Jessica Fox makes history at Paris Olympics as Aussie swimmers caught in staggering drama

Jessica Fox has became the first Australian athlete in Olympics history to win six medals in individual events, but a number of other gold medal contenders came up heartbreakingly short on Wednesday night. Fox won her second gold of the Paris Games, backing up her K1 triumph with victory in the C1 in Paris.

Fox won the sixth individual Olympic medal of her career, overtaking swimming legends Shane Gould, Ian Thorpe and Leisel Jones, sprinter Shirley Strickland and Australia's current chef de mission - cycling champion Anna Meares (all on five). Ariarne Titmus also joined the elite group with a gold and silver in Paris.

"They've (records) never felt attainable or even something that I could possibly dream about," Fox after after becoming the most prolific Olympic medal winner in her sport. "Each Olympic experience that I've had has been very different - some have been brilliant, some have been a bit disappointing and this is just magical. But to be named amongst some of Australia's greatest champions in Olympic history is just - I can't quite believe it."

She also became the most successful athlete in Olympic canoe slalom history, overtaking Slovakian Michal Martikan with her sixth medal. Fox now has three gold, a silver and two bronze medals from four Olympic campaigns since making her debut in London in 2012.

The 30-year-old is now chasing more history and can claim a golden treble in Paris in the canoe cross - a new event in Paris. Gold in the canoe cross would seen her join Gould (1972) as the only Australians to have won three individual gold medals at one Olympic Games.

O'Callaghan misses medal, Stubblety-Cook and Chalmers get silver

Australia was expected to win a number of gold medals overnight, but Mollie O'Callaghan was pipped at the death in the 100m freestyle, and Zac Stubblety-Cook and Kyle Chalmers had to settle for silver. O'Callaghan was a red-hit chance to win gold and it was anyone's guess who won when a number of swimmers touched the wall around the same time.

But in agonising scenes, O'Callaghan finished fourth, while compatriot Shayna Jack was sixth. O'Callaghan was attempting to become just the third woman to complete a 100-200m freestyle golden double at the same Olympics. But Swedish legend Sarah Sjostrom grabbed an unexpected gold, winning in 52.16 seconds.

American Torrie Huske (52.29) claimed silver and Hong Kong's Siobhan Bernadette Haughey took the bronze. O'Callaghan was next-best in 52.34 (just 0.01 off a medal) and Jack touched in 52.72 as the Australians failed to make ground on the last lap after turning in their finishing positions.

"I expected a lot more," a disappointed O'Callaghan said. "But at the end of the day you've got to suck it up and wait another four years.

"I was really nervous heading into this, didn't have a lot of sleep over the past few days. I tried really hard to manage myself and get up for this but I knew 100 free was going to be hard because it's a lot about speed and that's something I really lack in. I knew it was going to be at tough race ... it's 0.01 (of a second), if you stuff something up it costs you."

Zac Stubblety-Cook was a chance for gold in the 200m breaststroke, but had to settle for silver behind French phenom Léon Marchand - who set a new Olympic record to grab his third gold of the Games. Chalmers also came second in the men's 100m freestyle as Pan Zhanle of China broke his own world record.

Fans were blown away by how close the finish was in the women's 100m freestyle. Many took to social media to express their shock that O'Callaghan missed out on a medal by just 0.01 seconds.

Logan Martin misses out but Natalya Diehm wins BMX bronze

Logan Martin was dethroned as the king of Olympic freestyle cycling - but Australia has a new BMX star in shock women's bronze medallist Natalya Diehm. Martin won gold in Tokyo in 2021 but crashed out on both his runs in the final on Wednesday.

He was the first to hail his female teammate's historic breakthrough as Diehm became the first Australian woman ever to take a BMX freestyle medal. "We've never medalled at a World Cup event at all. So to do it here on the biggest world stage, that's going down in history. I've written history today. That's insane," smiled the 26-year-old Queenslander.

And Penny Smith won Australia's first shooting medal of the Paris Games, claiming bronze at Chateauroux. Two misses in her last elimination round left her one off the pace, but she raised her arms to the crowd after scoring 32 - five clear of fourth place to claim her first Olympic medal.

with AAP