Category: Olympic Games Paris 2024

Kenya’s Kipchoge confirmed for shot at Olympic marathon history

May 1, 2024

Eliud Kipchoge will attempt to become the first athlete to win three Olympic marathon titles after the former world record holder was confirmed in Kenya’s team for Paris 2024.

The 39-year-old had an underwhelming start to his year by , his worst performance over 26.2 miles.

But Kipchoge has shown form in the past year, winning September’s Berlin Marathon in 2:02:42 – the third quickest time of 2023. He will attempt to add to his triumphs at Rio 2016 and the Covid-delayed Tokyo 2020 when he competes at a fifth Games, having made his debut as a 5000m bronze medallist at Athens 2004.

Kipchoge is joined in the men’s team by 2024 Tokyo Marathon champion Benson Kipruto, a former winner of both Boston and New York events, as well as Alexander Mutiso Munyao, who claimed his first major victory in London last month.

Obiri has made an impressive step up to marathon level, winning and taking victory in New York in November, with the double track world champion using her finishing speed to take apart the rest of the field.

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Obiri secures back-to-back wins at Boston Marathon

It means an intriguing rivalry with the Netherlands’ Sifan Hassan is likely to be resumed, which could be one of the highlights of the athletics programme in Paris.

Hassan beat Obiri to 5000m gold at the Tokyo Olympics three years ago and has also made a big impression on the marathon circuit, winning in London and Chicago last year before a more humbling fourth place in Tokyo in March.

A stellar line-up is completed by former world record holder Brigid Kosgei, who is beginning to return to form after injury forced her out of the London Marathon last year having barely run 200m.

Kosgei won the Abu Dhabi Marathon at the end of last year and followed that up with a fifth place finish in London.

2022 New York champion Sharon Lokedi will be the first reserve for the women, with Timothy Kiplagat, who finished second in Tokyo, taking that position for the men. Ruth Chepngetich, Rosemary Wanjiru and Vincent Kipkemoi Ngetich, who were all on the original shortlist, miss out completely, as does Evans Chebet.

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‘Look what it means!’ – Jepchirchir breaks women’s only world record to win London Marathon

Kipchoge’s biggest threat could come from within his own team, though Ethiopia’s Boston Marathon champion Sisay Lemma will also go off as one of the favourites.

Women’s world record holder Tigst Assefa and world champion Amane Beriso will also be involved for Ethiopia, in a stacked field.

discovery+ is the streaming home of the Olympic Games, and the only place you can watch every moment of Paris 2024 this summer

Nadal ‘hugely’ excited at prospect of playing doubles with Alcaraz at Paris Olympics

April 27, 2024

While doubts still swirl about his participation at the French Open, Rafael Nadal is at least excited about the prospect of partnering fellow Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz at the Paris Olympics this year.

Singles world No. 3 Alcaraz has previously expressed his desire to play alongside the tennis icon, who is winding down his career after being plagued by injuries over the past year.

A hip issue kept Nadal sidelined for most of last season, and the Madrid Open is just his third tournament this year.

He says he shares Alcaraz’s wish, and hopes that the pair can get some time together on the court before the tennis competition at the Games, which will take place on clay at Roland-Garros where Nadal has won 14 major titles.

Both players are competing at the Madrid Open this week and Nadal spoke on the IGUALES podcast, putting an admittedly nervous Alcaraz at ease about partnering up.

“Carlos doesn’t have to ask me anything, all things being well, we’ll play,” Nadal said. “It’s also hugely exciting for me. If I’m not mistaken, I’ve heard it is for him too.

“So it would be great to play the odd tournament before the Olympics to prepare ourselves and to get some rapport on court.”

Nadal recently returned to competition in Brisbane in January before a thigh issue arose, returning in Barcelona earlier this month where he lost to Alex de Minaur in the second round.

He played his first match in Madrid on Thursday, cruising past 16-year-old Darwin Blanch, but was clear that his body didn’t feel tested and his participation at Roland-Garros is still up in the air.

Despite that, the 37-year-old is eyeing up a third gold medal in Paris this summer after triumphing in singles in the 2008 Beijing Games and doubles eight years later in Rio, while Alcaraz will be making his Olympic debut.

“I think if we’re both fit enough, why not? We could have the chance to form a great team and aspire to great things,” Nadal said of the partnership.

“It would be good for both of us. It would also be good for the Spanish team, so we’ll see how things progress.”

Nadal, a five-times champion in Madrid, faces Australian 10th seed De Minaur again on Saturday, in a second-round match.

Stream top tennis action, including the 2024 French Open, live on discovery+, the Eurosport app and at eurosport.com

‘Almost impossible to do properly’ – Kopecky to skip TDF, will focus on Olympics

April 23, 2024

World champion Lotte Kopecky will not be racing at the 2024 Tour de France Femmes, her team SD Worx has confirmed.

Instead, the Belgian superstar will put all her focus towards the 2024 Paris Olympic Games.

