PARIS 2024 Review & Preview: Lyles’ finish gets stunning 100 m gold; world record for U.S.’s Finke as swimmers top Aussies on gold, 8-7

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= PARIS 2024 = From Lane One

Lots and lots of drama today, with American Bobby Finke setting a world record in the men’s 1,500 m Freestyle and then the women’s 4×100 m Medley Relay finishing with another world mark in the final event in the pool.

Over at the track, the drama was all over the men’s 100 m in the semifinals, with Jamaica’s Oblique Seville beating Noah Lyles of the U.S. in the first race, 9.81 (lifetime best) to 9.83 (wind: +0.7 m/s). South Africa’s Akani Simbine won semi two in 9.87 (0.0), and Jamaica’s world leader, Kishane Thompson, was impressive in taking semi three in 9.80 (+0.5) over Fred Kerley of the U.S. (9.94 seasonal best).

So in the final, Olympic 200 m medalist Kenny Bednarek (USA) was in lane two, 2022 World Champion Kerley was in three, and Thompson in four. African champ Simbine was in five, Seville in six, 2023 World Champion Lyles in seven, Worlds runner-up Letsile Tebogo (BOT) in eight and defending Olympic champ Lamont Marcell Jacobs of Italy in nine. Spectacular.

The final was preceded by a dramatic light show, and the Stade de France was loud, but off the gun, Lyles was behind and Thompson got to the lead of an even field by 50 m. But as Kerley was coming hard to his left, Lyles had the fastest finish once again and got to the line first – from sixth at 90 m – with a hard lean, and won in a lifetime best of 9.79 (+1.0 m/s wind).

How close? Lyles was timed in 9.784 to 9.789 for Thompson – 0.005 difference – with Kerley the bronze winner at 9.81 and Simbine fourth at 9.82. Bednarek was seventh in 9.88.

Thompson could feel (and see) Kerley to his left in three, but had no idea of what was happening to his right, as Lyles moved up from seemingly nowhere. It’s the first U.S. win in the 100 since 2004 – by Justin Gatlin – and he and Kerley put two on the podium for the first time since that Athens race, when Maurice Greene was third.

Lyles moved up to equal-12th all-time at 9.79 and equal-sixth with Greene in U.S. history. Kerley’s path to the bronze was equally epic, as he was running poorly into June, dumped his sponsor ASICS because he wasn’t getting the results he wanted from their products and went free-agent through the U.S. Trials, wearing Nike spikes. Let’s see what happens to him now.

No rest for Lyles or Bednarek, however, as the 200 m heats start tomorrow, an event in which Lyles is – unlike the 100 – the clear favorite. But Bednarek thinks he can beat him. ~ Rich Perelman

¶

At the morning news conference, Paris 2024 volunteers took the floor, talking about their experiences so far, which have been good. The training program was extensive, with 80 different “modules” created for training at the various sites and different functions.

Asked if there were any Russian volunteers, after reports that they were all refused by French authorities, the response from Games Times Workforce Operations Director Alexandre Morenon-Conde was “there are some.”

¶

The surfing competition in Tahiti was originally expected to be completed by 31 July, but the waves at Teahupo’o have been pretty wild at times, leading to cancellation of sessions on 30 and 31 July, then again on 3-4 July. With a little luck, the semifinals and finals will be held on Monday, 5 August (maybe).

● Les Temps ● The updated forecast continues mostly cloudy for the remainder of the Games, with the organizers hopeful that the triathlon relay and the open-water swims can be held in the Seine:

● 05 Aug. (Mon.): High of 87 ~ low of 62, sunny

● 06 Aug. (Tue.): 87 ~ 63, cloudy

● 07 Aug. (Wed.): 79 ~ 60, cloudy

● 08 Aug. (Thu.): 83 ~ 65, cloudy

● 09 Aug. (Fri.): 82 ~ 62, cloudy

● 10 Aug. (Sat.): 84 ~ 65, sunny

● 11 Aug. (Sun.): 87 ~ 68, cloudy

The triathlon mixed relay is scheduled for 5 August (hopefully) and the open-water 10 km events for 8-9 August.

