Paris Olympics 2024: The big moments from day nine, including Noah Lyles’ 100m win and two high jump medals

1. Sprint king

He talked the talk. He (arguably correctly) said American sports teams who won national titles were not world champions. He was his own personal hype man and openly displayed a love of anime in a world full of jocks.

And now Noah Lyles has walked the walk, winning one of the best 100m finals in recent memory.

After bouncing out of the tunnel and onto the track pre-race, Lyles’ energy looked to have been misplaced early as he was eighth at the 30m mark, trailing in the wake of Jamaican star Kishane Thompson.

But once he was up to top speed, Lyles hauled in his rivals and pinched it by a nose — almost literally — on the line, surging past Thompson in the nick of time to win Olympic gold by 0.005 seconds.

It was the first time in history eight men had broken 10 seconds in a wind-legal race, and it will forever be defined by Lyles’ comeback.

2. High jump double-salvo

Australia are off the mark in the track and field events, with not one, but two medals in the women’s high jump and a familiar face was among the medals again.

Eleanor Patterson, the 2022 world champion and silver medalist at the 2023 event, exited at 1.90m, but shared the bronze with Ukrainian Iryna Gereschenko as the two were unable to be split on countback.

That left another Ukrainian Yaroslava Mahuchikh and another Australian — the journaling, defending silver medallist Nicola Olyslagers — in a face-off for the gold.

Mahuchikh cleared 2m at first go, before Olyslagers pulled out a massive jump on her third attempt to extend the final.

With Olyslagers going first, the pair both failed to clear 2.02 after two jumps, and a third failed attempt by the Australian meant the Ukranian won the gold on count-back.

Far from looking downbeat, Olyslagers appeared delighted to claim her second consecutive silver medal.

3. US edge swimming battle

It is the rivalry which has defined the pool in Paris: Australia vs USA.

And sadly for us, it was the Americans who narrowly prevailed after a strong final day of action.

The Aussies had led the swimming medal tally heading into the final session of day nine, but a pair of relay golds allowed the US side to jump us on the medal table with eight golds and 28 in total.

Still, Australia enjoyed a good final night, with the women taking silver in the 4x100 medley relay and Meg Harris producing an excellent swim to claim silver in the 50m freestyle.

The Dolphins finished with a fantastic haul of seven gold, eight silver and three bronze.

4. Djokovic’s ‘golden slam’

It was master vs apprentice at Roland-Garros, and the former emerged victorious to create a slice of history.

Alcaraz may have swept Djokovic off the court in the Wimbledon final last month, but the Serbian star had the last laugh on the red clay to win his first Olympic gold medal.

He prevailed in two tough tiebreakers over Alcaraz, neither of the pair dropping serve all match, but Djokovic proved better when it mattered to win 7-6 7-6.

In doing so, Djokovic became the third male player and fifth overall to win an Olympic gold medal and all four major tournaments, joining Andre Agassi, Rafael Nadal, Steffi Graff and Serena Williams.

5. Opals on a roll

It was put up or shut up time for the Opals as they stared down the barrel of an early exit in France.

But their quest for an Olympic medal will continue after they defeated France with a great performance to qualify for the quarter-finals.

Only a win would do for the Opals, and they duly delivered, putting some distance between themselves and France in the third quarter after they were tied at 34 apiece at the main break.

France came back late and ensured it would be a tense finish, but Australia did enough to see close out the game 79-72 and now face Serbia at 5pm on Wednesday.

6. Kookaburras out

It is all over for the Kookaburras, their efforts to match or outdo their Tokyo silver up in flames after they were beaten 2-0 by The Netherlands.

Duco Telgenkamp put the Dutch ahead early and Thijs van Dam doubled their lead in the fourth quarter.

It brings to a close a bitterly disappointing campaign for the Australians, who were thrashed by Belgium and beaten by India.

The loss will likely end the Olympic careers of veterans Eddie Ockenden and Andrew Charter, while it could also be the last time WA’s Aran Zalewski and Tom Wickham represent the Kookaburras at a Games.

7. Parker creates history

The odds were stacked against WA product Caitlin Parker in the women’s heavyweight quarterfinal, facing world champion, Moroccan Khadija Mardi.

A win guaranteed her a medal, while a loss would have sent her home heartbroken.

The stakes and pressure were high, but Parker was ice-cold as she put on a clinic to win all three rounds and become the first Aussie woman to win a boxing medal at the Olympics.

8. Gold Fox down!

It was one of the most tantalising battles of day nine as sister Jessica and Noemie Fox faced off in the same heat of Women’s Kayak Cross, looking for a spot in the quarterfinals.

It started poorly for Jess and Noemie raced into the lead.

Despite the rough start with just a pylon to go, Jess was hunting the second qualification place, having come from last.

However, a partial block saw her get stuck in the upstream, ending her hopes of a third gold as Noemie raced over the line first.

9. Scheffler cooks up a storm

American golfer Scottie Scheffler has had quite the year, to say the least.

He won his second Masters in April but in May was infamously arrested a few hours before his second round at PGA Championship.

Now he is an Olympic champion, staying strong when his rivals faltered to win by just one stroke, prevailing over Great Britain’s Tommy Fleetwood and Japan’s Hideki Matsuyama.

Australia’s Jason Day finished ninth but was still five shots off a medal, while Min Woo Lee finished in a tie for 22nd.

10. Hung(a)ry Stingers devour world no. 2

The Aussies Stingers earned the top spot in their pool with another nail-biting victory.

After icing the Netherlands in a shootout earlier in the competition, the Australians looked about to knock off Hungary in regulation.

However, they were forced to do it the hard way after a late equaliser.

Australia nailed all five of their penalty shots and rejoiced after Hungary missed one off the post, securing a top seed in the quarterfinals.