Team GB are back amongst the gold medals after kitesurfer Eleanor Aldridge won their 13th of the games in the women’s kite final.

But there was heartbreak for Jade Jones as she suffered a second successive Olympic first round loss in the women’s under-57kg taekwondo.

The British fighter, who won Olympic gold in 2012 and 2016, was beaten in the last 16 by North Macedonia’s Miljana Reljikj.

It was better news for team-mate Bradly Sinden, who made a strong start in his bid to go one better than his silver in Tokyo three years ago.

Elsewhere, GB had a good morning at the athletics in the heptathlon and the 4x100m relay heats.

In the diving, Grace Reid and Yasmin Harper progressed through to the semi-finals of the women’s 3m springboard, but there was disappointment for Jack Laugher and Jordan Houlden in the men’s final.

Erin McNeice progressed to the final of the women’s climbing in the boulder and lead discipline, which takes place on Saturday.

It was bad news in the sailing though, as it all went wrong on the start line for John Gimson and Anna Burnet in the mixed multi-hull medal race.

They were judged to have been over the line ahead of time and, as a result, had to withdraw from the double-points race causing them to slip from third to fourth.

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Eleanor Aldridge secured Great Britain’s 13th gold of the Olympics as she won the women’s kite sailing final at Paris 2024.

In doing so she became the inaugural Olympic kite champion, with the discipline making its debut at the Games.

It is a fast and furious event, with competitors on small lightweight boards flying above the water at up to 40 knots powered by huge kites.

Aldridge secured gold by winning two races in the final series on Thursday.

The 27-year-old went into the final tied on points with France’s Lauriane Nolot but behind her on countback.

World silver medallist Aldridge led almost from start to finish in the first race of the day and was even more dominant in the second race after Nolot fell off her board early on to put herself out of contention.

She was able to cruise to the finish line before celebrating her moment of history and Team GB’s 50th medal of the Games.

Sinden and Jones were among GB’s major medal hopes at these Games, and both started their campaigns on Thursday.

They could not have been more contrasting.

Sinden made a strong start to progress to the semi-finals with a 8-6 9-11 18-10 win over Croatia’s Marko Golubic. He will aim to be involved when the medals are fought for in the men’s under-68kg at 20:19 BST.

But Jones’ hopes of gold are over at the last-16 stage, as they were in Tokyo. She was beaten 7-6 4-5 1-1 by Reljikj – who won the tie despite the drawn final round as she landed more hits across the bout.

It follows a controversial build-up to the Games for Jones. She was initially suspended for refusing a drugs test before being cleared to compete after she was found to having committed a no-fault doping violation on confidential medical grounds.

It is early days, but Katarina Johnson-Thompson has made a strong start in her bid for an elusive Olympic medal.

Twice a world champion, the 31-year-old is yet to produce her best at the Olympics.

The Liverpudlian finished 14th on her Olympic debut in 2012, came sixth four years later in Rio and injury prevented her from finishing in Tokyo three years ago.

Johnson-Thompson also withdrew from the European Championships after just three events in June – but showed no ill signs in an encouraging display on Thursday morning at the Stade de France.

She was eighth fastest overall in the opening discipline – the 100m hurdles – before going toe to toe with two-time defending Olympic champion Nafissatou Thiam in the high jump.

Johnson-Thompson and Thiam were the only two women to clear 1.92m, and while the Belgian won the event as she needed fewer attempts to reach that height it was enough to put the Briton top of the standings after the first two events.

Thiam sits second overall, with Anna Hall of USA third and Johnson-Thompson’s team-mate Jade O’Dowda ninth.

The heptathlon continues on Thursday evening with the shot put followed by 200m. The athletes compete in long jump and javelin on Friday morning, before the 800m to conclude.

It was also a good morning for GB’s sprinters, as both the men’s and women’s 4x100m teams qualified for Friday’s finals.

The women won their heat, and still have 200m finallists Daryll Neita and Dina Asher-Smith as options for the final after they were rested on Thursday.

Great Britain have enjoyed a fruitful Olympics in the diving pool, and their success continued in the semi-finals of the women’s 3m springboard.

Both GB representatives, Grace Reid and Yasmin Harper, went through to the 12-diver final.

Reid came seventh while Harper was comfortable until an error on her final dive – but she still progressed in 12th place.

China’s Chen Yiwen, the gold medallist from the synchro, qualified with the best score.

It was a disappointing afternoon, however, for GB’s Jack Laugher and Jordan Houlden in the men’s 3m springboard final.

Laugher, who has previously won a silver and bronze in this event, made an error on his third dive which took him out of medal contention and he finished seventh.

The men’s 3m springboard synchro bronze medallist said afterwards he was “devastated” but “proud”.

Houlden, competing at his first Games, fared slightly better in fifth.

Defending champion Xie Siyi and world champion Wang Zongyuan took gold and silver respectively for China, with Mexico’s Osmar Olvera earning bronze.

Conditions in the River Seine have been a constant concern for Games organisers, with pollution leading to several familiarisation sessions being cancelled and the men’s triathlon being delayed by a day.

But they got some respite as the women’s 10km marathon swim was cleared to take place as scheduled early on Thursday morning.

The Netherlands’ Sharon van Rouwendaal took gold after two hours of gruelling swimming, for her second Olympic title after winning at Rio 2016.

Australia’s Moesha Johnson came second with Italy’s Ginevra Taddeucci in third, while GB’s Leah Crisp finished 20th.

Afterwards, Van Rouwendaal dedicated the victory to her pet dog Rio, who died in May.

“My world stopped and I didn’t care about swimming for like three weeks. He was my little baby,” she told the BBC.

“I swam for him with my whole heart. I won it for him.”