IT’S Day 7 at the Olympics and it’s a big one for the Irish, with three medal prospects taking part in what is the most eventful day of the Games for Team Ireland.
Rowers Claire Lambe and Sinead Lynch are the first of the three medal contenders, as they take to the water at 2.32pm in the final of the LW2X event.
That will be quickly followed by the men’s equivalent at 2.44pm, which will include affable Cork brothers Gary O’Donovan and Paul O’Donovan, with a medal up for grabs.
Later on this evening, race walker Alex Wright will look to medal in the 20km event, which begins at approximately 6.30pm.
Here’s a full breakdown on today’s 17 competitors for Team Ireland, plus the men’s hockey team who play Argentina tonight:
And here’s the situation
- Waterford golfer Seamus Power will begin even-par after a decent opening round, and with no cut to worry about he can relax and look to move up the leaderboard on Friday afternoon (12.52pm GMT).
- Power’s team-mate Padraig Harrington, a much more recognisable name, finished one-under par in Round 1, seven shots off the leader (Australia’s Marcus Fraser). He’s a lot more experienced than some of the names competing though, so don’t rule him out just yet. He begins his Round 2 at 1.36pm.
- Equestrian hopeful Judy Reynolds competes in the Grand Prix Final, which doubles up as a semi-final, so she’s one round away from getting herself into a medal position at 2.09pm.
- One of Ireland’s great hopes in athletics is Mark English, an undoubted talent who has unfortunately struggled with injuries. He should come through his 800metre heat today, and we’ll get a closer look at what condition he’s in at 2.50pm.
- Scott Evans competes in badminton against Germany’s Marc Zwiebler at 3.20pm before taking on home favourite Ygor Coelho De Oliveira of Brazil tomorrow.
- Weather permitting, the sailors will be out in the water by 5.05pm, with Matt McGovern and Ryan Seaton up first in the 49ER event (races 1, 2 and 3) before Annalise Murphy continues her quest in the Laser Radial (races 7 and 8).
- After that, it’s back to rowing, with Sanita Puspure hoping of keeping herself into medal contention by getting through her semi-final in the W1X event at 5.10pm.
- That may overlap with sailor Finn Lynch, a promising young sailor who is not expected to medal, but could pick up vital experience with Tokyo 2020 in mind. He’s out in the Laser event at 5.15pm.
- After Alex Wright’s race walk, attentions will turn to the men’s hockey team, the only field sport in which Ireland are represented in Rio. They still have hopes of reaching the quarter-finals, but they’ll have to beat Argentina. Their do-or-die game starts at 11.30pm.
See More: Ireland, Medals, Olympic Games, Olympics, Rio 2016
