Today at the Games: Mallory Franklin and Matt Coward-Holley boost GB medal haul
Franklin’s canoe slalom silver and Coward-Holley’s shooting bronze took GB onto 18 medals at the end of day six.
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Your support makes all the difference.Mallory Franklin and Matt Coward-Holley were Great Britain’s medal successes on day six of the Tokyo Olympics, taking the team’s tally to 18.
Team GB had endured a frustrating start to the day until Franklin took silver in the women’s C1 canoe slalom and Coward-Holley clinched bronze in the men’s trap shooting.
It was not to be a fairy tale finish for Helen Glover and partner Polly Swann in the women’s pair after they finished fourth. Glover won the competition alongside Heather Stanning in 2012 and 2016.
Here, the PA news agency rounds up Thursday’s action and looks ahead to Friday.
What happened on day six?
Glover and Swann finished fourth behind New Zealand the Russian Olympic Committee and Canada in the women’s pair. Glover only returned to training in March of 2020 after almost four years out to start a family.
It was similar heartbreak for Imogen Grant and Emily Craig after they were beaten to bronze by Holland in the women’s lightweight double sculls final by just 0.01 of a second and, in the pool, James Wilby had to settle for sixth in the men’s 200 metres breaststroke.
But Team GB did manage to get back in the medals thanks to Franklin, who became only the second British woman to medal in canoe slalom with silver after hot favourite Australia’s Jessica Fox pipped her to gold and Coward-Holley, from Chelmsford, shot 33 of 40 which included a run of 14 in a row to finish third in the men’s trap.
Sixteen-year-old twins Jessica and Jennifer Gadirova placed 10th and 13th in the women’s all-around final in gymnastics and over at the Ariake Urban Sports Park, Kye Whyte and Bethany Shriever both earned passage to Friday’s semi-finals in the BMX Racing while the golf got under way on Thursday with Paul Casey fours shots off the lead after a four-under-par 67 with compatriot Tommy Fleetwood carding 70.
Elsewhere in the team sports, the men’s hockey team rallied from 2-0 down to earn a 2-2 draw with Holland and qualify for the quarter-finals, but the women and defending champions suffered a narrow 1-0 loss to Holland in a repeat of the 2016 final.
It was similar disappointment in the women’s sevens after New Zealand overturned a 21-point deficit to triumph 26-21. Yet Team GB can still progress from the pool with success over Kenya on Friday.
Social media moment
Coming up
Dina Asher-Smith begins her Olympic campaign on Friday with the heats of the women’s 100m while Marc Scott will attempt to step up in the absence of Mo Farah in the men’s 10,000m.
In the pool, Duncan Scott will lead the latest medal rush in the pool in the 200m individual medley and Luke Greenbank was second fastest in the heats for the 200m backstroke.
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