A’ja Wilson and the United States women’s basketball team can move closer to their record eighth-consecutive Olympic gold medal Wednesday at the Paris Olympics, while Lin Yu-ting competes in boxing.
Here is the latest:
Quincy Hall Takes Men’s 400-Meter Gold in Epic Comeback
American sprinter Quincy Hall dug deep in the last leg of the men’s 400-meter race, pushing past the favorite, Great Britain’s Matthew Hudson-Smith, to take the gold.
All four of the top finishers set personal bests: Hall at 43.40 seconds, Hudson-Smith setting a European record with 43.44, Muzala Samukonga of Zambia winning the bronze with 43.74, and Jereem Richards of Trinidad and Tobago setting his own national record with 43.78.
51-Year-Old Skateboarder Has ‘The Most Fun’
Great Britain’s Andy Macdonald, 51, is a father of three and making his Olympics debut.
Macdonald is no stranger to competition, having won eight X Games gold medals beginning in 1996. But the Olympics skateboarding event only began with the last Games in Tokyo.
“People come at me like: Is it weird? You’re the old guy at the skate park, you’re 50 and there are all these teenagers. No, it’s not weird because I was there first and I never left,” Macdonald told the Financial Times. “I’m like a sponge, just taking it all in. Just the experience of being an Olympian. If they have a medal for who has the most fun, I got the gold locked up for sure.”
Macdonald competed in the preliminaries, but did not qualify for the Aug. 7 finals.
Cycling Speed Record Broken Twice
Matt Richardson of Australia rode a 9.091 in the men’s cycling speed qualifiers, setting a world record that was broken just moments later when Dutch cyclist Harrie Lavreysen scored a time of 9.088, just three-thousandths faster than the Australian. Both will compete in the finals.
Netherland Claims Gold in Women’s Dinghy Final
Marit Bouwmeester of the Netherlands won the gold medal in the women’s dinghy, with Anne-Marie Rindom of Denmark securing silver.
Line Flem Hoest of Norway did enough in the medal race to win bronze on overall points.
Poland Wins Gold in Women’s Speed Climbing
Poland’s world-record holder Aleksandra Miroslaw clinched the gold medal in women’s speed climbing, in the sport’s Olympic debut as a stand-alone event.
The 30-year-old had been the clear favorite after breaking her own world record twice in the lead-up to the finals, climbing the 15-meter wall in 6.06 seconds two days ago.
At the Le Bourget venue on Wednesday, she did the vertical run in 6.10 seconds, beating China’s Deng Lijuan in a photo finish. The silver medallist set her personal best in the race, with 6.18s.
Poland’s Aleksandra Kalucka won the bronze medal with a time of 6.53s.
Marathon Swimming Training Session to Go Ahead
The familiarization session for the Paris Olympics marathon swimming event in the Seine River will go ahead as scheduled on Wednesday after water quality tests met the required thresholds, organizers said.
A similar session planned for Tuesday was canceled due to concerns over water pollution.
A meeting on water quality was held early Wednesday and attended by representatives from World Aquatics, Paris Games organizers, and other stakeholders involved in conducting the tests.
“The results … reviewed during the meeting at 4 a.m. have been assessed as compliant by World Aquatics, allowing for the familiarisation session for the marathon swimming to take place,” World Aquatics said in a statement.
Spain Wins Gold in Race Walk Relay
Spain’s two-time world champions, Alvaro Martin and Maria Perez, won the gold medal in the mixed marathon race walk relay by nearly a minute as the event made its Olympic Games debut.
The Spaniards, who each collected gold in both the 20km and 35km races at last year’s World Championships in Budapest, finished in two hours, 50 minutes, and 31 seconds, with Perez pulling away over the final lap.
Ecuador’s Brian Pintado and Glenda Morejon took silver in 2:51:22, while Australia’s Rhydian Cowley and Jemima Montag claimed bronze with a time of 2:51:38.
What to Watch: August 7
Women’s Basketball Reaches Knockout Stage
Led by two-time WNBA MVP A’ja Wilson, the seven-time defending champion U.S. extended its impressive Olympic winning streak to 58 games Sunday. The U.S. women will take on Nigeria in the quarterfinals at 9:30 p.m. CEST/3:30 p.m. EDT at Bercy Arena.
Nigeria is the first African country to make the men’s or women’s elimination round at the Olympics.
The winner of that game advances to the semifinals to face the winner of Serbia’s quarterfinal matchup against Australia, tipping off at 11 a.m. CEST/5 a.m. EDT.
The other quarterfinal matchups are Spain versus Belgium at 2:30 p.m. CEST/8:30 a.m. EDT and Germany facing France at 6 p.m. CEST/12 p.m. EDT.
The winners of Spain-Belgium and France-Germany will meet in the semifinals Friday.
Men’s 400-Meter Final
The excitement in track and field continues with the men’s 400-meter final at 9:20 p.m. CEST/3:20 p.m. EDT at the Stade de France.
Kirani James of Grenada had the fastest time in Tuesday’s semifinals, finishing his heat in a season-best 43.78 seconds. Muzala Samukonga sprinted to the final in 43.81 seconds and set a Zambia national record. American Quincy Hall qualified at 43.95.
Additionally, the men’s discus final will start at 8:25 p.m. CEST/2:25 p.m. EDT, and the men’s steeplechase final will round out the day’s action at 9:43 p.m. CEST/3:43 p.m. EDT.
Lin Yu-ting’s Semifinal Bout
Lin Yu-ting of Taiwan fights Esra Yildiz Kahraman of Turkey in a women’s 57-kilogram semifinal at 9:30 p.m. CEST/3:30 p.m. EDT at Roland Garros.
Lin and fellow boxer Imane Khelif of Algeria have been at the center of a clash over gender identity and regulations in sports, as critics have brought up their disqualification from the world championships last year after the banned International Boxing Association claimed they failed unspecified eligibility tests for women’s competition.
Lin won her opening Olympic boxing bout, beating Sitora Turdibekova of Uzbekistan 5-0. She then defeated Svetlana Kamenova Staneva of Bulgaria 5-0 to advance to the semis and ensure she will win at least a bronze medal.
Khelif also clinched a medal when she won an emotional bout against Anna Luca Hamori of Hungary.
Olympic boxing does not stage bronze-medal bouts, so the losers of both semifinal fights receive bronze.
Lin is a two-time Olympian who did not medal in Tokyo in 2021. She has not spoken about the controversy during her Paris run but said after the quarterfinals that she is focused on winning a gold medal.
Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.