● Medals & Teams ● The U.S. had another big day on Sunday – 10 medals, including five golds – and is suddenly tied with China for the most gold medals:

● 1. 71, United States (19-26-26)

● 2. 45, China (19-15-11)

● 3. 44, France (12-14-18)

● 4. 37, Great Britain (10-12-15)

● 5. 31, Australia (12-11-8)

● 6. 24, South Korea (10-7-7)

● 6. 24, Japan (9-5-10)

● 8. 22, Italy (7-10-5)

● 9. 17, Canada (5-4-8)

● 10. 15, Netherlands (6-5-4)

● 11. 12, Germany (5-5-2)

● 12. 10. Brazil (1-4-5)

In our TSX team rankings, using a 10-8-6-5-4-3-2-1 points system and a much better representation of team achievement, the U.S. pulled away to a solid lead with a big Sunday:

● 1. 703, United States

● 2. 499, China

● 3. 476, France

● 4. 434, Great Britain

● 5. 351 1/2, Australia

● 6. 340 1/2, Italy

● 7. 278 1/2, Japan

● 8. 255 1/2, Korea

● 9. 234 1/2, Germany

● 10. 230 1/2, Canada

● 11. 201 1/2, Netherlands

● 12. 119, Spain

● 13. 111, New Zealand

● 14. 110 1/2, Switzerland

● 15. 106 1/2, Hungary

Now, a total of 91 countries (out of 206) – including Belarus and Russia, as “neutrals” – have scored points so far.

● Television ● NBC continues to show strong audiences for the Games, which confirm the star power of Simone Biles and the U.S. women’s gymnastics team:

● 26 Jul. (Fri.): 29.3 million (28.6 + Telemundo 0.7)

● 27 Jul. (Sat.): 32.4 million

● 28 Jul. (Sun.): 41.5 million ~ gymnastics women’s qualifying

● 29 Jul. (Mon.): 31.3 million

● 30 Jul. (Tue.): 34.7 million ~ gymnastics women’s Team final

● 01 Aug. (Wed.): 29.1 million

● 02 Aug. (Thu.): 31.7 million ~ gymnastics women’s All-Around

● 03 Aug. (Fri.): 29.2 million* (estimated)

NBC reported the eight-day average for 2024 is 32.4 million in 2024, compared to 18.6 million for Tokyo (a lot better) and the eight-day average of 29.6 million for Rio (better).

The measurement of “Total Audience Delivery” is based upon live-plus-same day custom fast national figures from Nielsen and digital data from Adobe Analytics. This is not a true “apples-to-apples” with prior Games, however, as the audiences prior to 2024 were for the NBC primetime show only and the Paris totals are for the daytime show (live) and the primetime show together. No out-of-home audiences were in the figures for Rio 2016; Nielsen added those in 2020.

= RESULTS: SUNDAY, 4 AUGUST =

● Archery: Men In another classic between two competitors who know each other well, Korea’s Woo-jin Kim and American Brady Ellison had to go to overtime to settle the men’s gold-medal match. Kim, a three-time World Champion, already had Paris wins in the men’s Team and Mixed Team events and Ellison had won the Rio bronze, plus two Team medals and the Mixed Team bronze in Paris. Neither had an Olympic gold

In the final, Ellison won the first end, 29-27, Kim won the second, 28-24 and Ellison took the lead again at 29-27 in the third. Kim tied it at 29-27 in the fourth and both shot 30 in the fifth end (!) for a 5-5 tie.

In the shoot-off, both shot 10, but Kim’s arrow was judged closer to the center, giving him the 6-5 win and his third Paris gold. He equaled the three-golds achievement of fellow Korean San An from Tokyo, who won the women’s gold, Team gold and Mixed Team gold.

For Ellison, the silver was his fifth Olympic medal (0-3-2). Korean Woo-seok Lee defeated German Florian Unruh, 6-0, for the bronze.

● Athletics: Men’s Hammer; Women’s High Jump The men’s hammer started with an explosion, with World Champion Ethan Katzberg sending the ball-and-chain out to 84.12 m (276-0) on his first throw! No one else reached 80 m in the first three rounds, with Bence Halasz (HUN) second in 79.97 m (262-4).

Katzberg also reached 82.28 m (269-11) in round two, but no one else could get to 80 m. Halasz won silver and Ukraine’s Mykhaylo Kokhan’s second-round throw of 79.39 m (260-5) held up for the bronze. American Rudy Winkler was fourth after the first round at 77.92 m (255-8), and finished sixth. It’s Canada’s first gold in the event and its first Olympic medal in this event since 1912!

World-record setter Yaroslava Mahuchikh (UKR) and 2023 Worlds runner-up Nicola Olyslagers (AUS) were clear of the field in the women’s high jump pretty quickly, as the only ones to make 1.98 m (6-6), with fellow Australian Eleanor Patterson sharing the bronze at 1.95 m (6-4 3/4) with Ukraine’s Iryna Gerashchenko.

Mahuchikh, who looked completely in control with makes on her first three heights, sailed over 2.00 m (6-6 3/4) on her first try, but Olyslagers took three to get over. On to 2.02 m (6-7 1/2) and Mahuchikh suffered her first miss. She missed again, but Olyslagers missed all three tries and with the Olympic gold already hers, Mahuchikh tried 2.04 m (6-8 1/4) for the Olympic Record, but missed and retired. A try for another record will come another day. A big, high-profile 1-3 for Ukraine in Paris.

