tested positive in the past it always makes you question their integrity going forwards," Richards added.
"We have to try and trust in the processes that are in place to trust that last night they were clean and that we were beaten fair and square."
Image source, Getty ImagesHere are all the timings (BST) for the Welsh Team GB athletes competing today:
13:45 Men's dinghy - Michael Beckett
14:35 Mixed dinghy - Chris Grube and Vita Heathcote
16:00 Women's team sprint track cycling - Katy Marchant, Sophie Capewell and Emma Finucane
16:30 Women's hockey quarter-final - Netherlands v GB (including Sarah Jones)
17:55 Cycling - women's team sprint first round (possibly involving GB & Emma Finucane)
18:55 Cycling - women's team sprint first round (possibly involving GB & Emma Finucane)
Image source, Getty ImagesIt's big day ahead at the Olympics for one of Wales' rising sporting stars.
Emma Finucane is already a world champion at 21 years of age and could add an Olympic gold to her collection tonight.
The sprint cyclist from Carmarthen won Britain's first individual female sprint world gold in a decade last year and is the first British female to become European champion.
Tonight in Paris she and her GB team-mates are aiming for team sprint glory. Finucane is also aiming to be in Thursday's keirin final and the women's individual sprint on Sunday, the last day of the 2024 Games.
But back to today - in hockey Sarah Jones and her team-mates face Netherlands in the women's quarter-finals at 16:30 BST.
Meanwhile Welsh sailor Micky Beckett is well placed to reach the men’s dinghy medal races.
He lies fourth after eight races so far. Only the top 10 at the end of race eight get the chance to compete for medals.
Also on the water in Marseille, Chris Grube and partner Vita Heathcote hope to return to the top 10 after falling five places to 11th on Sunday. Grube and Heathcock are scheduled to go in their seventh and eighth races on Monday.
Tom Brown
BBC Sport Wales
Image source, Getty ImagesMatt Richards won a gold and silver medal at his second Games in Paris
He may have won two Olympic golds and a silver by the age of 21, but Matt Richards wanted more from his second Games here in Paris.
Richards missed out on the 200m freestyle title by just 0.02 seconds - as well as finishing 4th and 5th in two relays.
"I thought I was capable of more," he told me. "I still think I probably was capable of more.
"It was a tight finish on the 200m [freestyle] that cost me a gold. I didn't quite get the 100m [freestyle] right this week.
"But I'm walking away from my second Olympics at 21 with two medals at this meet - three medals across two Games, I can't be too hard on myself.
"There's more to come. I'm nowhere near done and I'm hungrier than ever."
Richards will return home now with another big event on the horizon - he gets married to his fiancée Emily in three weeks.
Image source, Getty ImagesSwimmer Matt Richards just failed in his bid to become the first Welsh competitor to win three Olympic medals at a single Games after helping the men’s 4x100m medley relay team finish fourth in Paris.
Richards was joined by Ollie Morgan, Adam Peaty and Duncan Scott in the quartet who just finished off the podium, with China winning the event and USA and France taking silver and bronze respectively.
Richards, 21, had already won gold in the 4x200m freestyle relay and silver in the individual event in Paris, while enjoyed relay gold three years ago in Tokyo three years ago.
Paulo Radmilovic remains Wales' most successful Olympian after winning a quartet of golds in swimming and water polo between 1908 and 1920.
Equestrian rider Richard Meade won three golds at two Games in 1968 and 1972, while Richards remains level with sailor Hannah Mills who claimed two golds and a silver in three Games in 2012, 2016 and 2021.
Geraint Thomas (cycling), Tom James (rowing), Jade Jones (taekwondo) and Hugh Edwards (rowing) have all won two Olympic golds.
Image source, Getty ImagesMicky Beckett (L)and Chris Grube are in contention to be involved in 2024 Olympics sailing medal races
There were mixed fortunes in Marseille for Welsh sailors Micky Beckett and Chris Grube on Sunday.
Beckett ended day four of his men’s dinghy campaign fourth overall after being disqualified in race seven and finishing eighth in the next.
On Monday Beckett will aim to secure his place in the top 10 who progress to the medal races.
However, it was a tougher Sunday for Chris Grube and partner Vita Heathcote in the mixed dinghy.
They were 12th in race five and disqualified in race six for starting early, sending them to 11th place after going into the day in sixth.
Grube and Heathcote will aim to redeem themselves on Monday in their races seven and eight.
