Reeves claims bronze kayak medal

Helen Reeves today won another medal for Team GB when she was promoted to bronze in the K1 kayak class of the canoeing.

Helen Reeves today won another medal for Team GB when she was promoted to bronze in the K1 kayak class of the canoeing.

The 23-year-old from Nottingham had originally been placed fourth in the final standings.

But a two-second penalty for third-placed Peggy Dickens of France - announced after the initial results came out - saw the pair swap places.

Reeves posted a combined score of 218.77 seconds for her semi-final and final, based on her aggregate time plus penalty seconds, to pip Dickens by 0.03secs.

Slovakian Elena Kaliska won the gold medal with 210.03secs, and American Rebecca Giddens took second place with 214.62secs.

But Stuart McIntosh missed out on a medal in the men's C1 class after a brave final run on the demanding course.

The 29-year-old finished eighth after turning over his canoe when attempting a particularly difficult manoeuvre.

Kate Howey's Olympic career is over after she was knocked out in the second round of the women's 70kg judo and then missed out on a place in the repechage.

The 31-year-old from Andover, who won bronze in Barcelona, silver in Sydney and was competing at her final Games, was worn down by Canadian Catherine Roberge on whom all her hopes then rested.

Had Roberge succeeded in beating German Annette Boehm in the last eight to reach the semi-finals, Howey would have qualified for the repechage and remained in with a chance of a bronze medal.

But those hopes were dashed as Roberge failed to reproduce the strength-sapping performance which accounted for Howey and was beaten by the world bronze medallist.

The men's coxless fours have a chance to add to Britain's medal tally on Saturday after booking their place in the final of the rowing competition.

The quartet - James Cracknell, Matthew Pinsent, Steve Williams and Ed Coode - bemoaned their boat speed after the heats four days ago, but they had no such complaints after a comprehensive win at Schinias.

Meanwhile, Katherine Grainger and Cath Bishop eased into Saturday's women's pairs final with a comfortable victory in their repechage race.

Their main rivals will be Belarus, their conquerors in the heats, plus former world champions Romania and Canada.

Britain's other medal hopefuls, women's double sculls duo Elise Laverick and Sarah Winckless, also progressed to the final with an impressive win in the repechage.

However, Ian Lawson's bid to make the single sculls final was ended by Estonia's Juri Jananson, the winner of the World Cup regatta in Poznan, and Tim Maeyens.

The Yorkshire-based sculler finished third in his semi-final, seven seconds adrift of second-placed Maeyens.

Toby Garbett and Rick Dunn also failed to qualify for the men's pairs final - but a gutsy display gave the newly-formed double act hope for the future.

They finished fourth in their heat, one place outside qualifying, and were devastated after nearly overtaking New Zealand's Nathan Twaddle and George Bridgwater just yards from the line.

Elsewhere, the double sculls combination of Matthew Wells and Matthew Langridge were also edged out in the battle for final places, finishing fourth in their race.

Meanwhile, Melanie Marshall's decision to withdraw from the 100metres freestyle paid instant dividends as she helped the team move within sight of a medal.

Marshall was in tears after finishing last in the 200m freestyle semi-finals on Monday, admitting: "I don't know what went wrong. There was nothing left."

She was scheduled to race in the fifth heat of the 100m today but was absent from the line-up when the swimmers emerged onto the poolside.

The 22-year-old from Lincolnshire was included in a list of British swimmers in action on day five given out by team officials this morning, but she was then withdrawn to concentrate on the 4x200m freestyle relay later in the session, in which Britain have a genuine medal chance.

That proved to be the right decision as Marshall produced a storming final leg to overtake the Australian team and win the first semi-final in a time of eight minutes and 01.77 seconds, with only the American quartet able to go faster in the second semi-final.

Marshall's swim capped a good morning for the team, no doubt lifted by Stephen Parry opening their account with a bronze medal in the 200m butterfly last night.

James Goddard and Gregor Tait also looked to be medal contenders after qualifying second and fifth fastest respectively for tonight's semi-finals of the 200m backstroke.

Edinburgh's Kirsty Balfour was less convincing but did make it through to tonight's semi-finals of the 200m breaststroke in a time of 2:29.78.

Robin Francis and Adrian Turner then completed a near-perfect session by qualifying for the semi-finals of the 200m individual medley.

China's women made it three wins out of three in the hockey tournament with a convincing 3-0 victory over Spain to edge closer to the semi-finals.

Sydney women's hockey bronze medallists Holland coasted to a 4-1 victory over Germany after Maartje Scheepstra, Ageeth Boomgaardt, Meik van Geenhuizen and Sylvia Karres all scored in the first half.