American Vashti Cunningham cleared 1.95 m and finished fifth.

● Badminton: Men’s Doubles Defending Olympic champions Yang Lee and Chi-lin Wang won their second straight gold, defeating China’s Wei Keng Liang and Chang Wang in the final by 21-17, 18-21, 21-19. Mayalsia’s Aaron Chia and Wool Yik Soh took the bronze from second-seed Danes Kim Astrup and Anders Rasmussen.

● Cycling: Women’s Road Race With about 3.5 km remaining in the women’s 157.6 km road race, Belgian Lotte Kopecky – the biggest winner on the UCI Women’s World Tour this season – and American Kristen Faulkner had caught the leading pair of Blanka Vas (HUN) and all-time great, 37-year-old Marianne Vos (NED), the 2012 Olympic champ and three-time World Champion.

But once Faulkner, who had been steady this season, but hardly a star, got even with the leaders, she attacked and no one could stay with her. Faulkner flew to the finish and won in 3:59:23, a sensational 58 seconds ahead of Vos, who out-sprinted Kopecky and Vas for the silver.

Fellow American Chloe Dygert was 15th in 4:03:03. It’s the first U.S. win in this race – in fact, its first medal in this race – since it was first held in the Games, in Los Angeles in 1984 with Connie Carpenter and Rebecca Twigg going 1-2. Dutch riders have won a medal in this race in four straight Games.

● Equestrian: Individual Dressage A second straight gold for favored defending Olympic champ Jessica von Bredlow-Werndl (GER) and TSF Dalera BB, who scored 90.93% to win over teammate Isabell Werth, 55, the Tokyo silver winner and now a seven-time Olympic medal winner, including gold in 1996.

Werth scored 89.614% to edge 2022 World Champion Charlotte Fry (GBR: 88.971) for the silver; Dinja van Liere (NED: 88.432%) was fourth.

● Fencing: Men’s Team Foil Italy won the 2022 Worlds and Japan won in 2023, so naturally they faced off in the final. The top seed, Japan, won by 45-36, winning its first-ever gold in the event and its first medal since a silver at London 2012. Italy took its first Olympic medal since winning in London.

France defeated the U.S. for the bronze medal, 45-32, ending a streak of two straight Olympic bronzes for the Americans.

● Golf: Men An incredible finish in the final round, as two-time Masters winner Scottie Scheffler (USA), the world’s top-ranked golfer shot a sizzling 62 to shoot up the leaderboard and win the Olympic tournament by one stroke at -19 over Tommy Fleetwood (GBR) and two over Japan’s Hideki Matsuyama (-17).

Scheffler started Sunday in sixth place, but birdied the first three holes and then went crazy on the back nine with birdies at 10-12-14-15-16-17 and a par at 18 to finish at 265 (67-69-67-62).

Fleetwood was near the top the whole tournament and third coming into Sunday, shooting a 66 for the silver and Matsuyama shot a 65 but only moved up from fourth to third. Fleetwood suffered a bogey on the 17th on Sunday while Scheffler made birdie to take the lead for good.

Third-round co-leader and defending champ Xavier Schauffele (USA) shot a 73 to drop to a tie for ninth. Spain’s Jon Rahm, the other co-leader, shot 70 to finish in a tie for fifth,

● Gymnastics: Men’s Rings-Vault; Women’s Uneven Bars China’s Yang Liu defended his Tokyo Olympic title, scoring 15.300 to edge countryman Jingyuan Zou (15.233) in the Rings final. Greece’s Rio 2016 winner, Eleftherios Petrounias, won a bronze in Tokyo and won another bronze here at 15.100, just ahead of France’s Samir Alt Said (15.000).

Petrounias is the first ever to win a Rings medal in three straight Games.

Carlos Yulo – at 4-11 – made more history for The Philippines by winning the Vault, scoring 15.116, winning his second event in Paris, after taking the Floor final. He was the 2021 World Champion and 2022 runner-up and defeated Armenia’s 2022 World Champion Artur Davtyan (14.966) and Britain’s Harry Hepworth (14.949) and 2023 World Champion Jake Jarman (14.933).

Algeria’s Kaylia Nemour led the qualifying in the women’s Uneven Bars at 15.600 and kept right on going into the final, scoring 15.700 to win, moving up from silver at the 2023 World Championships. China’s 2023 World Champion Qiyuan Qiu took the silver at 15.500 and the U.S.’s Suni Lee repeated as the Olympic bronze medalist at 14.800. Belgium’s Nina Derwael, the defending champ, finished fourth at 14.766.

● Shooting: Women’s Skeet Chile’s Francisca Crovetto had never won a Worlds medal coming into the Olympic final, but the 2023 Pan American Games winner scored Chile’s third Olympic gold ever, in her third Olympic Games.

