New Zealand's women's rugby sevens team edged out Canada 19-12 to give the North Americans the Olympic silver medal.

In a back-and-forth match, New Zealand opened the scoring in the gold medal match with a try from Risi Pouri-Lane and quickly took a 7-0 lead after the conversion. 

Canada responded with a flurry of tries in the final minute of the first half, starting with Chloe Daniels who ran through the heart of the New Zealand defence to level the scores. On the next play, Alysha Corrigan intercepted a pass and raced into the try zone for a 12-7 lead at half-time.

New Zealand responded immediately in the second half, scoring through Tyla King, who made a quick cut to evade the Canadians and run in for a try to take a 14-12 lead.

As the minutes ticked away, they extended their lead to 19-12 when Stacey Waaka dived over in the try zone with just two minutes remaining.

The Kiwis secured their second successive women's rugby sevens gold medal after winning the title at Tokyo 2020 in front of 69,000 fans who nearly filled the Stade de France in Saint-Denis on the outskirts of Paris.

Before the gold medal match, the United States made history by winning a tightly contested bronze medal match. With the first half level at 7-7, Australia scored a try to take the lead.

Maddison Levi then missed the conversion from the corner to give the Americans a chance, knowing they were just a try and a conversion away from glory. 

Alex Sedrick made the most of this opportunity, breaking through to carry the ball the length of the field before touching down under the posts. The subsequent conversion was successful, giving the USA their first-ever rugby medal, much to the disbelief of the favourites, the Australians.