Denny and Burton headline star Darling Downs athletes in Paris

From equestrian silver to discus bronze and an Aussie record, here is how every Darling Downs and South West Queensland athlete performed at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games.

Matthew Denny celebrates after claiming bronze in the men’s discus final. Picture: Getty Images

Matthew Denny’s Allora mural will need a quick update before he returns home from Paris.

A large contingent of Darling Downs and South West Queensland athletes competed at the Paris Olympics Games with Denny the pick of the bunch after claiming bronze in the men’s discus.

In an eventful men’s discus final Denny finished third – beaten by two Olympic record throws.

Denny had one hand on silver early in the final with his second throw touching down at 69.31cm.

Lithuania’s Mykolas Alekna then set an Olympic record throwing 69.97m to beat the record set by his father Virgiljus at Athens 2004.

Jamaica’s Rojé Stona than bettered Alekna’s mark to claim gold with a throw of 70m.

“If you told me the comp was going to go the way it did today, I wouldn’t have said no, but the way it all played out I didn’t expect,” Denny told Channel 9 after the final.

“I’m super happy with it and how I competed. I had fun.

“It’s not the result I’m exactly looking for, but I wasn’t far off.

“I can’t not be proud of my performance, but the inner critic wants more, and I know there’s more there.”

With the 2024 Olympics wrapping up here’s how every athlete from our region performed.

Christopher Burton (left) poses for a photo with fellow medallists Michael Jung and Laura Collett after the Eventing Individual Final. Picture: Getty Images

Chris Burton

Burton almost rode away from Paris with an Olympic gold medal around his neck.

Competing in what proved to be a thrilling eventing individual jumping final, Burton finished less than a point behind winner Michael Jung of Germany.

Burton and his horse Shadow Man claimed silver with 22.40 total penalty points behind Jung on 21.80.

Patrick Tiernan approaches the finish line at the end of the Men's Marathon.

Patrick Tiernan

Lining up in his third Olympic Games, Tiernan wrote his name into the Australian history books in Paris.

Making his Olympic Games marathon debut, Tiernan broke the Australian record held by Robert de Castella for 40 years.

Finishing 24th in a time of 2:10:34 he shaved 35 seconds of the mark set by de Castella at the 1984 Los Angles Olympics.

Tatum Stewart celebrates scoring a goal for Australia.

Tatum Stewart

Stewart and the Hockeyroos Paris dream were shattered at the quarterfinal stage of the tournament.

Making her games debut, Stewart was a bright spark for the Hockeyroos.

The young defender scored three goals, including Australia’s second in their 3-2 knockout loss to China in the quarterfinal.

Harriet Hudson (left) and Amanda Bateman react after winning Final B of the women's double sculls.

Harriet Hudson

Hudson and Amanda Bateman missed out on spot in the women’s double sculls final by just 0.22 seconds.

The rowing dynmanic duo went on to win the B-final by nearly two seconds.

Ben Armbruster

As well as competing in the 50m freestyle and men’s 100m butterfly, Armbruster also featured in the Aussie men’s 4x 100m medley relay squad.

Armbuster narrowly missed out on a spot in the men’s 100m butterfly final.

With the eight fastest swimmer advancing he finished ninth fastest in the semi-final swimming 51.17 behind Japan’s Naoki Minzunuma who swam 51.08.

Australia's Dominique Du Toit takes on the South Africa defence.

Charlotte Caslick in action for Australia.

Charlotte Caslick and Dominique du Toit

Despite heading into the Paris Games as one of the gold medal favourites, Australia’s women’s rugby sevens team went home empty-handed.

The Aussies went through the group stages unbeaten before demolishing Ireland 40-7 in the Top 8 phase of the tournament.

Beaten by 21-12 by eventual champions Canada in the semi-finals, Australia then lost the bronze medal playoff to the United States.

The US marked du Toit’s last run in Aussie green and gold as she announced plans to retire from international duty after the games.

Taliqua Clancy (right) attacks the net against Tanja Hueberli during the bronze medal playoff.

Taliqua Clancy

After winning silver in Tokyo Kingaroy’s Taliqua Clancy and teammate Mariafe Artacho del Solar were also among the women’s beach volleyball favourites heading into Paris.

Unfortunately the dynmanic duo came up against a gritty and determined Swiss outfit in the bronze medal match.

Nina Brunner and Tanja Hüberli were a force to be reckoned with in the decider claiming a two sets to nil victory.

Isaac Cooper competes in the men’s backstroke.

Peter Bol (second from right) races in the 800m repechage round.

Joseph Deng races during a heat of the men’s 800m.

Isaac Cooper

The former Toowoomba Grammar School swimmer failed to make it out of the heats in the men’s 100m backstroke.

Cooper also featured in the Aussie men’s 4x 100m medley relay team which finished sixth.

Peter Bol and Joseph Deng

Bol and Deng had runs to forget in Paris.

After finishing seventh and sixth in their respective men’s 800m heats the pair had the opportunity to advance to the semi-final through the repechage rounds.

Needing to finish first in their individual repechage races or as one of the next two fastest runners outside of those four race winners, Bol and Deng missed the mark.

Bol finished fourth in repechage race and Deng finished fifth – with both runners well off the pace.