Five (!) West Aussies scored gold medals in Paris overnight

It’s fair to say noise around the Paris Olympics has grown from a quiet hum to start with into a deafening roar in the past few days, as Aussie athletes once again do the country proud.

And on the home front, West Australians had a blinder at the games overnight, winning gold medals in the Pole Vault (Nina Kennedy), Dinghy (Matt Wearn) and Track Cycling (Sam Welsford, Conor Leahy and Oliver Bleddyn, with Kelland O’Brien from Melbourne).

For Kennedy, who hails from Busselton, it was her first ever Olympic gold medal, clearing 4.9m to also become the first ever Australian woman to win gold in the event.

Last year Kennedy famously split her gold medal at the 2023 World Championships with American Katie Moon.

In Track Cycling the Aussies were outsiders before breaking the Men’s Team Pursuit World Record in qualifying, then finishing the job yesterday over Great Britain.

And Wearn was able to secure his second Olympic gold medal in Sailing (dinghy class).

“It’s something no one’s done before, going back to back in the ILCA [dinghy] – or the laser as it was before,” he said after the race. “That was a massive goal and I’ve made it happen so it’s pretty special.”

The day will go down as one of the greatest in Australian olympics history, and the six-medal haul (Keegan Palmer also claimed gold for Australia in the skateboard park event) takes Australia’s overall tally to 18 gold medals, 12 silvers (including Margaret River’s Jack Robinson in surfing earlier in the week) and 11 bronze.

It’s the best return for Australia in Olympic Games history.

Image Credit: Cameron Spencer/Getty Images