What to watch on Day 5 at Paris 2024
Thanks for joining us on the Paris 2024 live blog today. After another busy day in Paris, we’re now looking forward to Day 5.
There are a total of 18 medal events taking place on the fifth full day of competition at Paris 2024, Wednesday 31 July.
Katie Ledecky‘s dominance in the women’s 1500m free looks to continue in the pool as the U.S. swimmer looks for her second straight gold medal (9:04pm) in this still relatively new event at the Olympic level – she owns the 19 fastest times of all-time, and could make the top 20 entirely her own in Paris.
That’s one of just five finals in swimming on an exciting night at the Paris La Défense Arena.
Here are the day’s other top picks:
Artistic gymnastics – Hashimoto and Zhang renew head-to-head in men’s final
For the first time at an Olympic Games, Hashimoto Daiki of Japan and Chinese gymnast Zhang Boheng will get to face off against each other in the men’s individual all-around final (from 5:30pm).
In the last three years the pair have shared a closely fought, respectful rivalry, stretching from the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships to the World University Games and now they get to bring it to the Olympic Games.
Zhang narrowly beat Hashimoto to the world title in 2021; they swapped positions in 2022 with the Japanese gymnast taking gold and Zhang silver. However, in 2023, Hashimoto withdrew from the World University Games after a hard fall on pommel horse as Zhang won; then Zhang was assigned to the Asian Games on home soil in Hangzhou which he won, while Hashimoto retained his world title the week after in Antwerp as the pair did not face each other.
Hashimoto struggled in qualifying, but helped Japan pip People’s Republic of China in the men’s team final on Monday. This is the match-up to watch.
Swimming – 100m free finals on big night in pool
In addition to Ledecky, it’s a big night at the Paris La Défense Arena as swimming’s blue riband events, the women’s 100m freestyle (8:30pm) and men’s 100m freestyle (10:15pm), book-end the evening’s finals.
The men’s 100m free world record was broken in February at an out-of-season World Championships in Doha by China’s Pan Zhanle, while European record holder David Popovici of Romania will want to take it back. The 2023 world champion Kyle Chalmers of Australia is also in the mix. However, reigning champion Caeleb Dressel will not take part, having finished outside the top two at the U.S. trials.
Meanwhile, Tokyo 2020 silver medallist Siobhán Haughey of Hong Kong, China and current world champion Marrit Steenbergen of Netherlands are among the top names in the women’s event. The other two Tokyo medallists, Australia’s Emma McKeon and Cate Campbell, have not qualified in the event this year.
Medal events
Artistic gymnastics
17:30–20:05: M individual all-around final
Canoe slalom
17:25–18:10: W C-1 final
Cycling (BMX freestyle)
13:10–14:05: W park final; 14:45–15:40: M park final
Diving
11:00–11:50: W synchronised 10m platform final
Fencing
19:30–21:20: M sabre team medal matches
Judo
17:18–17:48: W -70kg medal contests; 17:49–18:19: M -90kg medal contests
Rowing
12:26–12:38: M quadruple sculls final A; 12:38–12:50: W quadruple sculls final A
Shooting
15:30–16:45: W trap final
Swimming
20:30: W 100m freestyle final; 20:37: M 200m butterfly final; 21:13: W 1500m freestyle final; 22:31: M 200m breaststroke final; 22:39: M 100m freestyle final
Triathlon
08:00–10:00: W individual final; 10:45–13:00: M individual final
Subject to water conditions
_Full daily schedule here._
