AS WE APPROACH the one week mark of the 2024 Paris Olympics, it’s been a great Games for Australia so far. At the time of writing, Australia is sitting at fourth on the medal table with eight gold medals, and all of those have come in spectacular fashion, with the swimmers cleaning up as usual, Jess Fox doing the double in the C1 and K1 slalom, and Grace Brown winning the road cycling time trial in a major upset. Even outside of Australian affairs, we’ve seen Simone Biles make her triumphant return, Gabriel Medina defying gravity in a photo taken mid-air, and Leon Marchand look like the second coming of Michael Phelps. But really, the Olympics are only just getting started.
There’s still ten more days of competition, with athletics events just about to start, team sports heading into the knockout stages and breaking soon to make its Olympic debut. As most Australians will now be aware, the schedule of Olympic events was clearly not catered to our time zone. For that reason, selecting which events you’re going to watch is an important task. You don’t want to commit to staying up past 12am or waking up at 4am unless it’s going to be worth it, but you also don’t want to risk missing out on a magical moment.
To put your mind at ease, we’ve hand-picked this weekend’s highlights, so you can focus on the events that matter. All dates and times are in AEST.
Friday night, August 2nd
INSTAGRAM | @australianboomers
Men’s golf, individual round 2 – 5:00pm
Rowing, women’s pair final – 6:54pm
The Australian duo clocked the second-fastest time in the heats and are likely to win a medal
Men’s field hockey, Australia vs India – 9:15pm
The Kookaburras close out the pool stage with a heavyweight clash.
Men’s basketball, Australia vs Greece – 9:30pm
This matchup could decide whether or not the Boomers make the quarterfinals.
Women’s water polo, Australia vs Canada – 10:00pm
Sailing, men’s windsurfing final – 10:23pm
Saturday morning, August 3rd
INSTAGRAM | @cam_mcevoy
Men’s basketball, Canada vs Spain – 1:15am
Depending on how the Boomers match earlier in the night goes, this game could determine whether or not Australia progresses to the knockout stages.
Swimming, men’s 50m freestyle final – 4:30am
Cam McEvoy looks to win the first Olympic gold medal of his career at age 30.
Swimming, women’s 200m backstroke final – 4:36am
Kaylee McKeown has already won gold in the 100m backstroke at these Games, can she do the double?
Swimming, men’s 200m individual medley final – 4:43am
Leon Marchand has already established himself as France’s national hero with three gold medals at these Olympics, here he’ll have a shot at a fourth.
Athletics, men’s 10,000m final – 5:20am
BMX racing, men’s final – 5:35am
Aussie Izaac Kennedy won a race during the heats and will be a dark horse for a medal.
BMX racing, women’s final – 5:50am
Saya Sakakibara won all three of her heat races and can complete her comeback story here. Anything short a medal would be a surprise, gold is a real possibility.
Saturday night, August 3rd
Rowing, women’s single sculls final – 6:18pm
Tara Rigney has looked like a star in the lead up to this final and will fancy herself a chance at a medal.
Athletics, men’s 100m preliminary round – 6:35pm
The road to discovering the world’s fastest man starts here.
Rowing, women’s eight final – 6:50pm
The Australian team has qualified but are only an outside chance of a medal.
Cycling, men’s road race – 7:00pm
Rowing, men’s eight final – 7:10pm
Similar to the women’s eight, the Australians will figure into this race, but a medal is unlikely.
Tennis, women’s singles gold medal match – 8:00pm
China’s Qinwen Zhang will face Croatia’s Donna Vekic for gold. Neither were expected to medal prior to the tournament.
Shooting, men’s skeet final – 11:30pm
Sunday morning, August 4th
INSTAGRAM | @jackrobinson72
Surfing, men’s semifinals – 3:00am
Jack Robinson is still alive here and win or lose this semifinal, he’ll surf for a medal in the bronze or gold medal match. We’d prefer gold.
Athletics, men’s shot put final – 3:35am
Swimming, men’s 100m butterfly final – 4:30am
Leon Marchand couldn’t possibly win five gold medals at a single Olympics, right?
Athletics, 4x400m mixed relay final – 4:55am
The burgeoning discipline of mixed relays are always fun to watch.
Swimming, women’s 200m individual medley final – 5:01am
Kaylee McKeown pulled out of this event in Tokyo, but she should medal in Paris.
Swimming, women’s 800m freestyle final – 5:08am
Both Ariarne Titmus and Lani Pallister could medal as they attempt to dethrone Katie Ledecky.
Swimming, 4x100m mixed medley relay final – 5:34am
Surfing, men’s gold medal match – 6:00pm
If all goes well, this will be Jack Robinson’s time to shine.
Sunday night, August 4th
Golf, men’s individual round 4 – 5:00pm
The final round of the men’s golf will decide the medals. Australia’s Jason Day is in contention.
Tennis, men’s singles gold medal match – 8:00pm
Fingers crossed for another Alcaraz v Djokovic matchup. Both are still in play at the semifinal stage.
Cycling, women’s road race – 10:00pm
Shooting, women’s skeet final – 11:30pm
Monday morning, August 5th
Swimming, women’s 50m freestyle final – 2:30am
Shayna Jack is Australia’s best medal hope.
Swimming, men’s 4x100m medley final – 3:06am
Should Australia medal, Kyle Chalmers will tie Ian Thorpe for the most medals by a male Australian Olympian.
Swimming, men’s 4x100m medley final – 3:26am
The Australian-American swimming rivalry will come to a head here.
Athletics, women’s high jump final – 3:55am
Both Nicola Olyslagers and Eleanor Patterson can win this event.
Women’s basketball, Australia vs France – 5:00am
Australia may need to win this match to ensure a place in the knockout stages.
Athletics, men’s 100m final – 5:50am
The next fastest man in the world will be determined in this race.
INSTAGRAM | @nojo18
Related:
The greatest Australian Olympians of all time, ranked
24 athletes to watch at the 2024 Paris Olympics
