Day 14 of the Paris Olympics: Toby ‘the Terminator’ Roberts in action
Medal hopes also at the athletics and cycling.
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Your support makes all the difference.It’s the final Friday of the Paris Olympics and there are 35 gold medals up for grabs.
Team GB are hoping to land some of those, with good chances again at the athletics and cycling.
However, could history be made by Toby ‘the Terminator’ Roberts in the climbing?
JUDGMENT DAY
Roberts and Hamish McArthur are in the mix to win Great Britain’s first-ever sports climbing medals at the Olympics.
Competition climbing made its debut at the Games in Tokyo three years ago when Team GB ended empty-handed, but Roberts and McArthur made the top eight in qualification to contest the gold medal at Le Bourget, where the action starts at 10.15am (9.15am BST).
Surrey-born Roberts lived up to his nickname of ‘The Terminator’ – so-called because of his gutsiness – by qualifying in second place at the tender age of 19.
MADISON MEDAL?
Elinor Barker and Neah Evans will target Madison gold for Great Britain in the velodrome at 6.09pm (5.09pm BST).
Dame Laura Kenny and Katie Archibald won the race when it made its Olympic debut in the women’s programme at the Tokyo Games three years ago, but Archibald’s injury means Team GB will turn to Barker and Evans – who just happen to be the reigning world champions.
Jack Carlin is through to the last four in the men’s individual sprint.
EARLY MORNING DIP
Hector Pardoe will be out to draw a line under a miserable experience in Tokyo when he has his second taste of the Olympics in the men’s marathon swim at 7.30am (6.30am BST).
In his debut Olympic appearance three years ago, Pardoe was caught by a stray elbow to the face and thought he had “lost an eye” which forced him to pull out of the race.
A bronze medallist at the World Aquatics Championships earlier this year, Pardoe has reason to believe this time will be different. Toby Robinson is another flying the flag for Team GB but it is Pardoe who seems likelier to claim their first marathon swim medal since Beijing 2008.
KJT IN THE MIX
Great Britain have five athletics opportunities for podium finishes, beginning with a women’s 4x100m relay final at 7.30pm (6.30pm) where the Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020 bronze medallists will look to upgrade their colour in France.
Their men’s counterparts go next at 7.47pm (6.47pm), followed by Amber Anning in a women’s 400 metres final at 8pm (7pm BST) also featuring Ireland’s Rhasidat Adeleke.
Reigning world champion Katarina Johnson-Thompson wraps up her fourth Olympic campaign with the heptathlon 800 metres at 8.25pm (7.25pm BST) alongside debutante Jade O’Dowda, before Megan Keith and Eilish McColgan take on the women’s 10,000 metres final at 8.57pm (7.57pm).
GOLD MED-AL
It was slim pickings for Team GB on Thursday, with just two medals.
But it was a golden day on the Med for Britain’s Ellie Aldridge – she became the first-ever Olympic gold medallist in kitesurfing with a brilliant performance in Marseille.
Back in Paris and in the velodrome, Emma Finucane bagged a bronze in the women’s keirin to take the Team GB tally to 51.