Athletics
Entering day 2 Ashton Eaton and Trey Hardee were 1-2 in the decathlon. They started the day in the 110m hurdles where Trey Hardee ran a personal best 13.54 (1035) and Ashton Eaton ran a 13.56 (1032). They continued to be 1-2 in the overall standings after the hurdles.
Then the women’s high jump qualification round started with Brigetta Barrett (1.93m) and Chaunte Lowe (1.93m) making the final while Amy Acuff (1.90m) came up a bit short. The final will be on Saturday.
Next in the men’s decathlon discus throw Ashton Eaton threw 42.53m (716) and Trey Hardee threw 48.26m (716). Through seven events they continued to lead the decathlon.
Next up was the 1st round of the men’s 4x400m relay. The US team of Maurice Mitchell, Joshua Mance, Tony McQuay, and Bryshon Nellum easily qualified finishing 2nd in 2:58.87, a season best. This was remarkable considering that Maurice Mitchell BROKE HIS LEG halfway through his 400m. Incredibly he still finished in 46.1, 5th fastest of anyone in his leg. The team will be in the final on Friday.
Next the decathlon headed to the pole vault where Ashton Eaton cleared 5.20m (972) and Trey Hardee cleared 4.80m (849) to maintain their top two rankings with two events to go.
To start the afternoon off the decathlon headed to the javelin where Ashton Eaton threw a personal best 61.96m (767) and Trey Hardee threw a season best 66.65m (838). These scores meant Eaton and Hardee would head to the 1500m still in the 1-2 positions they started in.
Then the men’s triple jump final will begin with Will Claye and Christian Taylor in the field. Will Claye got out to an early lead with a 17.54m on his second jump. Christian Taylor struggled and went into his third jump needing a top eight mark to reach the final three jumps. He pulled it off with a 17.15m jump that placed him in 5th. In Taylor’s fourth jump he went 17.81m to take the lead from Claye and never relinquished it as he won gold with Claye getting silver.
Then in the women’s 800m semifinal Alice Schmidt (4th – 2:01.63) and Geena Gall (8th – 2:05.76) did not make the final while Alysia Johnson Montano (4th – 1:58.42) grabbed the final spot based on time.
Next up was the men’s 800m final where Duane Solomon (4th – 1:42.82) and Nick Symmonds (5th – 1:42.95) both ran personal bests but couldn’t medal in a race that saw the world record fall and everyone but one runner finish in a personal best. And that runner finished in a season best!
Then the women’s 4x100m relay began with the 1st round. Tianna Madison, Jeneba Tarmoh, Bianca Knight, and Lauryn Williams made up for the team for the US and finished in a season best 41.64 to head into the final on Friday the heavy favorite.
Next in the men’s 200m final Wallace Spearmon ran a season best 19.90 but came up just short of a medal with a 4th place finish just .06 seconds behind bronze.
Finally in the 1500m portion of the decathlon Ashton Easton finished in 4:33.59 (721) while Trey Hardee finished in a personal best 4:40.94 (674) to slam home any chance of falling to the bronze medal. The final result had Ashton Eaton winning gold in the decathlon with 8869 points and Trey Hardee won a silver with a season best 8671.
Basketball
In the women’s basketball semifinals the US struggled with Australia 22-20 after one quarter and 47-43 after the 1st half. A strong 3rd quarter gave them a 65-59 lead and they held on to win somewhat comfortably 86-73. The win put the US into the gold medal game against France on Saturday.
Boxing
Looking for a gold, and the first ever women’s boxing gold medal for the US, Claressa Shields beat Nazezda Torlopova of Russia 19-12 to take home a gold medal in the middlewight division. Shields, a 17-year-old became the youngest boxer to win a gold medal in 88 years. The victory gave the US a positive end to an otherwise unremarkable run in London.
Cycling
The US had three riders in the Men’s BMX quarterfinals on Thursday. Connor Fields was in the 2nd heat and won the first three runs to advance to the semifinals on Friday. David Herman and Nicholas Long were in the 3rd and heat and involved in a major crash on the 1st run. Long finished 7th and Herman came in 8th with a DNF, though both were able to continue the competition. What started then was a big push for getting back into qualifying position. Herman finished 3rd, 4th, and 1st in the next three runs while Long finished 4th, 5th, and 2nd. They went into the final run knowing it would take help to get both of them through. Long won the final run but didn’t advance as Herman finished 2nd and Roger Rinderknecht of Switzerland finished 3rd. Herman and Rinderknecht finished with 18 points and Long had 19. David Herman and Connor Fields will be in the semifinals on Friday.
Diving
The women’s 10m platform semifinal was on Thursday morning and a disappointing showing by Brittany Viola (300.50) and Katie Bell (296.80) left them both outside the top 12 with Viola finishing 15th and Bell finishing 16th.
Equestrian
The US had one last chance to medal in the grand prix freestyle portion of the individual dressage competition. Steffen Peters on Ravel finished with a 77.286% in 17th place to end that chance.
Gymnastics
In rhythmic gymnastics on Thursday Julie Zetlin competed with the ball and the hoop during the first day. She scored a 24.450 with the ball and a 23.750 with the hoop to find herself in 22nd after the 1st day. She’ll compete with the clubs and the ribbon on Friday.
Sailing
The sail-off with the Netherlands was cancelled on Thursday as the winds were non-existent. The decision was made to award the US 5th place based off their group stage performance instead of trying to make up the race later.
Soccer
The US went for their 3rd straight gold medal in women’s soccer against Japan on Thursday and behind a Carli Lloyd brace (8′ and 54′) the US got out to a 2-0 lead. Japan came back and scored in the 63rd minute and had a lot of chances to tie things up, but Hope Solo and the US held and won the game 2-1.
Swimming
In an incredible women’s 10km open water swim Haley Anderson swam stroke for stroke with the leaders and pushed with Eva Risztov of Hungary at the end to pull away. In the end Anderson came up just .4 seconds short of gold, but took a silver in an amazing event.
Taekwondo
To star the day of Terrence Jennings, in the men’s 68kg competition, lost to Servet Tazegul of Turkey 8-6 in the preliminary round. Tazegul went on to win gold so Jennings got a repechage chance. He took advance defeating Hryhorii Husarov 3-2 and Diogo Silva 8-5 to win a bronze medal!
Diana Lopez started the women’s 57 kg competition in the preliminary round losing 1-0 to Yuzhuo Hou of China. Hou made the final, taking silver, so Lopez got into the repechage bracket. Unfortunately her chance to medal ended with a 9-4 loss to Suvi Mikkonen.
Volleyball
In the women’s volleyball tournament the US moved into the final by sweeping Korea 25-20, 25-22, 25-22. The win moved the US into a final rematch with Brazil for the gold medal. Brazil finished 4th in the group stage, including a 25-18, 25-17, 22-25, 25-21 loss to the US, but has played well in the knockout round to reach Saturday’s final. This one should be a fantastic exciting battle.
Water Polo
The US and Spain had tied in the group stage after a late Spain rally but Thursday’s gold medal match turned out a bit differently. Backed by a 8-1 run the US took an 8-2 lead early in the 4th quarter and held on to win their first gold by defeating Spain 8-5.
Wrestling
The final day of women’s wrestling started with Ali Sue Bernard losing to Jenny Fransson of Sweeden 3-0, 3-1 in the 72kg qualification round. The other US wrestler was Kelsey Campbell who lost 1-0, 1-0 to Saori Yoshida of Japan in the 55kg round of 16. Yoshida won gold so Campbell got a repechage chance but was defeated 4-0, 1-0 by Yuliya Ratkevich of Azerbaijan in the repechage match.
