| Dates: 23 July-8 August Time in Tokyo: BST +8 |
| Coverage: Watch live on BBC TV, BBC iPlayer, BBC Red Button and online; Listen on BBC Radio 5 Live, Sports Extra and Sounds; live text and video clips on BBC Sport website and app. |
Mallory Franklin won canoe slalom silver as shooter Matthew Coward-Holley claimed trap bronze but there were mixed fortunes elsewhere for Great Britain on day six of the Tokyo Olympics.
Franklin came second behind Australia’s Jessica Fox in the women’s C1 to win Britain’s 18th medal.
Moments earlier, world champion Coward-Holley was third in the trap, shooting 33 of 40 in the final.
Overnight, rowers Helen Glover and Polly Swann missed out on a fairytale finish to their story as they finished fourth in the women’s pair.
It was fourth too for Emily Craig and Imogen Grant as they missed the medals by just 0.01secs in the lightweight women’s double sculls, while in the pool, James Wilby placed sixth in the men’s 200m breaststroke final.
Britain’s rowers have now finished fourth in five events at the Sea Forest Waterway.
Two new Olympic records were set in swimming finals, first by Australia’s Izaac Stubblety-Cook in the 200m breaststroke before American Caeleb Dressel did so in the 100m freestyle.
China held off a late surge by the USA to win the women’s 4x200m freestyle relay in a world-record time of seven minutes 40.33 seconds.
Here’s a round-up of other news:
- GB’s Emma Wilson is guaranteed at least a bronze medal in windsurfing.
- American Sunisa Lee won gymnastics all-around gold as defending champion Simone Biles watched from the stands after withdrawing to prioritise her mental health. Rebeca Andrade’s silver was the first for a Brazilian female gymnast while GB’s twin sisters Jessica and Jennifer Gadirova were 10th and 13th.
- Two-time Olympic swimming champion Adam Peaty helped Great Britain win their heat in the new 4×100 mixed medley relay where men and women compete against each other, while Duncan Scott was second fastest in reaching the 200m individual medley final.
- Team GB riders Kye Whyte and Bethany Shriever reached the men’s and women’s BMX semi-finals.
- In women’s hockey, defending champions Great Britain went down 1-0 to Rio 2016 runners-up the Netherlands, while the men drew 2-2 with the Dutch.
- GB’s women’s rugby sevens team won their opening pool match against the Russian Olympic Committee 14-12, but then lost 26-21 to New Zealand.
- British boxer Frazer Clarke won his opening super-heavyweight bout.
- Toby Penty was knocked out of the men’s singles badminton, ending GB’s campaign.
- Ireland won their first gold medal of the Tokyo Olympics as Paul O’Donovan and Fintan McCarthy won the lightweight men’s double sculls.
- Three members of the Australian athletics team are isolating after close contact with US pole vaulter Sam Kendricks, who has tested positive for Covid-19.
Franklin paddles to silver
Canoe slalom was first introduced at the 1972 Olympics, but this was the first time the women’s C1 competition had been staged and Franklin was the fastest qualifier.
The 27-year-old from Windsor was in gold medal position until the last run before Fox, a four-time C1 world champion, went 3.64secs quicker to become Australia’s first female Olympic canoeing champion.
Franklin is only the second British woman to win a canoe slalom medal at the Olympics, after Helen Reeves’ K1 bronze in Athens in 2004.
“It was so stressful being sat up there on the start line, but I had a moment where I thought ‘I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else’ – it’s just really cool,” Franklin told BBC Sport.
Coward-Holley shoots for bronze
Coward-Holley entered the Tokyo Olympics as the reigning world and European trap champion but his chance of Olympic gold slipped early on after missing three of his first 10 targets.
The 26-year-old, who previously played rugby before breaking his back, recovered with 14 successive hits to climb into medal contention.
His final score wasn’t enough to challenge for the title, with Czech pair Jiri Liptak and David Kostelecky involved in a shoot-off to take gold and silver respectively.
“It’s a little bit of a mix of emotions. I’m a little bit lost for words,” said Coward-Holley, of Chelmsford.
“It’s my first Olympics so to come away with a medal, it’s phenomenal.”
GB rowers miss out on more medals
Glover and Swann only teamed up in the women’s pair earlier this year. Double Olympic champion Glover came back following a break to have her three children and Swann returned after working as a doctor during the Covid-19 pandemic.
The European champions could not add another Olympic medal to their collection, finishing more than two seconds off bronze as New Zealand won gold.
“In Rio I said it was my last one. This time I’m saying ‘no, it’s definitely it’,” said Glover, 35.
Craig and Grant were agonisingly edged out by the Netherlands for bronze as Italy pipped France to gold, with the four crews separated by just half a second.
So far Great Britain – leading rowing nation at the last three Games – have won only one rowing medal, silver in the men’s quadruple sculls on Wednesday.
Wilby misses out in pool
Commonwealth Games champion Wilby was second fastest in the 200m breaststroke semi-finals but faded in Thursday’s final as Stubblety-Cook set a new Olympic record of of 2:06.38 to win the race.
“Physically and mentally it hurts,” said the 27-year-old Briton after touching the wall 1.06secs off the bronze medal time.
“It is hard, the way I swim it has to be a perfect balancing act and if I am off ever so slightly it really pays off in a bad way.”
Britain’s Alys Thomas finished seventh in the 200m butterfly final but touched home in 2:07.90, knocking off more than a second from her semi-final time.
Scott, who has won two medals so far in Tokyo, eased into the 200m individual medley final while Luke Greenbank qualified quickest for the 200m backstroke final.
Anna Hopkin is into the 100m freestyle final while Molly Renshaw and Abbie Wood both booked their places in the 200m breaststroke final.
American Dressel won his second gold of the Games and remains in contention for a further four medals.
Only two swimmers in Olympic history have won more than six medals at a Games – Michael Phelps with eight in Beijing in 2008 and Mark Spitz with seven in Munich in 1972.
What’s coming up on Friday?
Athletics gets under way on day seven in Tokyo with Team GB sprinter Dina Asher-Smith in action, while the rowing comes to a close with Great Britain looking for their first gold medal of the regatta.
- Athletics – Men’s high jump and discus qualifying feature alongside early rounds of the women’s 800m, men’s 400m hurdles, and women’s 100m – where world silver medallist Dina Asher-Smith starts her campaign (02:15-03:03).
- Rowing – The British men’s eight, champions at Rio 2016, will seek a second gold medal, but must improve on their third at the 2019 world championships. Events run from 00:45 to 02:55, including GB’s Vicky Thornley (01:33) in the women’s single sculls. The US could win a fourth consecutive gold in the women’s eight.
- Swimming: Home hope Daiya Seto, the men’s 200m individual medley world champion, goes for gold (03:10) after a year in which his personal life – and admission of an affair – has made headlines. He’ll expect to face stiff opposition from American Michael Andrew. British hopes include Luke Greenbank in the men’s 200m backstroke (02:40) and Freya Anderson in the women’s 100m freestyle final (03:25).
- Cycling: One of the great Games spectacles comes with the BMX event (02:00-04:20). GB’s Kye Whyte was fifth at the 2019 world championships. The US have defending champion Connor Fields, while Colombian two-time Olympic gold medallist Mariana Pajon bids to stop American Alise Willoughby in the women’s event.
- Football: GB topped their group in and face an Australian side led by Chelsea striker Sam Kerr in the women’s quarter-finals. (10:00).