New Zealand have two significant chances for Olympic medals today as several sports reach their defining stages.
Here’s all you need to know about today’s action (Wednesday, 28 July).
Kiwis in action today
The first medal chance for New Zealand today comes in the women’s double sculls, where Brooke Donoghue and Hannah Osborne row in the final. They’re tipped for silver behind the Romanian duo, and have a significant chance to join the Evers-Swindell twins as the only Kiwi women to claim a medal in the event.
However, while the women’s double have precedence, the All Blacks sevens are out to make history, searching for New Zealand’s first men’s medal in the format after they were dumped out in the quarter-finals in 2016.
That hurdle has been safely negotiated with a comfortable 21-10 win over Canada last night, and now they are heavy favourites to beat Great Britain in the semifinal, who came back from a 21-0 deficit to beat the United States and book a spot against the Kiwis.
Fiji play Argentina in the other semifinal, and while the odds point to a New Zealand v Fiji final, the performances produced by Great Britain and Argentina in their quarter-final triumphs means nothing is certain.
New Zealand’s other medal hopeful today comes in the men’s road cycling time trial, where Patrick Bevin will hope to overcome the likes of Filippo Ganna, Rohan Dennis and Wout van Aert to stand on the dais.
Bevin came just three seconds short of a podium finish at the 2019 world championships, but he’ll likely need to produce a similarly superb performance, and hope that some of his rivals have an off day or suffer misfortune in order to pull off a surprise memorable medal.
A surprise memorable medal was just what Natalie Rooney produced in 2016, and she begins her campaign for a second to add to the collection in the trap shooting qualifier today, while the 470 and Nacra-17 sailing crews will be hoping the start of their campaign is more successful than the rest of the Kiwi contingent, who have struggled to start in Tokyo.
At night, the depleted Oly Whites take on Romania in a crucial final pool match, while speaking of pools – writing at its finest here, folks – Lewis Clareburt returns to take part in the 200m Individual Medley.
Check the “who’s competing” interactive above to see the full list of Kiwis in action, and when they begin their events.
Sports in action today
3×3 Basketball (Medal matches)
Archery (Individual Round of 32 and 16 matches)
Artistic Gymnastics (Men’s all-round final)
Badminton (Pool Play)
Baseball (Pool Play)
Basketball (Men’s Pool Play)
Beach Volleyball (Pool Play)
Boxing (Round of 16, quarter-finals)
Canoe Slalom (Women’s canoe and Men’s kayak heats)
Cycling (Women’s and Men’s individual time trial finals)
Diving (Men’s Synchronised 3m Springboard Final)
Equestrian (Dressage individual grand prix final)
Fencing (Men’s sabre team medal matches)
Football (Men’s Pool Play)
Handball (Men’s Pool Play)
Hockey (Pool Play)
Judo (Women’s 70kg and Men’s 90kg medal matches)
Rowing (Six finals)
Rugby Sevens (Men’s medal matches)
Sailing (Classification Races)
Shooting (Trap qualifications)
Swimming (Five finals)
Table Tennis (Individual quarter-finals)
Tennis (Singles third round, doubles quarter-finals)
Volleyball (Men’s Pool play)
Water Polo (Women’s Pool play)
Weightlifting (Men’s 73kg medal competition)
How to follow the action
The Herald will have live updates running from 10am, while you can catch all the action on Sky Sport. Every event on Sky can also be watched via streaming on Sky Sport Now or Sky Go.
Sports in action tomorrow
Archery (Individual Round of 32 and 16 matches)
Artistic Gymnastics (Women’s all-round final)
Badminton (Knockouts)
Baseball (Pool Play)
Basketball (Pool Play)
Beach Volleyball (Pool Play)
Boxing (Round of 16)
Canoe Slalom (Women’s canoe final)
Cycling BMX racing (Quarter-finals)
Fencing (Women’s Foil Team Matches)
Golf (Men’s Round 1)
Handball (Women’s Pool Play)
Hockey (Pool Play)
Judo (Women’s 78kg and Men’s 100kg medal matches)
Rowing (Four finals)
Rugby Sevens (Women’s Pool Play)
Sailing (Classification Races)
Shooting (Trap finals)
Swimming (Five finals)
Table Tennis (Women’s singles medal matches, men’s semifinals)
Tennis (TBC)
Volleyball (Women’s Pool play)
Water Polo (Men’s Pool play)
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