Ever since the schedule for 2024 was announced, it always seemed that the top cyclists were going to have to make a choice, with the Olympics finishing just a day before the Grand Depart of the Tour.

And speaking to Belgian outlet Sporza, SD Worx team manager Danny Stam said that the Tour just isn’t going to be possible for Kopecky.

“The omnium ends on Sunday afternoon, the Tour starts on Monday morning. It is almost impossible to do that properly,” explained Stam.

“Combining those two events would also be a very difficult task mentally.”

It has been a stellar season for Kopecky so far, having won Paris-Roubaix, Strade Bianche and Nokere Koerse, as well as the GC at the UAE Tour.

Last year she finished second at the Tour de France Femmes in dramatic fashion, leading the race until the penultimate stage when team-mate Demi Vollering passed her in the GC on the Col du Tourmalet.

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Stage 1 highlights: SD Worx one-two as Kopecky soars into yellow

Between now and the Olympics, Kopecky is scheduled to race at the Tour of Britain and the Giro d’Italia.

Discovery+ is the streaming home of the Olympic Games, and the only place you can watch every moment of Paris 2024 this summer

Biles wins Laureus World Comeback of the Year award

April 22, 2024

Four-time Olympic champion Simone Biles has been awarded the Laureus World Comeback of the Year prize following a two-year hiatus from the sport.

The American gymnast had a 2023 to remember as she returned to the sport after taking a break for mental health reasons following the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.

The 27-year-old is a three-time winner of Sportswoman of the Year award (2017, 2019, 2020) and adds another statuette to her collection with the Comeback of the Year Award.

She is expected to try to add to her Olympic medal collection at this summer’s Paris Olympic Games.

Meanwhile, Arisa Trew became the first female skateboarder to win Laureus Action Sportsperson of the Year.

Trew, the 13-year-old Australian skateboarding star, made history in 2023 when she became the first female skater to land a 720 (two full rotations) in vert skateboarding.

Trew successfully pulled off the trick at the Tony Hawk Vert Alert in Utah.

One of the event’s hosts, Tony Hawk, who is a member of the Laureus World Sports Academy, was the first skateboarder to land the trick in 1985.

Meanwhile, Barcelona midfielder Aitana Bonmati has been named the Laureus World Sportswoman of the Year and Real Madrid’s Jude Bellingham has won the Laureus World Breakthrough of the Year award.

The 69 sporting legends whose votes decide the award winners presented the prizes in Madrid.

Usain Bolt, the greatest sprinter of all time, presented the Sportswoman of the Year Award to Bonmati.

Last year’s winner of the Breakthrough of the Year Award, Carlos Alcaraz – a Real Madrid fan – handed the Laureus for that category to Bellingham.

discovery+ is the streaming home of the Olympic Games, and the only place you can watch every moment of Paris 2024 this summer

Team GB history-maker Dearing retires from swimming – ‘My journey doesn’t stop here’

April 22, 2024

Alice Dearing, Britain’s first Black female Olympic swimmer, has announced her retirement a day short of her 27th birthday.

The marathon specialist represented Team GB at Tokyo 2020, finishing 19th, but failed to qualify for Paris 2024.

Dearing has been a trailblazer in her sport, co-founding the Black Swimming Association and previously winning the Changemaker Award at the Sunday Times Sportswomen of the Year Awards.

She has not competed since she was unable to finish a 10km race at the World Aquatics Open Water Swimming World Cup in Portugal in early December, and Dearing has confirmed that was when she decided to call it a day.

“From the little girl who was too scared to jump in the pool to the woman who stood on the shores of lakes and oceans around the world swimming for her country,” she said on

“I’ve come a long way and I’m proud of the swimmer I became, but even prouder of the woman I am.”

Dearing says she feels proud of “helping make history for black people in Britain” by proving swimming is for everyone, and says she achieved a childhood dream by competing at the Olympics after believing she “didn’t have the talent.”

“I didn’t qualify for the Paris Olympics and that was my main goal coming out of Tokyo, I wanted to try and improve on my result,” Dearing told Sky Sports News.

“[I] just knew that my time was done in the sport. LA [2028 Olympics] felt like a mountain to climb and I knew I didn’t have that in me.

“I took the decision on the day to call it there, and I’ve taken the last four months to get my stuff together, understand what I want to move into, and enjoy not being an elite athlete – and I’m really enjoying it.

“I want to keep empowering people to discover swimming in their own way, I’ve been dipping my toes into the esports arena. Sport is such a key part of my life, swimming has given everything.”

She retires as a former world junior gold medallist, having won the 10km event in the Netherlands in 2016.

In her social media post, she added: “Thank you to all of the people who have raised me up over this journey. Too many of you to name. It really has taken a village.

“It’s been fun. I would do it all again in a heartbeat. But my journey doesn’t stop here.”

discovery+ is the streaming home of the Olympic Games, and the only place you can watch every moment of Paris 2024 this summer