Day 5 Olympic Preview– Aussies in action today 28/7

Rohan Dennis (Wikimedia Commons)

Swimming is obviously been a sport Australia has dominated in over the last decade, but in recent years there have been great success stories in Australian cycling too. Aussie expectations are high on Wednesday with the men’s individual time trial.

Rowing–Finals Start @ 10:18 AM AEST

In the first day of rowing finals, four Australian teams are among the elite six. Australia is represented in the women’s four final (10:50 AM), the men’s four final (11:10 AM),  the men’s quadruple sculls final (11:30AM), and the women’s quadruple sculls final (11:50 AM). In the last four years, the Australian men’s fours won the 2017 and 2018 World Rowing Championships, and the Australian women’s fours won the 2019 World Rowing Championship.

Swimming–Finals start at @11:41am AEST

Wednesday will be another exciting day in the pool, with five Australians in the final. In the women’s 200 metre freestyle final (11:41 a.m.), Ariarne Titmus is the swimmer to beat. Even though she placed behind Federica Pellegrini of Italy at the 2019 World Aquatics Championships, Titmus has the advantage over Pellegrini in the Olympic final, as she was 1.62 seconds faster than Pellegrini in the heats. Titmus’s biggest rival appears to be Katie Ledecky of the United States, the 2015 world champion. Meanwhile, Australia will contend for a medal in the men’s 4x200m freestyle relay (1:26 p.m.) However, Great Britain looks to be the favourite as they were over a second faster than the United States and Australia in the heats.

Cycling–Men’s Individual Time Trial @3pm AEST

In 2018 and 2019, Rohan Dennis of Adelaide was the UCI world champion in the men’s time trial. He became only the second Australian to win the men’s time trial at the World Championships. Dennis followed Michael Rogers of Barham, who won three straight years from 2003 to 2005. Now it is Dennis’s time to shine on the Olympic stage. His major competitors are 2017 world champion Tom Dumoulin of the Netherlands, and 2020 world champion Filippo Ganna of Italy. Another cyclist who could do some damage is Belgium’s Wout van Aert, the Olympic silver medalist from the road race.

Other Aussies in action:

• Boxing–Women’s Middleweight Round of 16 (Caitlin Parker vs. Atheyna Bylon–Panama) @12:48 PM
• Tennis–Women’s Doubles Quarterfinals (Ashleigh Barty & Storm Sanders vs. Barbora Krejcikova & Katerina Siniakova–Czech Republic) @2PM
• Boxing–Men’s Light Heavyweight Round of 16 (Paulo Aokuso vs. Gazimagomed Jalidov Gafurova–Spain) @2:54PM
• Boxing–Women’s Featherweight Quarterfinal (Skye Nicholson vs. Karriss Artingstall–Great Britain) @ 6PM
• Australia vs. Spain Men’s Beach Volleyball (McHugh/Schumann vs. Herrera/Gavira) @ 6PM
• Tennis–Women’s Doubles Quarterfinals (Samantha Stosur & Ellen Perez vs. Belinda Bencic & Victorija Golubic–Switzerland) @6PM
• Tennis–Mixed Doubles First Round (Ashleigh Barty & John Peers vs. Nadia Podoroska & Horacio Zeballos–Argentina) @6PM
• Australia vs. Italy – Men’s Basketball @ 6:20PM
• Australia vs. Japan – Women’s Field Hockey @ 7:30PM
• Australia vs. Egypt – Men’s Football @ 9PM
• Australia vs. Italy Women’s Beach Volleyball (Clancy/Artacho Del Solar vs. Menegatti/Orsi Toth) @ 10PM
• Australia vs. New Zealand – Men’s Field Hockey @ 10:15PM