PARIS– The United States had a great night in track and field at the Paris Olympics on Tuesday, winning two gold medals and five overall.
Gabby Thomas paved the way for an easy victory in the 200 meters – and beat 100 meters winner Julien Alfred, who won silver and now holds the only two medals in his country’s history. American sprinter Brittany Brown came third.
Thomas finished in 21.83 seconds to add a gold to the bronze he took home at the Tokyo event three years ago. The 27-year-old Harvard graduate with a master’s degree in public health took the lead at the turn and was never challenged in the final stretch. She grabbed her head with both hands after winning.
Cole Hocker, however, pulled the turn of the track is with an impressive victory in the 1,500 meters.
Hocker overtook favorites Jakob Ingebrigtsen and Josh Kerr to the finish line in an Olympic record 3 minutes 27.65 seconds. He moved from fifth to first in the final 300 meters to beat his personal best by over 3 seconds.
He beat Kerr by 0.14 seconds, while Ingebrigtsen, who set the pace in the first 1,200 meters, finished fourth behind American Yared Nuguse.
Annette Nneka Echikunwoke won silver in the women’s hammer throw.
A look at other events from Day 11 of the Paris Olympics:
The United States women’s national soccer team advanced to the gold medal match and will make its sixth appearance in the Olympic final after a 1-0 victory over Germany.
Sophia Smith broke the scoreless game in extra time by beating defender Felicitas Rauch and German goalkeeper Ann-Katrin Berger. It was Smith’s third goal of the tournament.
The Americans are undefeated in France under new coach Emma Hayes and are competing for their fifth Olympic gold medal. The US Women’s National Team lost the finals of the last two Olympic tournaments. They were eliminated in the quarter-finals in 2016 in Rio de Janeiro and relegated to the bronze medal match at the Tokyo Games three years ago.
The defending Olympic champion USA women’s volleyball team recorded a straight sets victory against Poland to advance to the semi-finals in Paris.
The Americans will face the mighty Brazil on Thursday.
The Americans made a lineup change following the team’s five-set loss to China on July 29 to open the group stage, moving veterans Jordan Larson and Kelsey Robinson Cook to reserve positions and bringing in Avery Skinner and Kathryn Plummer. The Americans recovered and beat Serbia two days later.
A 14-year-old won the women’s park skateboard and knew he was guaranteed a podium as soon as he ran his final race.
Australia’s Arisa Trew scored 93.18 in her final, but still had an excruciating wait to see which step of the podium she would climb to. Only when a 92.63 appeared for Japan’s Cocona Hiraki to end the competition did Trew know she was taking home the gold.
At 14 years and 88 days, Trew became the youngest Australian to win a medal. The previous youngest was Sandra Morgan, who was 14 years and 184 days old when she won gold in the women’s 4x100m freestyle relay in 1956.
Mijain Lopez concluded his career at the top, retiring after winning the 130 kilogram final for his fifth consecutive gold medal in Greco-Roman wrestling.
The 41-year-old Cuban defeated Yasmani Acosta Fernandez of Chile 6-0. This made him the first Olympian to win gold in one event at five consecutive Games.
After the match, he placed the shoes in the center of the mat, symbolizing his retirement.
At the last Olympics, Lopez became the first male wrestler to win four gold medals when he dominated in Tokyo, beating the field without scoring in four bouts.
Quan Hongchan of China won his second gold medal in diving competitions at these Games and did so by scoring a perfect 10 on the first of his five dives.
The dive was a 3 1/2 forward somersault and barely caused a stir as she elicited applause from Chinese fans as all seven judges recorded scores out of 10.
The 17-year-old, three-time world champion, said she had scored 10 goals three times before – including twice by winning gold in Tokyo.
The two Chinese women previously teamed up to win the 10-meter synchronized event.
Top-seeded David Ahman and Jonatan Hellvig from Sweden fought their way into the beach volleyball semi-finals by defeating Evandro and Arthur from Brazil at the Eiffel Tower Stadium.
Brazil’s defeat means the sport’s spiritual home will not win a men’s medal for the second consecutive Olympics. The Brazilians won gold in Rio de Janeiro and Athens and three other medals between them.
A test designed to allow athletes to familiarize themselves with the marathon swim route in the River Seine was canceled about concerns about water quality on the Paris waterway.
World Aquatics made the decision to cancel the exercise at a morning meeting. Fluctuating bacteria levels in the long-polluted canal have been a constant concern during the Games, with the swimming portion of the triathlon and marathon swimming events both planned in the river.
Another marathon swimming test event is scheduled for Wednesday, and organizers will decide later that morning whether it will go ahead. The women’s swimming marathon is scheduled for Thursday, while the men’s marathon is scheduled for Friday.
O mixed triathlon relay event was held in Rio this week. World Triathlon released data showing that when triathletes swam, levels of fecal bacteria E. coli and enterococci were within acceptable levels for the duration of the triathlon relay course.
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