She scored 31 hits in a row to get into a shoot-off with Britain’s Amber Jo Rutter, the 2022 Worlds runner-up, at 55-all. On the shoot-off, Crovetto won, 7-6. Austen Smith of the U.S. won the bronze at 45 hits.

● Swimming: Men’s 1,500 m Free-4×100 m Medley; Women’s 50 m Free-4×100 m Medley “I’m really happy.”

That’s Bobby Finke of the U.S., defending his Tokyo men’s 1,500 m Freestyle title in WORLD RECORD style, finishing in 14:30.67, just about a second faster than his prior best from the 2023 Worlds (14:31.59).

He won by nearly four seconds over Italy’s Rio 2016 winner Gregorio Paltrinieri (14:34.55) and World Champion Daniel Whiffen (IRL: 14:39.63). Finke said afterwards that he was irritated after his 800 m Free silver and once he saw that he was in front after 100 m, he just kept pushing.

In the women’s 50 m Free, it was all Sarah Sjostrom of Sweden, the heavy favorite, who won in 23.71, the no. 7 performance in history. No one was close; Meg Harris got the silver for Australia (23.97), with Yufei Zhang (CHN: 24.20) getting the bronze. American Gretchen Walsh was fourth (24.21).

In the men’s 4×100 m Medley, the U.S.’s Ryan Murphy touched second to Jiayu Xu (CHN) on the Back leg, handing to Nic Fink on Breast, but Haiyang Qin touched first again, with the U.S. third to Great Britain. Caeleb Dressel was third at the turn on the Fly, but motored home in second position with a 49.41 leg, fastest in the field.

The French had the lead on the final leg over the U.S. and China, with Hunter Armstrong facing China’s world-record holder Zhanle Pan, who overtook him and won in 3:27.46, the no. 5 performance in history. Pan, who set the world record in the 100 m Free in 46.40, swam the fastest split in history at 45.92, with Armstrong excellent at 47.19.

The French got another medal with the bronze, with Leon Marchand on Breast, in 3:28.38 and Britain was fourth at 3:29.60. The U.S. swam 3:28.01, no. 7 in U.S. history, but it was the first time the U.S. lost this race when it has contested it in Olympic history.

Last on the program was the women’s 4×100 m Medley, with Regan Smith, Lilly King, Gretchen Walsh and Torri Huske, who won the Mixed Medley Relay on anchor. Smith and Kaylee McKeown touched 1-2 for the U.S. and Australia on the Back, then King burst out to a significant lead on the Breast leg and Walsh had a 2.89-second lead on Canada and Australia.

Walsh increased the lead to 3.41 seconds on Canada with Huske in the water, who finished strong with a WORLD RECORD of 3:49.63. Smith’s Back leg of 57.28 was only 0.15 off her own 57.13 world record! King’s leg of 1:04.90 was brilliant and made the difference. Walsh swam 55.03, equal to the fastest ever, by Sjostrom in 2017.

And Huske finished in 52.42 to finish off the record, her third gold in Paris with wins in the 100 m Fly and the women’s 4×100 m Medley and the Mixed 4×100 m Medley plus silvers in the 100 m Free and women’s 4×100 m Free. Amazing; she’s 21.

Australia got the silver in 3:53.11 and China took bronze in 3:53.23.

And in the much-ballyhooed match-up between Australia and the U.S. for gold medals – that’s the way Australia looks at it – the Americans won eight and Oz had seven. The U.S. finished with 28 total medals (8-13-7) to 18 for Australia and 12 for China.

● Table Tennis: Men’s Singles The Cinderella story stopped in the final, as Sweden’s Truls Moregard, the 19th seed, won the first set, but was then comprehensively defeated by second-seed Zhendong Fan (CHN) by 4-1 (7-11, 11-9, 11-9, 11-8, 11-8). Fan was the Tokyo runner-up and now has an Olympic gold to go with his two World Championship titles.

China has now won seven of the 10 men’s table tennis Olympic golds and five in a row. France’s Felix Lebrun swept last Hugo Calderon (BRA), 4-0 (11-6, 12-10, 11-7, 11-6) to win the bronze.

● Tennis: Men’s Singles, Women’s Doubles Serbia’s Novak Djokovic managed a taut, 7-6 (3), 7-6 (3) victory over world no. 2 Carlos Alcaraz in the men’s final at Roland Garros to edge ahead in their all-time personal match-up to 4-3.

At 37, Djokovic won his second Olympic medal after a bronze in Beijing way back in 2008. Italy’s Lorenzo Musetti won the bronze medal over Canada’s Felix Auger-Aliassime, 6-4, 1-6, 6-3.

Italy’s Sara Errani and Jasmine Paolini had to go to a third set tie-break in the women’s Doubles final against Russians Mirra Andreeva and Diana Shnaider, competing as “neutrals,” but won by 2-6, 6-1, 10-8.

