Olympic roundup: U.S. captures gold in beach volleyball
TOKYO — A roundup of gold medals from Friday, August 6, at the Tokyo Games:
BEACH VOLLEYBALL
WOMEN
Americans April Ross and Alix Klineman won the women’s beach volleyball gold medal.
The U.S. pair beat Mariafe Artacho del Solar and Taliqua Clancy of Australia 21-15, 21-16 for the championship on Friday. It’s Ross’ third medal in as many Olympics, to go with the silver she won in London and a bronze from Brazil. Klineman is a first-time Olympian.
The silver for Australia was its first beach volleyball medal since Natalie Cook and Kerri Pottharst took gold on Bondi Beach in Sydney in 2000.
In the bronze medal match, Switzerland’s Joana Heidrich and Anouk Verge-Depre cruised to a straight-set victory over Latvia.
BOXING
MEN’S HEAVYWEIGHT (81-91 KILOGRAM)
Heavyweight Julio César La Cruz won Cuba’s third gold medal in boxing at the Tokyo Olympics, putting on a defensive masterclass in his final 5:0 victory over Russian athlete Muslim Gadzhimagomedov.
La Cruz and teammates Roniel Iglesias and Arlen Lopez have all won their second career gold medals in Tokyo after moving up to a higher weight class. La Cruz was the light heavyweight gold medalist in Rio de Janeiro, and Lopez succeeded him to claim gold in that class in Tokyo.
CYCLING TRACK
WOMEN’S MADISON
The British team of Laura Kenny and Katie Archibald dominated the Olympic debut of the women’s Madison, easily out-distancing Denmark and the duo from the Russian Olympic Committee to take the gold medal. Denmark took silver and the Russian Olympic Committee took bronze.
In the Madison, teams of two riders are on the track at once but only one rider is considered in the race. They are allowed to tag each other at any point in the 120-lap event with points awarded at the finish of every 10 laps.
MEN’S SPRINT
Harrie Lavreysen of the Netherlands won gold in the men’s cycling sprint. He came back from a loss to Dutch teammate Jeffrey Hoogland in the best-of-three finals of the men’s cycling sprint.
It was a replay of the past two world championship finals, each won by Lavreysen. But it appeared as if Hoogland would finally get the better of his teammate when he held on to win their first race.
Jack Carlin of Britain beat Russia’s Denis Dmitriev for bronze.
FIELD HOCKEY
WOMEN’S
The Netherlands defeated Argentina 3-1 to claim the gold medal in women’s field hockey.
Caia van Maasakker scored two goals for the Dutch, who claimed silver in 2016.
The Netherlands rolled through pool play with a 5-0 record, outscoring their opponents 18-2. They won their quarterfinal 3-0 over New Zealand and their semifinal 5-1 over Britain.
In the bronze medal match, Grace Balsdon scored the winner on a penalty corner early in the fourth quarter to help Britain defeat India 4-3.
KARATE
MEN’S KATA
Ryo Kiyuna of Japan has won the gold medal in men’s kata, beating Spain’s Damian Quintero in the final and earning the host nation’s first gold medal in karate’s Olympic debut.
Kiyuna was given a score of 28.72 for his demonstration of karate forms. His score topped the 27.66 recorded by Quintero, who went first in the final.
Ariel Torres of the United States and Ali Sofuoglu of Turkey took bronze in men’s kata. Sofuoglu won the second karate medal for Turkey, while Torres won the first karate medal in U.S. history.
WOMEN’S 61-KILOGRAM KUMITE
Jovana Preković of Serbia won the first Olympic gold medal in women’s 61-kilogram karate kumite, beating Yin Xiaoyan of China by hantei after a scoreless final.
Neither karateka could score a point in the three-minute bout, but Preković was chosen as the winner by three of the four judges on the tatami.
The 25-year-old Preković won the world championship at 61 kilograms in 2018. Her gold medal is the second of the Tokyo Olympics for Serbia.
Giana Lotfy of Egypt got bronze after narrowly losing her 1:1 semifinal bout to Yin on hantei. Merve Coban also claimed bronze, earning Turkey’s third medal in karate in the first two days.
MEN’S 75-KILOGRAM KUMITE
Luigi Busà of Italy won the first Olympic gold medal in men’s 75-kilogram karate kumite, beating Azerbaijan’s Rafael Aghayev 1-0 in a physical final.
Aghayev’s silver is the first non-bronze medal in Tokyo for Azerbaijan, but he fell just short of winning his nation’s eighth-ever Olympic gold.
