Team GB ended their wait for their first gold medal on Day Three of the Paris Olympics after winning the team eventing final and Tom Pidcock’s incredible triumph in the men’s mountain bike race.
Adam Peaty was seen as Team GB’s greatest chance of becoming their first gold medal of the 2024 Games, but the swimming superstar had to settle for silver on Sunday.
But there was set to be a host of opportunities for Great Britain to end that wait for their first gold of the games.
And it came courtesy of the British equestrian trio as they retained their Olympic title in the team eventing final.
Laura Collett, Tom McEwen and Ros Canter continued their dominance in the competition on the third day as they ended up finishing 12.3 penalties clear of silver-medalists France.
Collett followed up her team eventing gold by edging out McEwen to win bronze in the individual jumping final.
Tom Pidcock won gold in the men’s mountain bike
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Just a few hours later and Team GB doubled their gold medal tally for Paris 2024 when Pidcock came back after suffering a puncture to win a dramatic race in the men’s mountain bike event.
The 25-year-old looked down and out after he needed to change his bike due to a puncture on the third lap and he fell 40 seconds back at one point.
But he miraculously fought back and was embroiled in a tense fight with home favourite Victor Koretzky to cross the line first.
Pidcock’s moment was marred by boos from the French crowd as he celebrated his victory.
“The boos are a shame because that’s not really the spirit of the Olympics,” he siad.
“But I do understand that the French are very passionate, they wanted Victor to win.
“That was understandable. They didn’t boo the rock that made me puncture.”
There were more celebrations in the water as well with Tom Daley winning an incredible fifth Olympic medal.
Daley was convinced to come out of retirement to compete in Paris 2024 having won gold in the men’s synchronised 10m platform in Tokyo.
Gold once again was always going to be difficult with Chinese duo Lian Junjie and Yang Hao in a league of their own.
But Daley put in a stellar display alongside Noah Williams to win silver comfortably ahead of Canada in bronze.
Adam Burgess also put his Tokyo heartache behind him in the men’s canoe singles final with an incredible silver medal.
Team GB defended their Olympic title in the team eventing final
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The 32-year-old missed out on a medal by just 0.16 seconds at the last Olympics, but put in a stellar display that was only bettered by Frenchman Nicolas Gestin.
Matt Richards then looked on course for a shock gold in the men’s 200m freestyle final as hot-favourite David Popvici made a sluggish start.
The British swimmer moved into the lead with just a few metres remaining in a tight finish between the top four, but he was agonisingly pipped to the line by the Romanian.
Richards missed out on gold by just two-hundredths-of-a-second – the same gap Peaty lost by on Sunday evening.
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Adam Burgess won silver in the men’s canoe singles final
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More medals are expected on Tuesday with the men’s 4x200m freestyle relay team favourites to win gold in the pool.
Alex Yee will also be among the contenders in the men’s triathlon in the morning as he bids to go one better than his silver medal in Tokyo.
But all eyes will likely be on the tennis once again with Andy Murray in action alongside Dan Evans while the Spanish pairing of Carlos Alcaraz and Rafael Nadal are also scheduled to play.
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