Errani, 37, has won the career Slam in Doubles, and she and Paolini made the final of the French Open women’s Doubles in 2024, but lost. Now they are Olympic champions. Spain’s Christina Bucsa and Sara Sorribes defeated Karolina Muchova and Linda Noskova (CZE) for the bronze, 6-2, 6-2.

Elsewhere:

● Athletics ● The news of the day in qualifying was that Shericka Jackson, Jamaica’s two-time World Champion, did not show for the heats of the 200 m. She withdrew from the 100 m due to injury; no reason was given for her absence in the 200.

In the heats, world leader and Tokyo Olympic bronzer Gabby Thomas of the U.S. led at 22.20 from heat two, followed by Favour Ofili (NGR: 22.24 in heat one), Dina Asher-Smith (GBR: 22.28 in heat one) and Brittany Brown of the U.S. (22.38 in heat five). McKenzie Long of the U.S. won heat four in 22.55.

The other news came in the men’s 110 m hurdles, where World Champion Grant Holloway of the U.S. had the fastest qualifier at 13.01, 0.22 faster than anyone else. Daniel Roberts barely qualified in third in heat three (13.43) and Freddie Crittenden jogged to a last-place finish in heat two, in 18.27. But that was the plan:

“I had a little aggravation in my abductor yesterday for my pre-meet. I went to Team USA medical staff, medical doctors, and they said it’s not an injury, but there’s a lack of activation in my muscle that’s causing pain and discomfort.

“So the plan was to come here, get through the round, and as long as I didn’t get disqualified or hit any hurdles, the idea was that I could get through and get another opportunity in the repechage round. So I just wanted to get here, make sure I didn’t make anything worse, and give it everything I’ve got on Tuesday.”

Wow. The repechage is new, replacing the “fastest losers” advancement with an actual race to get into the semifinals. Crittenden, in his first Olympics, is a beneficiary of that change.

Defending champion Miltiadis Tentoglou (GRE) led the men’s long jump qualifying at 8.32 m (27-3 3/4); Americans Jarrison Lawson (no mark), Jeremiah Davis (7.83 m/25-8 1/4) and Malcolm Clemons (7.72 m/25-4) did not qualify; the U.S. also did not have a finalist at Beijing 2008, or in Moscow 1980, so it’s the third time in an event where Americans have won 22 golds.

Dutch star Femke Bol won heat three in 53.38 to lead the women’s 400 m hurdles qualifying, with Americans Jasmine Jones (53.60) winning heat two and world-record holder Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone (53.60) winning heat five. Teammate Anna Cockrell won heat four in 53.91.

The women’s Steeple heats had defending champion Peruth Chemutai (UGA: 9:10.51), 2023 World Champion Winfred Yavi (BRN: 9:15.11) and world-record holder Beatrice Chepkoech (KEN: 9:13.56) as heat winners; Americans Courtney Wayment and Val Constien advanced; Marisa Howard did not.

Finland’s Krista Tervo led the women’s hammer qualifying with a national record of 74.79 m (245-4), ahead of World Champion Cam Rogers (CAN: 74.69 m/245-0), 2019 World champ DeAnna Price of the U.S. (73.79 m/241-9) and Annette Echikunwoke (USA: 73.52 m/241-2). Erin Reese of the U.S. did not qualify at 70.23 m (230-5).

In the afternoon in the men’s 400 m heats, Michael Norman of the U.S., the 2022 World Champion, cruised to a brilliant win in heat two in a staggering 44.10! U.S. Trials winner Quincy Hall came on late to win heat four in 44.28, the second-fastest time of the day. These are in heats, folks.

European champ Matthew Hudson-Smith (GBR) won heat one in 44.78, with Chris Bailey of the U.S. second in 44.89. London 2012 champ Kirani James of Grenada won heat five in 44.78.

Defending champion Jakub Ingebrigtsen (NOR) strung out the first semi in the men’s 1,500 m, with World Champion Josh Kerr right behind at the bell. They finished that way, qualifying easing in an astonishing semifinal time of 3:32.38 and 3:32.46. American Cole Hocker sat behind the leaders and finished third in 3:32.54 and qualified third.

American Yared Nuguse led semi two through the bell, with teammate Hobbs Kessler moving into third on the back straight. Nuguse just kept cruising, looked composed and ran unchallenged through the line in another fabulous time: 3:31.73! Kessler moved up to second in the final 50 m, in 3:31.97! Britain’s Neil Gourley was an easy third in 3:32.11 (as if 3:32.11 could ever be easy.)

