Stewart Fastest Paddler Into Olympic Final

NSWIS paddler Murray Stewart heads into tomorrow’s final of the K1 1000m as the fastest qualifier.

Four years after winning gold as part of the K4 crew in London, Stewart is now in prime position to add an individual medal to his collection.

Stewart qualified for the semi-finals by coming second in his heat, but it was in his next race that the Australian showed his gold credentials.

He took down reigning world champion Rene Holten of Denmark in winning his semi-final and putting up the fastest time heading into the final.

Stewart made his move at the 500m mark and couldn’t be caught in a clear sign of intent heading into the medal race.

“It’s a pity that I’m not in the K4, I really wanted to be there to defend that title. The one thing that it has given me is a little bit of extra time to focus on the K1, just to try and tweak a few things in my race strategy,” Stewart told the AOC website.

“That’s definitely one thing that we’ve been working on is to try and have a much stronger finish in the past. I was feeling strong out there and hopefully I’ve got a few more gears to go in the final tomorrow.

“Now that I’m there [in the final], there a bit of pressure off and I can just go out there and have a real crack at the title.”

Distance swimmer Jarrod Poort will be the final member of the Dolphins squad in action at these Games when he competes in the 10km marathon.

Four years ago in London, Poort competed in the pool in the 1500m event.

He secured his spot in the team for Rio by finishing seventh at the Olympic qualifier in Setabul, Portugal where he was less than seven seconds behind the race winner.

Unfortunately the medal hopes of our women’s water polo team are over following a quarter-final loss in extra-time against Hungary.

The Stingers were never headed in regular time and it took a goal from Hungary with just three minutes left on the clock to level the scores.

NSWIS player Holly Lincoln-Smith almost sealed the win for Australia in the closing stages but when it ended at 8-all, they were sent to a penalty shoot-out to decide the game.

Trailing 12-10, a shot from Bronwen Knox hit the post and the Hungarians seized the moment to bundle Australia out of medal contention.

The Stingers will now play two more games for classification from 5^th to 8^th.

Despite doing what was required and defeating Greece in their final game, the Sharks saw their Olympic campaign end when Hungary beat Brazil, knocking Australia out of the fourth qualifying position for the quarter-finals.

The Hockeyroos’ Olympic dream is also over after they lost to New Zealand 4-2 in the quarter-finals.

Despite dominating the opening period, the Hockeyroos failed to convert their chances and found themselves 2-nil at halftime.

It was a disappointing end to Australia’s hockey campaign after the men were also bundled out in the quarter-finals by The Netherlands.

It will be the first time Australia will leave an Olympics without a hockey medal in 32 years.