Another busy day in Paris is ahead of us, with a slew of New Zealand athletes stepping up for action across a raft of events. Across equestrian, swimming, cycling and canoe slalom, there are medals on the line, as well as a stack of other intriguing events taking place.
Monday, 3:00am
The Football Ferns played out a 1-2 defeat to Canada in their opening game in Paris, enduring what was a tumultuous lead-up to the game to ultimately fall short. McKenzie Barry scored a great set piece goal to get the kiwis into a 1-0 lead, but the Canadians equalised on the stroke of halftime before scoring a 79th-minute winner to hand New Zealand a 0-1 start to their campaign. Barry impressed at the back too, while Rebekah Stott and Katie Bowen were solid in central defence, but the game was soured as Macey Fraser hobbled off the field with an ankle injury. She is expected to miss Monday’s clash, hurting the depths of this Football Ferns team against a strong Colombian side.
With a world ranking of 22nd, the Colombians present New Zealand with another tough assignment in game two of their Paris campaign. Colombia were outclassed by France in their opener, falling 2-3 in Lyon. They showed good resilience, coming back from an 0-3 halftime deficit to get back to within a goal, but Chelsea forward Mayra Ramirez’s red card in the 85th minute all but sealed the defeat for the South Americans. Striker Catalina Usme was Colombia’s best in game one, and she will be a handful for New Zealand’s defence. This is a dangerous Colombian team and the kiwis look to be out of their depth here, but they will show attacking ambition and should find the back of the net.
Monday, 3:15am
Serbia arrive in Paris with the best player in the world at their disposal, and that will give them a genuine chance against almost any team. I say almost, because not even Nikola Jokić will be able to lift his team above this stacked USA lineup. Serbia went 3-2 in their warm up games, beating France, Japan and Greece and losing to Australia and the USA.
That defeat to the USA put the writing on the wall ahead of this clash, as the Americans won 105-79 on the back of an explosive 24-point showing from Steph Curry and a quick 16 points from Anthony Edwards. Of course, Jokić led the way for the Serbians, with 16 points and 11 rebounds, but the USA have all of the defensive tools to make life as difficult as possible for him and shut down his supporting cast.
It’s clear that the USA are going to Paris with revenge on their mind, after a dismal fourth-place finish at last year’s FIBA World Cup, and they will be out to prove a point on Monday morning. This is a stacked American team, featuring Joel Embiid, LeBron James, Curry, Edwards, Jayson Tatum and many more NBA superstars and they will be far too good for Serbia.
Monday, 3:30am
Belgium made no mistake in starting their campaign in Paris with a win. Taking on Ireland on Saturday, the third-ranked men’s team worked to a 2-0 win, with Tom Boon and Alexander Hendrickx getting onto the scoresheet. The Belgians will be happy to have recorded a clean sheet in their opener against the 11th-ranked team in the world, and just over 24 hours later they will be taking on the 10th-ranked New Zealand.
The Black Sticks Men’s were valiant in their first showing of the tournament but ultimately fell to India 2-3. Sam Lane opened the scoring in the eighth minute to give the kiwis a 1-0 lead but the Indians had clawed their way back in front by three-quarter time. Simon Child levelled the game at 2-2 in the final period, but the Black Sticks couldn’t hold on, as Harmanpreet Singh converted his last-minute penalty stroke to hand New Zealand an agonising defeat. That performance will encourage the kiwis but taking on a team that they haven’t beaten in their last nine meetings, they have an almighty challenge in front of them. That said, we have seen plenty of high-scoring clashes between these two nations, including a nine-goal affair last February, and I expect a free-flowing clash on Monday morning.
Monday, 1:30am
The women’s rugby sevens tournament gets underway early on Monday morning as foes Ireland and Great Britain square off. Everything on paper says this game will be an arm wrestle, with Ireland finishing the 2023/24 SVNS regular season in seventh place and Great Britain just one spot behind them in eighth.
There wasn’t much separating them in Madrid’s finals tournament either, with the Irish securing sixth place and Great Britain settling for eighth. However, it’s the Brits who have enjoyed bragging rights after their two most recent meetings in the Rugby Europe Sevens Series, first winning 19-0 and then 21-14. This game could go either way but getting the 3.5-point start, Great Britain are the play.
