Townsend will go for gold as GB reach final

Susannah Townsend is already guaranteed a silver medal but will be desperate to make it Gold when GB’s women face the Netherlands in the Olympic final tonight (Friday).

The 27-year-old former Sutton Valence School pupil helped her country overcome New Zealand 3- 0 on Wednesday night to secure the first ever gold medal match appearance for GB’s women.

It was a seventh straight win for GB and the Egerton ace at the Deodoro Stadium in Rio as they followed their group stage wins over Australia, India and Argentina with successes against Japan and USA last Saturday to book their place in the knockout stages.

A 3-1 victory against Spain in the last eight on Monday night was followed by the nailbiting progress against the Blacksticks, secured by an Alex Danson tap-in in the second period and sealed by penalty stroke conversions after the break from Helen Richardson-Walsh and Danson again.

The Netherlands – who claimed gold in Beijing 2008 and at London 2012 by beating Argentina in the final, while GB edged NZ again for bronze – saw-off Germany on penalty shuttles after a draw in their semi-final earlier on Wednesday evening.

There was, however, no such joy for Townsend’s forner Sutton Valence schoolmate Ashley Jackson and the GB men, who missed out on a place in the knockout stages.

After a heavy defeat to Belgium in their opening pool game and a point against New Zealand in game two, they crushed the host nation Brazil, only to then suffer a narrow defeat to Australia and have to settle for a draw with Spain in their crucial final group game which saw them fail to progress to the last eight.

Last Friday Tonbridge AC racewalker Tom Bosworth from Sevenoaks produced the performance of his life to finish a fine sixth in the 20k race walk in Rio, having led until the latter stages.

He eventually stopped the clock in a time of 1hour 20mins 13secs – a new British record and 28 seconds better than his previous best.

Despite being ranked 37th in the world going into the event, Bosworth finished less than a minute behind gold medallist Zhen Wang of China.