Gabor Harspataki of Hungary and Stanislav Horuna of Ukraine won bronze.
MODERN PENTATHLON
Kate French of Britain won the gold medal in modern pentathlon and set an Olympic record along the way.
Laura Asadauskaite of Latvia took silver and Sarolta Kovacs of Hungary got bronze at the Tokyo Games.
French is the second British athlete to win the women’s modern pentathlon at the Olympics. Stephanie Cook won it at the 2000 Sydney Games.
The modern pentathlon includes fencing, swimming, show jumping, shooting and running. The shooting and running events are combined into what is called a laser run.
SPORT CLIMBING
WOMEN’S COMBINED
Slovenia’s Janja Garnbret dominated at the Tokyo Games to earn the sport’s inaugural Olympic gold.
Garnbert finished fifth in the speed discipline, her weakest event, then topped two of three “problems” to win bouldering. The 22-year-old capped a muggy night at Aomi Urban Sports Park by reaching 37 holds to win lead and wrap up gold.
The six-time world champion finished with five points — the total of her finishes multiplied together — to beat Japan’s Miho Nonaka by 31 points.
Japan’s Akiyo Noguchi had 48 points to take the bronze.
TRACK AND FIELD
MEN’S 50-KILOMETER RACE WALKING
Dawid Tomala of Poland won gold in what might be the last 50-kilometer race walk at the Olympics.
Tomala won in 3 hours, 50 minutes and 8 seconds in Sapporo for the gold medal.
Jonathan Hilbert of German was second, 36 seconds behind Tomala in 3:50:44. Evan Dunfee of Canada was third in 3:50:59. The race walking events were moved to Sapporo because of Tokyo’s summer heat and humidity.
The 50-kilometer walk has been dropped from the schedule for the next Olympics in Paris in 2024 and may not return.
WOMEN’S 20-KILOMETER RACE WALKING
Antonella Palmisano of Italy won the women’s 20-kilometer race walk to capture her first Olympic gold medal.
Palmisano won the race, one of the long-distance road events moved to Sapporo in a bid to escape the Tokyo heat, in 1 hour, 29 minutes and 12 seconds.
She was 25 seconds ahead of Sandra Lorena Arenas of Colombia and 45 seconds clear of 2016 Olympic gold medalist and three-time world championship winner Liu Hong of China, who settled for bronze.
MEN’S 4x100 RELAY
Italy has surprisingly won the men’s 4x100-meter relay to give Marcell Jacobs his second gold medal of the Tokyo Games.
Jacobs won the men’s 100-meter title last Sunday in the first Olympics in the post-Usain Bolt era and was part of the team that won the sprint relay in a national-record 37.50 seconds.
The Italians edged Britain by 0.01 and Canada took bronze in 37.70. It was Italy’s first Olympic medal in the relay since a bronze at the 1948 London Olympics.
China placed fourth ahead of Jamaica.
MEN’S 5000 METER
Joshua Cheptegei of Uganda won the gold medal in the men’s 5,000-meter race a week after earning silver in the 10,000 at the Tokyo Games.
Chepetgei was in the leading pack for most of the race and won in 12 minutes, 58.15 seconds.
Mohammed Ahmed of Canada surged into second place to get the silver medal in 12:58.61 and Paul Chelimo of the United States picked up bronze in 12:59.05.
Chelimo was a silver medalist in the 5,000 at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics. He dived across the line to edge Nicholas Kipkorir Kimeli of Kenya.
WOMEN’S 400 METER
Allyson Felix won her record 10th Olympic track medal with a bronze in the 400 meters. She finished two spots behind gold medalist Shaunae Miller-Uibo.
Miller-Uibo defended her 400-meter title in a time of 48.36 seconds.
Felix now has more Olympic track and field medals than any woman in history. She came into the Tokyo Games even with Jamaican runner Merlene Ottey.
Marileidy Paulino of the Dominican Republic finished second a full .84 seconds behind Miller-Uibo.
WOMEN’S 4x100 RELAY
The Jamaican women added the 4x100-meter relay title to their Tokyo Olympic collection after sweeping the podium in the 100-meter final.
The Jamaican team won in a national-record 41.02 seconds. It was the second-fastest time in history and ended the U.S. team’s push for a third consecutive Olympic gold in the event.
The American team of Javianne Oliver, Teahna Daniels, Jenna Prandini and Gabrielle Thomas won silver in 41.45 and Britain took bronze in 41.88.