Monday, 4:00am
Mismatches bigger than this don’t come around all that often in the world of rugby sevens. New Zealand are one of the powerhouses in the women’s game and had another strong SVNS season, winning the last four tournaments to finish the league on top of the standings. They weren’t able to carry that form into the finals tournament, losing to Australia in the semifinals, but the Black Ferns Sevens still enter the tournament as betting favourites to go back-to-back after winning gold in Tokyo. Boasting a stacked squad that includes the rapid Michaela Blyde, Stacey Waaka, Portia Woodman-Wickliffe and young gun Jorja Miller, New Zealand are poised for a dominant opener.
China have had a successful 2024 so far, winning the World Rugby Sevens Challenger Series, thus qualifying for the top-flight SVNS series for the 2024/25 season. That’s a massive accomplishment for a nation that hasn’t tasted much success in women’s sevens, although their last time in Tokyo was promising, as they finished in seventh. However, as we saw in this year’s SVNS circuit, there is a massive gulf between the top and the bottom teams in the top flight, and with China not being used to this level of competition, they’re in for a shock on Monday morning.
Monday
The stars have aligned for Tsitsipas to make an impressive start in Paris. He is a former finalist at the French Open, would have gone deeper than the quarter finals on this court had he not run into Alcaraz last month, plays his best tennis on clay, and is a different player when he gets significant patriotic support in the crowd. We have seen this at the Australian Open in Melbourne and the United Cup in Sydney. Tsitsipas holds a 2-0 advantage in the H2H against Bergs and we can get a good guide from their battle at the Australian Open earlier this year. Bergs took the opening set but once Tsitsipas figured out his game, it was curtains. He dropped a total of only 5 games across the next three sets and on clay, a more favourable surface, I don’t expect this one to be close.
Equestrian
8:30pm Sunday: Eventing — Cross Country (Team — Open) and Eventing — Cross Country (Individual — Open)
Clarke Johnstone, Tim Price & Jonelle Price
Women’s Rowing (no betting available)
8:30pm Sunday: Coxless Pair Heat
Alana Sherman & Kate Haines
9:30pm Sunday: Lightweight Double Scull Heat
Shannon Cox & Jackie Kiddle
10:30pm Sunday: Coxless Four Heat
Davina Waddy, Jackie Gowler, Kerri Williams & Phoebe Spoors
Men’s Rowing (no betting available)
9:00pm Sunday: Coxless Pair Heat
Daniel Williamson & Phillip Wilson
10:50pm Sunday: Coxless Four Heat
Tom Murray, Logan Ullrich, Ollie Maclean & Matt Macdonald
Men’s Swimming
Sunday 9:00pm: 400m Individual Medley Heat
Lewis Clareburt
6:30am Monday: 400m Individual Medley Final
Lewis Clareburt*
9:00pm Sunday: 100m Backstroke Heat
Kane Follows
7:37am Monday: 100m Backstroke Final
Kane Follows*
Women’s Swimming
9:00pm Sunday: 200m Freestyle Heat
Erika Fairweather
8:00am Monday: 200m Freestyle Semifinal
Erika Fairweather*
6:45am Monday: 100m Butterfly Final
Hazel Ouwehand
Women’s Tennis
10:00pm Sunday: Doubles First Round
Erin Routliffe & Lulu Sun
Women’s Sailing
10:13pm Sunday: Foil Races 1-4
Veerle ten Have
1:35am Monday: 49er FX Races 1-3
Jo Aleh & Molly Meech
Men’s Sailing
11:43pm Sunday: Foil Races 1-4
Josh Armit
1:45am Monday: 49er Races 1-3
Isaac McHardie & William McKenzie
Women’s Cycling
Mountain Bike — Cross Country Final
12:10am Monday: Sammie Maxwell
Women’s Gymnastics
12:50am Monday: Artistic — Individual All-Around Subdivision 3
Georgia-Rose Brown
Women’s Canoe Slalom
1:30am Monday: K-1 Semifinal
Luuka Jones
3:45am Monday: K-1 Final
Luuka Jones*
Women’s Football
3:00am Monday: Match 2 v Colombia
New Zealand
Men’s Hockey
3:30am Monday: Match 2 v Belgium
New Zealand
Women’s Rugby Sevens
4:00am Monday: Match 1 v China
New Zealand
7:30am Monday: Match 2 v Canada
New Zealand
Women’s Surfing
5:00am Monday: Shortboard Heats — Round 2*
Saffi Vette
Men’s Surfing
9:48am Monday: Shortboard Heats — Round 2
Billy Stairmand