#PathwaytoParis catch up | The games so far for Birmingham alumni
The action kicked off on the River Seine last weekend with a unique Opening Ceremony that saw the athletes sailing through the city to commemorate the start of the games, but how have University of Birmingham representatives – staff, students, alumni – fared so far?
Cycling
Anna Henderson, Sport & Exercise graduate, won one of GB’s first medals in her incredible effort in the Women’s Individual Time Trial event, coming second to cycling royalty Grace Brown of Australia to get a silver podium finish.
From watching Anna’s concentration and grit during her 41-minute-9.83-seconds race, you would be forgiven for thinking she has taken on the Games before – but no, at her debut, Anna won GB’s second medal of the competition. Despite Anna breaking her collarbone twice in the lead up to the Games, she said she has remained motivated for the 2024 season, only to be met by less-than-ideal conditions on the Pont Alexandre III. Rain-drenched roads made the conditions ‘horrible’, Anna deftly navigated the corners to snatch the silver out of the grasp of United States’ world champion Chloe Dygert, who was less than a second behind Anna.
On BBC Breakfast, Anna said that winning her medal is: ‘a bit surreal to be honest, I’m still trying to let it all sink in… I’m grateful to be here and be having this moment… [Paris is a super] special, such an iconic city.’
Hockey
GB’s Women’s squad’s campaign to the podium for what would be their fourth Games in a row started off with an uphill struggle in the group stages – a 2-1 defeat by Spain and a 4-0 thrashing by Australia. Five UoB Sport alumni – Amy Costello, Hannah French, Lily Owsley, Flora Peel and Anna Toman – are in the squad, and are still in with a chance to advance out of their Pool, with four out of six teams qualifying at the end of the group stages today.
Current scholar Hannah Pearce also suffered defeat with her South Africa team, falling short of the win by 2-1 to Australia in what was dubbed a ‘thrilling’ game, and came up against world number 2 Argentina, finishing 4-2.
Both teams – Great Britain and South Africa – will face each other in the next Pool B game tomorrow (31 July).
Rugby Sevens
Former TASS scholar and alumna Heather Cowell, who first picked up a rugby ball at the University of Birmingham, competed with GB in the group stages of the competition, and made it through to the quarter-finals. It was a busy first day of competition for them – which also saw Heather score a try for the team – with two group games back-to-back: facing Ireland first and winning 21-12, and then struggling against favourites Australia, scoring 5 to their 36.
The quarter-finals saw GB take on Team USA, where they ended 7-17.
Swimming
Current student Oliver Morgan also took on his debut in the Men’s 100m Backstroke, fighting his way through to the final against world-record holder Thomas Ceccon to finish 8th.
After qualifying an impressive third in his heat, and then seventh in the semi-finals, Ollie was up against serious competition in the Monday night final – and stood his ground. With Ceccon (ITA) completing the 100m in 52 seconds flat, and silver medallist Xu (PRC) coming in at 52.32, there was less than a second separating the top and bottom spots, with Ollie finishing in 52.84. Sadly this incredible effort was not quite enough to get Ollie onto the podium – this time – but we cannot wait to see to where this experience catapults him.
Speaking to BBC, Ollie said he was ‘slightly disappointed’ with himself but motivated for the next challenge. This comes after breaking the British 100m backstroke record to qualify for the games in April, showing Ollie was certainly up to the challenge. He said ‘[coming eighth] shows how far we’ve come. There is a lot more to come in the future.’
Ollie will also compete in the Men’s 200m Backstroke competition from tomorrow (31 July).
All photos credit: Team GB
Read about all of our confirmed athletes, coaches and support staff in Paris at the link below, and stay tuned for more #PathwaytoParis updates.