Elaine Thompson-Herah won the 100 meters on Saturday in an Olympic record. Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce was second and Shericka Jackson was third in that race. Those three joined Briana Williams as the Jamaicans added the Olympic relay title to their world championship gold in 2019.
WOMEN’S 1500 METER
Faith Kipyegon of Kenya won the 1,500 meters and retained her Olympic title as Sifan Hassan’s chase for three gold medals withered in her fifth of six races at the Tokyo Games.
Kipyegon won in an Olympic-record time of 3 minutes, 53.11 seconds. Laura Muir of Britain took the silver in 3:54.50 and Hassan clung on for bronze after she started fading on the back straight.
Hassan already has a gold in the 5,000 meters and could still complete a rare set if she wins a third medal in the 10,000-meter final on Saturday.
WRESTLING
MEN’S FREESTYLE 74 KILOGRAM
The Russian Olympic Committee’s Zaurbek Sidakov defeated Belarus’ Mahamedkhabib Kadzimahamedau 7-0 to win wrestling gold in the men’s freestyle 74-kilogram class.
American Kyle Dake defeated Italy’s Frank Chamizo 5-0 for bronze. Chamizo was the No. 1 seed, and both are two-time world champions. Dake beat 2012 Olympic gold medalist Jordan Burroughs at the Olympic Trials to earn the spot on the team.
Uzbekistan’s Bekzod Abdurakhmonov defeated Kazakhstan’s Daniyar Kaisanov 13-2 to claim the other bronze.
MEN’S FREESTYLE 125 KILOGRAM
American Gable Steveson defeated Georgia’s Geno Petriashvili 10-8 to claim wrestling gold in the men’s freestyle 125-kilogram class.
Steveson outscored his opponents 23-0 in the first three rounds. He rolled past 2016 Olympic gold medalist Taha Akgul 8-0 in the quarterfinals.
Akgul defeated Mongolia’s Lkhagvagerel Munkhtur 5-0 in a bronze medal match.
Iran’s Amir Dare defeated China’s Zhiwei Deng 5-0 in the other bronze medal match.
WOMEN’S FREESTYLE 53 KILOGRAM
Japan’s Mayu Mukaida rallied to beat China’s Qianyu Pang 5-4 and claim wrestling gold in the women’s freestyle 53-kilogram class.
It was Japan’s third gold in women’s wrestling.
Mongolia’s Bolortuya Bat Ochir and Belarus’ Vanesa Kaladzinskaya won bronze.
WOMEN’S SOCCER
Canada won its first Olympic gold medal in women’s soccer, beating Sweden 3-2 on penalty kicks after a 1-1 draw.
Julia Grosso, just 20, converted the winning penalty kick, putting her shot off the right hand of goalkeeper Hedvig Lindahl.
Jessie Fleming made Canada’s first kick in the shootout, but Ashley Lawrence, Vanessa Gillies and Adriana Leon all failed to convert.
Kosovare Asllani hit a post with Sweden’s first kick, and Nathalie Björn and Olivia Schough built a 2-1 Sweden lead. Anna Anvegard was saved by Canada goalkeeper Stephanie Labbe and with a chance to win the gold, Caroline Seger put her kick over the crossbar.
Deanne Rose tied the score for Canada, and Jonna Andersson’s sixth kick for Sweden was saved by Labbe, who dived to her left.
Grosso then won the gold for Canada, which took the bronze in 2012 and 2016.
Stina Blacksteinius had put Sweden ahead in the 34th minute from Asllani’s cross. The shot by the 25-year-old striker appeared to deflect off Gillies and just past the outstretched right arm of Labbe.
Blacksteinius’ goal was her tournament-leading fifth and the seventh of her Olympic career, moving her one ahead of Lotta Schelin for the most in the Olympics for the fifth-ranked Swedes. Blacksteinius has 28 goals in 68 international appearances.
Fleming tied the score with a penalty kick in the 67th minute. Referee Anastasia Pustovoitova of Russia didn’t call for the penalty at first after Amanda Ilestedt slid into Fleming’s left foot but the decision was made after a video review.
This match was moved from Tokyo’s National Stadium to Yokohama’s Nissan Stadium and kickoff time pushed back 10 hours to 9 p.m. local time because of the oppressive heat. Even with the shift, it was 83 degrees at kickoff with 78% humidity. With fans barred because to the pandemic, the sound of boots kicking balls echoed around the 72,000-capacity venue, the site of Brazil’s 2-0 victory over Germany in the 2002 men’s World Cup final.