Tom Brown
BBC Sport Wales
Image source, Getty ImagesEmma Finucane, Jeremiah Azu, Matt Richards and Ruby Evans are part of the Welsh contingent in Team GB
So with Clara Evans on her way to Paris after her late call-up to join Team GB's marathon runners, that's now 33 Welsh athletes who'll compete at the Games.
A record number at an Olympics.
The previous record was 32 way back at London 1908 - but back then Wales had the advantage of sending their whole hockey team (they won bronze by the way).
19 of the 33 in Paris are making their Olympic debuts too. A summer to remember, for sure.
Image source, Rex FeaturesClara Evans has become Wales' 33rd Team GB competitor at the Paris Games.
The 30-year-old has replaced injured Charlotte Purdue for the women's Olympic marathon on Sunday, 11 August.
Purdue has been ruled out by an ankle injury, giving Pontypridd Roadent runner Evans her chance to make an Olympic debut.
Evans will join Calli Hauger-Thackery and Rose Harvey in the final athletics event at Paris 2024.
She has a best time of 2:25:01 and finished ninth at the 2022 Birmingham Commonwealth Games for Wales.
Image source, Getty ImagesThe Paris 2024 Olympic medal dreams of Welshmen Rupert Shipperley, Jacob Draper and Gareth Furlong are over.
The Team GB men's quarter-final against 10-man India went to a shootout after the game ended level at 1-1 in normal time.
It was India who held their nerve in the shootout to win 4-2 and reach the semi-finals as Conor Williamson missed and Phillip Roper's effort was saved.
Image source, Getty ImagesWith gold and silver to his name already in Paris, Welsh swimmer Matt Richards has eyes on the podium again on Sunday.
Richards is the main focus of Welsh attention for the day, this time as GB's men seek more glory in the 4x100m medley relay final, scheduled for 18:10 BST.
Richards already has men's 200m freestyle silver and a 4x200m freestyle gold medal to pack when the Games end.
Rupert Shipperley, Jacob Draper and Gareth Furlong are already in action with GB men level 1-1 against India in the hockey quarter-finals.
There is also more sailing action with Micky Beckett in the men's dinghy and Chris Grube in the mixed dinghy alongside Vita Heathcote.
Beckett is due on the water for a 11:05 race start while Grube and Heathcote's scheduled start is 16:05 BST.
GB’s Jeremiah Azu disqualified after false start in the 100m heats
What a mixed day it has been at the Paris Olympics for Welsh athletes.
We started the day with two rowing gold medals as cox Harry Brightmore claimed gold in the men's eight, while Eve Stewart was part of the women's boat that won bronze.
We then had the heartbreaking drama of sprinter Jeremiah Azu being disqualified in the heats of the men's 100m following his clear false start.
Sailors Micky Beckett and Chris Grube remain in medal contention, while cycling duo Josh Tarling and Stevie Williams completed a gruelling men's road race that lasted more than six hours.
On Sunday, all eyes will be on swimmer Matt Richards as he bids to add a third medal of the 2024 Games in the 4x100m men's medley relay and his fourth Olympic podium position in all.
Olympic Games 2024: Family proud of Jeremiah Azu after false start
The family of Jeremiah Azu have paid tribute to the sprinter who was disqualified from the Olympic men's 100m heats following a false start.
His brother Sam was very emotional as he said he was proud of Jeremiah putting the family’s name on the world stage.
Azu's father Alex says his son will come back stronger in the 4x100m relay next week.
Image source, Getty ImagesAt the sailing in Marseille, Solva’s Micky Beckett has lifted himself to second in the overall standings of the men's dinghy after two races on Saturday.
Beckett finished in fourth place in both races to climb into a medal position. There are four more regular races before the medal race early next week.
Elsewhere on the water, Chris Grube finished day two of the mixed dinghy competition in fifth place with helm Vita Heathcote.
The pair came eighth in race 3 and fifth in race 4.
They are back in action in Marseille tomorrow for races 5 and 6 from 16:05 BST.
Image source, Getty ImagesWelsh cyclists Stevie Williams and Josh Tarling finished 31st and 47th respectively in the men's road race in Paris.
Belgium's Remco Evenepoel survived a late puncture to secure a dominant victory and add to the gold medal he won in the time trial seven days ago.
The 2022 world champion becomes the first man to win both road cycling events at the same Games.
Harry Brightmore: Cox dedicates rowing gold to 'special' Welsh grandma
Cox Harry Brightmore dedicates his medal to his Welsh grandmother after guiding the Team GB men's eight to gold at the Olympics in Paris.
