And now we’ve done the day for Australia, we may as well look at US chances/highlights.
9pm EDT/2am EDT: men’s 3m springboard semi-final/final
A total of 18 divers will compete in the morning semi-final, and the top 12 scorers advance to the afternoon final. One American, Andrew Capobianco, qualified for the semi; he won a silver in the synchronized event last week. Capobianco, 21, finished 17th in the preliminary round.
9.50pm EDT: women’s long jump final
Two Americans, Brittney Reese and Tara Davis, qualified for the long jump final, competing in a field of 12. Reese is ranked No 5 in the world, Davis No 15, but Davis is having a career year. The Americans will face stiff competition if they hope to medal; the top four jumpers in the world ahead of Reese qualified for the final, as did Nos 7, 8, 10 and 11 ahead of Davis.
11.20pm EDT: men’s 400m hurdles final
Rai Benjamin, 24, is competing in his first Olympics in Tokyo and is favored to medal in the 400m hurdles after placing second in his semi-final heat. Benjamin is the second-ranked athlete in the world in the event, and he posted a personal-best time of 46.83 seconds at the US trials in June—which also marked the second-fastest time anyone has ever posted in the event.
2.33am: mixed Nacra 17 sailing medal race
Americans Anna Weiss and Riley Gibbs will sail for a medal in Enoshima in the mixed event. Both are competing in their first Olympics, but as a pair, they were Pan American Games Champions in 2019 and won a bronze medal at the Oceania Championship in 2020.
2.44am/4.19am EDT: women’s team pursuit cycling first round heat three/finals
The US team of Jennifer Valente, Chloe Dygert, Emma White and Lily Williams will race against the British team in heat three of the team pursuit first round. The winner of that race will advance to face the winner of the heat four matchup between Germany and Italy. The losers of those heats will be entered into a pool with the remaining four teams and seeded by first-round times; two fastest teams in that pool will compete for bronze.
4.50am EDT: women’s balance beam final
Simone Biles will return for one last Olympic event: the balance beam final. After withdrawing from the team competition and the rest of her individual events citing mental health strains, Biles will compete in one final competition at the Games before she retires. Sunisa Lee, the 18-year-old who helped propel Team USA to a silver in the team competition and won gold in the individual all-around last week, will also compete in the event.
5.39am EDT: men’s horizontal bar final
Brody Malone, the US’s reigning national champion, placed 10th in the all-around—but he did execute a new trick on the parallel bars, which will be named for him in the code of points. He has a chance for his first medal in the horizontal bar individual event, where he’s had strong showings at past NCAA championships, winning gold in 2019 and ‘21.
6.20am EDT: men’s pole vault final
Two Americans, KC Lightfoot and Chris Nilsen, advanced to the pole vault final after clearing the 5.75 meter mark in the semis. Nilsen is the fifth-ranked pole vaulter in the world, and Lightfoot, 21, cleared six meters on a jump at a meet in February, setting a collegiate indoor pole vault record.
7.35am EDT: women’s hammer throw final
Three Americans—Brooke Andersen, DeAnna Price and Gwen Berry—qualified for the final field of 12 in the hammer throw, where the US has a solid chance to medal. Price is the top ranked thrower in the world; she set an American record at the Olympic trials in June, when her 80.31-meter throw marked the second-farthest throw in history. Berry, who’s No 6 on the all-time list of longest throws, has made a name for herself protesting injustice in American and systemic racism. She, like Price, is looking for her first Olympic medal, as is Andersen.
8.25am EDT: women’s 800m final
Both Raevyn Rogers and Athing Mu won their respective heats in the semi-final of the 800m, and the two Americans are eyeing medals in the final. Rogers, 24, ran at Oregon and set a collegiate record there in the 800, and Mu, 19, races for Texas A&M. She’s become a breakout face at these Olympics after winning the 800 handily at the US trials—even after stumbling. Her time at the trials was the fastest anyone has run the 800 this year, and she wasn’t even challenged at the end of the race and coasted to the finish.
8.50am EDT: women’s 200m final
At the Olympic trials, Gabrielle Thomas became the second-fastest woman of all time in the 200m race, ahead of Marion Jones and behind only Florence Griffith-Joyner. Thomas, who was diagnosed with a benign liver tumor earlier this year and is studying for a master’s degree in epidemiology, is eyeing gold in Tokyo.
