Tunisian swimmer Ahmed Jaouadi seals 800m freestyle final spot in style at Paris Olympics

Teenager smashes personal best by three seconds and records second fastest time in heats

Tunisia's Ahmed Jaouadi after winning his 800m freestyle heat at Paris La Defense Arena on July 29, 2024. Getty Images

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Tunisian teenager Ahmed Jaouadi produced a sensational performance on Monday to secure his spot in the 800m freestyle final at Paris La Defense Arena.

The 19-year-old won his heat in 7:42.07, smashing his personal best by three seconds and recording the second-fastest time going into Tuesday's final.

Only Ireland's Daniel Wiffen posted a quicker time across the heats – at 7:41.53 which was just .25 off Mykhailo Romanchuk's Olympic record – and Jaouadi, who trains in France, will have his eyes on a podium finish despite going into the competition as No 10 seed.

But he will also be up against Italy's three-time Olympic medallist Gregorio Paltrinieri and reigning champion Bobby Finke of the US, who qualified third and fifth, respectively.

Jaouadi's latest performance continues a rapid upwards trajectory this year that has seen him consistently improve on his PB with his last time of 7:45.31 having only been clocked at the French Elite Championships in June.

Tunisia has a strong tradition in the distance freestyle events and Jaouad will be joining some of his country's most successful swimmers of all-time should he come home from Paris with a medal, most notably Ahmed Hafnaoui and Ous Mellouli who were both double world champions who secured three Olympic golds between them.

In boxing, there was disappointment for Jordan's Obada Al Kasbeh, who exited at the last-16 stage of the 63.5kg competition following a unanimous 5-0 defeat to home favourite Sofiane Oumiha.

Al Kasbeh, 29, qualified for this round by beating Ireland's Dean Clancy but was in deep with the slick Oumiha who is among the favourites for gold.

The Jordanian fighter looked to put the pressure on but was caught regularly and cleanly by the fleet-footed Oumiha who delighted in boxing off the back foot. Rounds one and two both ended in a 4-1 split in favour of Oumiha who was then able to skirt the outside of the ring and stay out of trouble as Al Kasbeh looked to turn the tables in the third.

A packed crowd at the North Paris Arena in Seine-Saint-Denis cheered every time Oumiha landed and roared him to a decisive victory.

The Frenchman, also 29, will face Hungary's Richard Kovacs in the next round after he defeated Harry Garside of Australia earlier in the day. Should Oumiha make it to the semi-finals, he could meet the exciting Uzbekistani fighter Ruslan Abdullaev, who also posted an emphatic win in his opening bout.

Meanwhile, Al Kasbeh's teammate Hussein Ishaish will make his Paris 2024 debut on Tuesday when he enters the 80kg competition at the last-16 stage.

Ishaish was given a bye in the first round and will take on Croatia's Gabrijel Veocic for a place in the quarter-finals.

Hussein's younger brother Zeyad has already produced perhaps the biggest shock of the boxing tournament so far when he upset gold medal favourite Aslanbek Shymbergenov from Kazakhstan in the 71kg category.

Zeyad Ishaish, 25, will now face Japan's Sewon Okazawa, the 2021 world gold medal winner at welterweight, for a place in the quarter-finals on Wednesday.

Should he get that far then he will meet either Lewis Richardson of Team GB or Serbia's Vakhid Abbasov.

Ishaish and Okazawa have met three times previously with the Japanese fighter leading the head-to-head 2-1. He won their first fight five years ago but Ishaish has improved markedly since then. Their two most recent bouts were shared one win apiece and both settled by split decision.

Egypt's Mohamed Hamza saw his medal bid in the men's individual foil ended at the quarter-final stage by Italy's Filippo Macchi.

Hamza had already posted two impressive victories over Poland's Jan Jurkiewicz and then Carlos Llavador of Spain to raise hopes of a podium finish in Paris.

But ultimately Macchi proved too strong as he wrapped up a 15-9 win to reach the last four.