Start the final morning of Paris 2024 with The 42′s definitive guide to all the day’s action: when you need to be in front of the TV, all of the Irish involvement, and what other big stories should you look out for.
AFTER LAST NIGHT’S exhilarating Women’s 4x400m Relay final in which Ireland came agonisingly close to sealing an eighth medal, the curtain comes down today on a record-breaking Olympic Games for the country.
Sophie Becker, Rhasidat Adeleke, Phil Healy and birthday girl Sharlene Mawdsley took almost three seconds off the Irish record as they fell fractionally short of bronze in one of the fastest 4×400 races of all time.
And while last night’s Irish quartet will have already cast an eye towards getting onto the podium in Los Angeles in four years’ time, there still remain a couple of Irish athletes whose races in Paris aren’t yet run — or, eh, cycled.
Which Irish athletes are competing, and when can I watch them?
ATHLETICS: The great Fionnuala McCormack will this morning become the first Irish woman to have competed at five Olympic Games.
McCormack, who made her Olympic debut at Beijing 2008, is the first of two Irish athletes who will compete on the final day of Paris.
The 39-year-old Wicklow woman, a three-time European cross-country champion, will run the Women’s Marathon from 7am.
Evanne Ní Chuillin will bring live coverage of McCormark’s race on RTÉ2.
TRACK CYCLING: Another Wicklow native, Lara Gillespie, will compete in the Women’s Omnium from 10am.
The 23-year-old, who along with Alice Sharpe finished 11th in the the Madison event on Friday, will also be shown live on RTÉ2.
The Omnium scratch race will take place at 10am, the Tempo Race will begin at 10:57am, and the Elimination Race is scheduled for 11:53am.
Gillespie’s Points Race will take us into the afternoon with a start time of 12:56. This will be the final leg of the final event involving an Irish athlete at the Paris Games.
Do not miss…
The final 13 gold medals of Paris 2024 will be divvied out throughout the day. Among the standout deciders will be the women’s basketball final, a rematch of last night’s clash between hosts France and the USA. That one tips off at 3:30pm.
The Americans also feature in the women’s volleyball final, in which they’ll take on Italy earlier in the afternoon, from 1pm.
In men’s handball, meanwhile, Germany meet Denmark for gold at 1:30pm.
Perhaps the most febrile final of the day, however, will occur in the men’s water polo, in which neighbouring nemeses Serbia and Croatia meet at 2pm.
Plus, there’s the Closing Ceremony which will kick off at 8pm. RTÉ2′s live coverage will begin at 7:15pm.
Expect performances from Los Angeles music icons Snoop Dogg, Billie Eilish and the Red Hot Chili Peppers in a big-budget nod towards the LA Olympics in four years’ time. And expect Tom Cruise to pull off an insane stunt of some description. This is both pertinent to the Closing Ceremony and a handy rule for life in general.
It’s been a blast — enjoy the final day!
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Listen to our new podcast, Olympics Daily with Cooney and O’Carroll…
Episode 18:
Seems like a bit of a steal in this day and age of inflation. Never really got the chance at Dortmund, but he kicked on at Sociedad and seems to be quite a competent midfielder now.
Never heard of him
@Gary Galligan: Have u heard off brighton
@Gary Galligan: Anthony comes on. Man utd lose. Haha. Lol :-D
@Sean O’Maolain: Same as allways utd are so average