Titouan Castryck wins silver in the kayak slalom, Félix Lebrun in the semi-final of table tennis… What to remember from the day of August 1st

The 19-year-old kayaker brought home his 27th medal for the French delegation on Thursday, while the 17-year-old table tennis player reached a new milestone.

The program may have seemed less dense, but French athletes still distinguished themselves on Thursday, August 1, at the Paris Olympic Games. If in judo, it was a grimace soup, in kayaking, Titouan Castryck won a nice silver medal. In table tennis, Félix Lebrun validated his ticket for the semi-finals. Sofiane Oumiha, for his part, secured a medal in boxing.

Titouan Castryck Olympic vice-champion in kayak slalom

After causing a sensation by finishing top of the qualifications on Tuesday, the Breton – born in Saint-Malo – came close to winning gold on Thursday at the Vaires-sur-Marne nautical venue. Neck and neck with the Italian Giovanni De Gennaro, the 19-year-old only missed out by a handful of seconds to win gold, all without incurring a single penalty. “I felt like I had him at the end of my paddle.”he confided after his passage. This is the 27th medal for France in these Paris Games, the only one obtained on Thursday.

Félix Lebrun one step away from the table tennis final

He tamed his quarter-final in style. In an Arena Paris Sud completely blue, white, and red, Félix Lebrun took another step towards his dream of gold by dominating Taiwanese Yun-Ju Lin (11-7, 7-11, 11-8, 4-11, 11-8, 8-11, 11-6). The French table tennis prodigy will face another challenge on Friday: beating the Chinese Zhendong Fan, seeded No. 2 and reigning Olympic vice-champion. The feat would be all the more significant given that China has had a stranglehold on the Olympic singles tournament since the Beijing Games in 2008.

Boxer Sofiane Oumiha certain to win a medal

At the Villepinte exhibition center (Seine-Saint-Denis), Sofiane Oumiha snatched his ticket for the last four of the competition in the under 63.5 kg category. Since even the losers of the semi-finals win a bronze medal, Sofiane Oumiha is already assured of bringing a first medal to French boxing in Paris.

In the semi-finals, the Toulouse player will be able to discover Roland-Garros and the Philippe-Chatrier court, currently used for tennis competitions, but which will be the scene of the last fights of the boxing competition from Tuesday August 6.

Several disappointments, especially in judo

The reigning Olympic vice-champion in the under 78 kg category, Madeleine Malonga fell right at the start of her Olympic Games. Facing the Portuguese Patricia Sampaio, the Frenchwoman lost by ippon in less than a minute at the Arena Champ-de-Mars, dashing all the hopes of the French supporters. In the process, the other French participant, Aurélien Diesse, also lost in the round of 16, in the under 100 kg category.

VSIt is also over in badminton for the Frenchman Toma Junior Popov, eliminated in the last 16, and for the field hockey players, beaten by Great Britain and who will not get out of the group stage.

Léon Marchand still in the final, Maxime Grousset says stop on the 50 m freestyle

After the morning series, Léon Marchand was back in the pool at the Paris La Défense Arena on Thursday evening. The triple Olympic champion achieved the best time in the semi-finals of the 200m medley, six hundredths ahead of the American Carson Foster. Of course, the Occitan will be aiming for another medal on Friday at 8:43 p.m.

Just before Marchand, Florent Manaudou – in extremis with the last time of the qualifiers – and Maxime Grousset qualified for the final of the 50 m freestyle. But the latter decided, a few moments later, to withdraw from the event to concentrate on the possible semi-final of the 100 m butterfly, which would have taken place less than 30 minutes later, Friday evening. Finally, Mewen Tomac, in the 200 m backstroke, failed just off the podium (4th).

Simone Biles returns to the roof of Olympus

She has definitely turned the page of her trauma from Tokyo. Eight years after her title in Rio, gymnastics queen Simone Biles has reclaimed her crown. The American, already a team champion, definitively took the lead in the general classification after her performance on the beam, before confirming this during a performance on the floor that was simply breathtaking, both in its difficulty and its execution.

Paris 2024 is already a historic Olympic edition for the world of gymnastics since with six gold medals, Simone Biles erases the five titles of the legend Nadia Comaneci.