Australia won one gold, one silver and one bronze in the pool on Thursday - but our women were left shell shocked in the 4x200m freestyle relay final after China smashed out a world record.
In better news, Izaac Stubblety-Cook won the Men's 200m breaststroke final. It is the first time Australia has won the event since 1964.
And, in the 100m freestyle final, Kyle Chalmers came within 0.06 of defending his Rio title with a fast-finishing second behind American gun Caeleb Dressel.
Jess Fox secured her first Olympic gold medal in the women's canoe slalom final after using a condom for some running repairs earlier in the day. She missed out on gold in heartbreaking fashion earlier this week but redeemed herself this afternoon.
Updates
America's new gymnastic queen is crowned
A wide-open meet due to Simone Biles’ withdrawal resulted in Unites States gymnastics teammate Suni Lee seizing an Olympic gold medal in Tokyo to continue the Americans’ recent domination of the individual all-around competition.
With Biles seated in the stands after the defending gold medallist dropped out of the team and individual competitions for mental-health reasons, the 18-year-old Lee became the fifth straight American to win the marquee individual event at the Summer Games.
Australia showed promising signs of a comeback earlier in the third quarter, scoring an additional two goals, but Serbia maintained its lead with 11 goals.
In the fourth, the Aussies gained early momentum and managed to climb to eight goals with 90 seconds to go.
The late progress wasn’t enough to catch the Serbian side, which took the game with 14 goals to Australia’s eight.
– Brooke Rolfe
Aussies that will be first in line for booster shots
Two-time Olympic gold medallist Ariarne Titmus has qualified sixth-fastest for the women's 800m freestyle final, her third individual final of the Tokyo Games.
The 20-year-old finished second in her heat with a time of 8:18.99, while Australian teammate Kiah Melverton also registered a commendable time of 8.20.45.
Earlier today, Titmus helped Australia clinch a bronze medal in the women's 4 x 200m freestyle relay.
Titmus has already won gold in the 200m and 400m freestyle events, but she conceded the busy Olympic schedule was starting to take its toll.
“It’s a big day today. I had one and a half hours in my room today. I’m absolutely buggered," Titmus told Channel 7.
“I will swim down quickly and get home. This is probably my toughest backup and it’s not an easy 800 in the morning. This is a really deep field. I knew I had to be tough and swim a solid swim to get through. I think should be fine with that time.
“Honestly I’m exhausted. I keep thinking back to Beijing, it was the same as this morning’s heats. Phelps won eight golds. I have done two and I’m wrecked. It puts into perspective for me how amazing he was. I’m going to rest up as much as I can and get ready for my last race at the Olympics.
“I love racing Katie. It is nice to be on my own a little bit. It’s been really good this week. We’ve been getting along really well. We’ve really enjoyed racing each other. I mean, we don’t get to do it often. It’s so fun for us to be able to race. So, I am looking forward to two days’ time.”
Titmus and Melverton both qualified for the women's 800m final, which is scheduled to commence at 11.46am AEST on Saturday.
American great Katie Ledecky recorded the fastest time of the heats with 8:15.67.
Titmus won bronze at the corresponding event at the 2019 world championships, but toppling Ledecky on Saturday could prove her biggest challenge of the Olympics to date.
I'm amazed Titmuss isn't "buggered" just from having to wear a mask directly after an 800m swim! #Olympics#7Olympics
The Australians have qualified fourth-fastest in the 4 x 100m mixed medley relay heats with a time of 3:42.35.
The Aussies were bettered by Great Britain, the United States and China.
The 4 x 100m mixed medley relay final will take commence on Saturday at 12.43pm AEST.
Australian young gun Kaylee McKeown has qualified fastest for the women's 200m backstroke semi-finals with a blistering time of 2:08.18.
Aussie teammate Emily Seebohm will also feature in Friday's semi-finals after registering a time of 2:09.10 in her heat.
Aussies Sharks struggling in the pool
Serbia’s men’s water polo team showed early dominance against the Australian side in Thursday’s preliminary round at the Olympics.
Australia were unable to make it onto the scoreboard in the first quarter, trailing Serbia’s six goals.
Aussie Goran Tomasevic scored the first goal with just over five minutes to go in the second quarter, but it was followed closely by another from Serbia.
The first half closed out with Serbia at 10 goals to Australia’s one.
Australian mixed doubles pair Ash Barty and John Peers are through to the semi-finals at the Tokyo Olympics after winning their quarter-final 6-4 4-6 10-6.
The Aussies won a 10-point tiebreak in the third set against Greece's Maria Sakkari and Stefanos Tsitsipas on Thursday evening to book their spot in the top four.
Barty and Peers will next face Russian duo Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and Andrey Rublev in the semi-finals.
Australia has not won a medal at the Olympics since 2004, but that drought could break later this week.
The Australian men's water polo side are about to face Serbia for their third match of the Tokyo Olympics.
“It is always difficult to play Serbia and they are always on the podium,” Olympic debutant Blake Edwards said.
“But I believe if we put together four quarters against them it is really anyone we can beat in the world."
The match will get underway at 8.50pm AEST.
'Horrified': Racist remark caught on live TV
The sporting director of Germany’s cycling team will be sent home from the Tokyo Olympics after making a racist comment about riders from Africa during the men’s time trial, the team said on Thursday.
Patrick Moster said he was “truly sorry” for his remark, which was broadcast on live TV during Wednesday’s race.
Moster was exhorting German rider Nikias Arndt to catch up with two competitors from Algeria and Eritrea.
"Get the camel drivers," Moster yelled multiple times.
ARD commentator Florian Nass was gobsmacked by the footage: "If I've really understood what he was shouting, that was totally wrong.
"Words fail me. Something like that has no place in sport."
German Olympic Committee President Alfons Hoermann said in a statement: “We are convinced that his official apology for the racist comment is sincere. However Mr Moster has stepped over the line and violated the Olympic values. Fair play, respect and tolerance are not negotiable for Team ‘D’."
Arndt distanced himself from the comment, tweeting: “I’m horrified and I want to say clearly that I have nothing to do with these remarks, the words used were unacceptable.”
– with AFP
Australia warned to be 'careful' about booster shots
Seven commentator Richard Fox shared his emotions after his daughter Jess Fox finally broke through to win an Olympic Gold medal.
“That's beautiful, that was wild. She nearly, nearly fell away from that and that would have been devastating," Fox said.
"The semi today did her a lot of good because she was down. That kayak final rocked her, it rocked me. When you hit the last gate or the last upstream, she made sure this time, make sure you don't hit it with your hair.
“I said, ‘Make your choices, own your choices with confidence and control.’ And she did. She made good choices. Find the flow, feel it and focus. And the focus was so strong. She kept breathing and she held it.
“She's deserved it, she will be so happy. Oh, she's so gracious when she doesn't get it. I don't really know what to say. She was magnificent. That was such a tough course, such a tough run. It was a great race from Mallory. It was a target. I think it was good for her to have to chase a big score.”