Kenya’s 2023 World Champion Mary Moraa won the first women’s 800 m semi by coming off the final turn hard and running away from Ethiopia’s Worknesh Mesele, 1:57.86 to 1:58.06. Semi two had Ethiopia’s Tsige Duguma, the 2024 World Indoor winner coming hardest on the straight to win in a lifetime best of 1:57.47, just ahead of Shafiqua Maloney (VIN: 1:57.59 national record) and American Juliette Whitaker with a lifetime best in 1:57.76 (who advanced to the final on time).

Britain’s Keely Hodgkinson, the favorite, went to the lead right away in semi three and turned into the final straight in the lead and ran away to win in 1:56.86, ahead of Prudence Sekgodiso (1:57.57), and Nia Akins of the U.S. (1:58.20), who did not advance.

● Basketball ● The U.S. women cruised to a convincing win over Germany, 87-68, winning the second quarter by 25-10 and the third quarter by 28-17, with Jackie Young leading all scorers with 19. That’s 58 straight in Olympic play and on to the quarterfinals, which will be held on 7 August.

The U.S. and Spain were the only undefeated teams; France won group B at 2-1. The U.S. will play Nigeria or Belgium, with the games now moved to Paris.

● Beach Volleyball ● The U.S. men’s teams are playing Monday in the round-of-16, with Miles Partain and Andrew Benesh facing Paolo Nicolai and Samuele Cottafava (ITA) and Chase Budinger and Miles Evans in a difficult draw against Norway’s Olympic and World Champions, Anders Mol and Christian Sorum.

The women’s pair of World Champions Kelly Cheng and Sara Hughes are through to the quarters after a 21-18, 17-21, 15-12 win over Valentina Gottardi and Marta Menegatti on Sunday. Kristen Nuss and Taryn Kloth play their round-of-16 match on Monday against a dangerous Canadian pair in Melissa Humana-Paredes and Brandie Wilkerson.

● Volleyball ● The U.S. women swept last France by 3-0 to finish 2-1 in Group A and move into the quarterfinals on Tuesday, facing Poland, with the winner to play the winner of Brazil-Dominican Republic in the semifinals on 8 August.

● Water Polo ● The U.S. men (2-2) will play Croatia (3-1) tomorrow to finish group play and get ready for the quarterfinals. The U.S. women finished 3-1, losing to Spain, and will play Hungary in their quarterfinal on Tuesday.

= PREVIEWS: MONDAY, 5 AUGUST = (18 finals across 8 sports)

● Athletics: Men’s Vault; Women’s 800 m-5,000 m-Discus The men’s vault final means Swedish superstar Mondo Duplantis will be back, trying not only to defend his Tokyo title, but to increase his world record to 6.25 m (20-6). He’s 0-15 so far, but don’t bet against him in Paris. Next best is probably America’s two-time World Champion Sam Kendricks, E.J. Obiena (PHI) and perhaps Greek Emmanouil Karalis or Australia’s Kurtis Marschall.

The women’s 800 m is clearly the property of British star Keely Hodgkinson, who won the London Diamond League with a lifetime best of 1:54.61, no. 6 all-time. Mary Moraa, Kenya’s 2023 World Champion and World Indoor winner Tsige Duguma (ETH) look like the strongest challengers, along with South Africa’s Prudence Sekgodiso.

Another big favorite will be Kenya’s former world-record holder Faith Kipyegon in the women’s 5,000 m, who was also the 2023 Worlds winner over defending Olympic champ Sifan Hassan (NED) and two-time Worlds medalist Beatrice Chebet (KEN). Ethiopia’s 2022 World Champion Gudaf Tsegay – the current world-record holder – and Ejgayehu Taye (14:18.92) are definite medal contenders, but can either kick with Kipyegon? Doesn’t seem likely.

American Valarie Allman won the Tokyo Olympic title, won the Worlds bronze in 2022 and silver in 2023. She’s the most consistent thrower and the favorite. She led the qualifying over 2012-16 Olympic champ Sandra Elkasevic (CRO) and 2022 World Champion Feng Bin, with Dutch star Jorinde van Klinken a medal threat as well.

● Badminton: Men’s Singles; Women’s Singles Defending champion Viktor Axelsen (DEN), a two-time World Champion has to be the favorite, but Thailand’s reigning World Champion, Kunlavut Vitidsarn has been second and first in the last two Worlds and is ready.

India’s 2021 Worlds bronze winner, Lakshya Sen will face Zii Ja lee (MAS) in the bronze-medal match.

Korea’s Se-young An and won her first Worlds gold in 2023, and will face China’s Bingjiao He, a two-time Worlds bronze-medal winner, in the final.

The 2016 women’s Olympic champ and three-time World Champion Carolina Marin of Spain had to retire due to an injury, so Gregoria Mariska Tunjung (INA) is the bronze medalist.

