Olympics 2021: Five unmissable events on Day 15 and when to watch
Our work in the Olympic stadium is not done with yet, and there are medals to be won in the velodrome and, hopefully, finally in the basketball.
Here are five events to watch on Day 15 of the Tokyo Olympics.
Women’s marathon, 8am AEST
It could well be a clean sweep for the Kenyans in this one. The world record holder, Brigid Kosgei hasn’t lost a marathon since London 2018 and although her only race this year, a half-marathon, didn’t set the world on fire, she rightly deserves top billing here.
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Her compatriots Peres Jepchirchir and world champion Ruth Chepngetich will be her biggest threats and could even take all three medals home.
The Australian to watch for here is Sinead Diver, who moved to Melbourne from her native Ireland almost 20 years ago.
She set a personal best time of 2hr 24min 11sec in the 2019 London Marathon, where she was the seventh woman home, and was fifth in the New York Marathon the same year.
Men’s Madison final, cycling, 5.55pm AEST
Back on the Olympic program after being removed for the past two editions because there wasn’t a female equivalent, the men’s Madison is a frantic spectacle.
Sixteen teams of two are all on the track at the same time, and it’s a tag team event where teams can swap riders competing at any time over the 200-lap race. Points are earned for sprints every 10 laps.
Sound hectic enough for you?
Denmark won the world title last year from New Zealand and Germany, but there is hope for Aussie pair Leigh Howard and Sam Welsford.
At the 2019 world cup, they recorded the fastest average speed ever in a Madison race of 59.921km/h. So they are quick, and could be in with a shot at a medal in this one.
Women’s high jump final, 8.35pm AEST
Our chances of gold in the track and field are not over yet. Nicola McDermott isn’t just a medal chance, she has to be one of the favourites to take out gold.
The 24-year-old was not only the top-ranked jumper out of the qualifying round, she also has two of the four best jumps in the world this year.
She broke the national record with a 2m jump in Sydney in April, then broke it again with a 2.01m effort in Stockholm a few weeks before the Olympics.
Her biggest threat in the final here is Ukrainian Yaroslava Mahuchikh – who jumped a 2.03m in that Diamond League meeting in Stockholm, the biggest jump of the year – and American Vashti Cunningham.
Fellow Australian Eleanor Patterson is not to be forgotten either in this final.
She was ranked equal-fourth from the preliminary round after hitting the automatic qualifying marker of 1.95m on her second attempt.
Australia v Slovenia, men’s basketball bronze medal match, 9pm AEST
There was a moment there where we dared to dream. The Boomers were 15 points up against Team USA in the semi-final and it was all going to script.
But after half-time, the Americans flicked the switch and blew Australia out of the water. They went to a level we couldn’t match, and the result was a crushing 19-point loss.
We’ve finished fourth four times at the Olympics, but the Boomers have to find a way to pick themselves up and secure our first ever men’s medal at a major tournament against Slovenia here.
France plays the Americans for gold from 12.30pm AEST.
Men’s 1500m final, 9.40pm AEST
Another night, another two Aussies in the 1500m final.
After Linden Hall and Jessica Hull ran the women’s 1500m final last night, it’s time for Stewart McSweyn and Ollie Hoare to do the same in the men’s.
McSweyn is our best medal hope, but put a scare through anyone watching the semi-final when it looked for a moment that he might not make the top five and automatically qualify for the final.
But a strong finish allayed those fears and he should be in contention here.
He has two of the top 10 fastest 1500m times this year. His biggest rivals in this one are Kenyan Timothy Cheruiyot and Norwegian Jakob Ingebrigtsen.
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