Former SUSF Elite Athlete Program (EAP) scholarship holder Murray Stewart has bounced back to his best overnight in the K4 1000m kayak event, following a tough day on Monday.
Stewart, a University of Sydney graduate, finished sixth in his K1 1000 semi-final on Monday, but yesterday he combined with Tate Smith, David Smith and Jake Clear to show why the K4 1000m is Australia’s biggest hope of success in the canoe sprint competition at Eton Dorney.
The world number 2 ranked crew dominated their London Games semi-final, upsetting world champions Germany in their second race of the day, taking the early lead off the fast-starting Czechs to sprint home in 2:52.505.
“Yesterday was a tough day and it was more important then to do our job today,” Stewart told Ninemsn.
“The K4 has always been the priority and I’m stoked to be here with these boys.”
The Australian quartet will go into the final looking to defeat Slovakia and Hungary, who earned immediate qualification by winning the opening heats on Tuesday morning.
Former Southern Design Sydney Uni Flames representative Belinda Snell and her Opals team mates have booked a place in Thursday’s women’s basketball semi-final against the United States
Taking a three-point lead into the final period, Liz Cambage turned catalyst – her three-point play early in the term giving the Australians a seven-point advantage.
Following Cambage, Lauren Jackson’s three-pointer took the lead out to double digits and sent Australia into a semi-final showdown with the team which has beaten the Opals in the past three Olympic finals.
University of Sydney graduate Matthew Butturini and the Kookaburra’s will meet world number two Germany in the men’s hockey semi-final encounter after their 7-0 thrashing of Pakistan overnight sealed top spot in their group.
The Kookaburras, who won their opening two matches stylishly before conceding late goals to draw their next two, produced their best performance against world No.7 Pakistan.
The Australia’s Women’s Match Racing sailing crew, which includes University of Sydney athlete Olivia Price, were back on the water this morning for their first two quarterfinal matches.
SUSF EAP scholarship holder Price and her crew of Nina Curtis and Lucinda Whitty went through the round robin undefeated, notching up a perfect 11 wins from 11 races.
The Australians are in the middle of a quarterfinal against the Netherlands with the scores currently locked at 1-1.
Price and her crew dominated the first race, leading from start to finish taking the win.
The Dutch returned fire in race two, taking the win to level the scores.
The first crew to score three wins when racing resumes on Wednesday afternoon will go through to the semi-final.
“Every race is important, we take data from it and we take it into the next one,” Price told Yachting Australia.
“We’ll keep doing business as usual for tomorrow and we’ll just go racing.”
Wednesday 8 August
11:00pm
Sailing – Women’s Elliot 6m v Netherlands Quarter-final races 3, 4 and 5
Olivia Price
Thursday 9 August
12:50am
Water Polo – Men v Serbia Quarter-final
Thomas Whalan, Sam McGregor