● Basketball: Men’s 3×3; Women’s 3×3 The men’s and women’s 3×3 basketball finals will be held, with the U.S. women the defending Olympic champs, but have a new line-up. The Americans won the 2023 FIBA World Cup with Cameron Brink, Hailey van Lith, Cierra Burdick and Linnae Harper, but lost Brink to injury for Paris. Van Lith and Burdick are back, along with replacement Dearica Hamby and Rhyne Howard. They finished 4-3 in round-robin play, with Germany the top seed at 6-1.

The U.S. won its play-in game against China, 21-13, to qualify for the semis against Spain (4-3) and the Germans will face Canada (5-3). Interestingly, neither Germany or Spain have won a Worlds medal in women’s 3×3.

Defending Olympic champion Latvia and the Netherlands were the strongest men’s teams, at 7-0 and 5-2 in the round-robin. They should meet in the final; Latvia plays France (4-4) in one semi and the Dutch will meet Lithuania (5-3) in the other. Latvia won the 2023 Worlds bronze and Lithuania and France finished 2-3 at the 2022 Worlds.

● Canoeing: Men’s Kayak Cross; Women’s Kayak Cross This is the first time on the Olympic program for Kayak cross – former known as “Extreme” – with Britain’s Joseph Clarke the three-time defending men’s World Champion, from 2021-22-23. He led the time trial runs on 2 August, ahead of Pedro Goncalves (BRA), France’s K-1 runner-up Titouan Castryck and 2022 Worlds silver winner Boris Neveu (FRA). Italy’s Giovanni de Gennaro won the K-1 and is clearly a threat.

The women’s Kayak Cross final is the third and final slalom canoeing event, and will Australian star Jessica Fox – the 10-time individual World Champion – complete a women’s golden sweep? It’s possible as she won the Worlds gold in this event in 2021 and 2022. Britain’s Kimberley Woods won the 2023 Worlds, ahead of Camille Prigent (FRA), who led the time trial on 2 August.

German Elena Lilik and Evy Leibfarth of the U.S., who won the K-1 silver and bronze, are contenders, as are Britain’s Mallory Franklin, the Tokyo C-1 runner-up and Brazil’s Ana Satila, the 2018 World Champion.

● Cycling: Track Women’s Team Sprint Germany’s Lea Friedrich, Emma Hinze and Pauline Grabosch are the 2021-22-23 World Champions. Let’s make them the favorites, to be challenged by China’s Bao-Guo-Yuan, second in 2022 and third in 2023, and Great Britain’s Lauren Bell, Sophie Caldwell and Emma Finucane, third in 2022 and second in 2023. No other team in Paris has won a Worlds medal in this event since 2020.

● Gymnastics: Men’s Parallel Bars-Horizontal Bar; Women’s Balance Beam-Floor First up for the women is the Balance Beam, in which Biles has been World Champion in 2014-15-2019-2023 and won Olympic bronzes in Rio and Tokyo. She will be challenged by China’s Yaqin Zhou, the 2023 runner-up, Brazilian star Rebeca Andrade, the 2023 bronzer and U.S. A-A star Suni Lee.

In qualifying, Zhou posted the highest score at 14.866, followed by Biles (14.733), Andrade (14.500) and Lee (14.033). Biles is looking for her eighth career Olympic gold here.

Biles is the unquestioned favorite in the Floor Exercise, where she won Olympic gold in 2016 and Worlds golds in 2013-14-15-18-19-23. She led the qualifying by a big margin at 14.600, with Andrade next at 13.900 and then Jordan Chiles of the U.S. – the 2022 Worlds runner-up – at 13.866. It will be tough to break up those three, but next best are Sabrina Voinea (ROU: 13.800) and Alice D’Amato (ITA: 13.700).

The men’s Parallel Bars could be another showdown between Tokyo Olympic winner Jingyuan Zou of China and runner-up Lukas Dauser of Germany. They were also 1-2 at the 2022 Worlds, with Carolos Yulo (PHI) third, but Dauser won in 2023. Zou led the qualifiers at 16.200, followed by teammate Boheng Zhang (15.33), Japan’s Shinnosuke Oka (JPN: 15.300) and Ukraine’s Oleg Verniaiev (15.266). Dauser was ffth.

The men’s Horizontal Bar qualifying saw China’s Zhang with the top score of 15.133, then 2018 Asian Games champ Chia-hung Tang (TPE: 14.933) and Takaaki Sugino (JPN: 14.733). Not to be overlooked is Tin Srbic (CRO), the 2017 World Champion and 2023 silver medalist.

● Shooting: Men’s 25 m Pistol; Mixed Team Skeet In the last four Olympic Games in the men’s 25 m Rapid-Fire Pistol, Germany’s Christian Reitz had a gold and a bronze, Cuba’s Leuris Pupo has a gold and a silver, China’s Yuehong Li has two bronzes and France’s Jean Quiquampoix is the defending champion from Tokyo and won silver in Rio in 2016. All are in.

However, none of these won medals at the 2022 Worlds, with silver medalist Clement Bessaguet and bronzer Ghulam Mustafa Bashir (PAK) both entered.

The Mixed Team Skeet event is new for 2024 and Americans Vincent Hancock – the four-time Olympic gold winner – and Austen Smith are the reigning World Champions. Ukraine and Great Britain were 2-3.

● Triathlon: Mixed Relay If the bacteria levels in the Seine allow, the race will go off as scheduled. However, training swims in the river were called off for Friday and Saturday.

Anyway, Germany, Switzerland and New Zealand went 1-2-3 in the 2024 Worlds and Germany, New Zealand and the Swiss were 1-2-3 in 2023. But the French team, including Olympic women’s champ Cassandre Beaugrand won four in a row in 2018-19-20-22 and are contenders.

Same for Great Britain, with individual winner Alex Yee, women’s 2023 World Champion Beth Potter and sixth-place Georgia Taylor-Brown.

= INTEL REPORT =

● Athletics ● Jamaica’s iconic sprint star and two-time Olympic champ Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce did not appear for her semifinal in the women’s 100 m in Paris, but it was not because she wasn’t allowed onto the warm-up track.

Fraser-Pryce was directed to a different gate and was prepping for her semi, but sustained an injury, according to Jamaica’s chef de mission Ian Kelly. He told Reuters, “Mrs. Fraser-Pryce was allowed to enter the warm up track but from another gate from which she was directed to enter from.

“There is no truth that she was not allowed to enter the stadium. Unfortunately she was not able to compete due to an injury sustained during her final warmup.”

● Boxing ● As yet another insult to the International Olympic Committee, the now-excluded International Boxing Association offered a gold-medalists’ prize of $100,000 to Italian boxer Angela Carini, who ended her first-round bout with Algerian Imane Khelif after 46 seconds in the women’s 66 kg class.

On Saturday, the Italian Boxing Federation (FPI) refused the award from the IBA, to be $50,000 to the boxer and $25,000 each to the coach and the national federation, posting:

“With regards to the press release issued by the IBA (International Boxing Association), regarding the financial offer made by IBA President Umar Kremlev [RUS] in favour of the FPI, the Italian Boxing Federation denies what has been reported by some media regarding the hypothesis of accepting any kind of cash prize.”

The Italian news agency ANSA reported, “The note does not mention Carini, but the federation has made it known that not even the athlete will accept the money from the IBA.”

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IOC spokesman Mark Adams (GBR) was asked Sunday morning about an IBA letter sent to the IOC in June 2023 concerning a chromosome test given to Khelif during the 2023 Women’s World Championships and once prior that stated she had a male structure. His reply:

“The tests themselves, the process of the tests, the ad hoc nature of the tests are not legitimate and you’ll also expect me to tell you that I’m not going to discuss the individual, intimate details of athletes in public, which I think is pretty disgraceful for those who’ve leaked that material. Frankly, to be put in that position must be awful, on top of all the social media harassment that these athletes have had. …Even the way that material was shared is against legal, ethical and all other measures.”

He added:

“A letter was sent, the testing, the method of the testing, the idea of the testing, which happened kind of overnight, none of it is legitimate and therefore doesn’t deserve any response, particularly not in detail.”

● Cycling ● Worth noting after Belgium’s Remco Evenepoel won both the men’s Individual Time Trial and Road Race in Paris, that Leontien van Moorsel (NED) won both on the women’s side at Sydney in 2000.

● Equestrian ● Another medal milestone for the great Isabell Werth of Germany, who won a 13th career Olympic medal as her team won the Dressage for the third consecutive Games. She now owns eight golds and five silvers from 1992 to 2024, a brilliant, 32-year career with medals in seven different Games.

Among women in (summer) Olympic Games history, only Soviet gymnast Larissa Latynina (18 from 1956-64) and American swimmer Katie Ledecky (14 from 2012-24) have more than Werth’s 13. And at 13, she is tied with Australian swimmer Emma McKeon (6-2-5 from 2016-24).

And for Werth at 55, why stop?

● Shooting ● U.S. star Vincent Hancock, asked about his fourth Olympic gold in men’s Skeet (2008-12-16-24), said afterwards:

“It’s like a dream come true … again. It feels awesome. I couldn’t ask for any better. This was the hardest one yet. It seems like every time it gets harder.”

Asked about the company he’s in – he joined Al Oerter, Carl Lewis and Michael Phelps as Americans to win an event four times (Katie Ledecky joined later), he explained:

“It’s pretty awesome. Carl Lewis is probably my favorite Olympian and I’ve been lucky enough to watch Michael Phelps at a few Olympics I’ve been at. He’s an incredible athlete. Knowing my name is with their names; I have no words.”

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