Thursday was all about the track and field for the US where they won six medals including a 1-2 shot put finish and a 1-3 women’s 400m hurdles finish. The US also had Ashton Eaton claim the “World’s Greatest Athlete” title for the second straight Olympics and had their first ever women’s wrestling gold medalist in a huge upset.

August 18th Recap:

Basketball

The US women beat France in the semifinals on Thursday 86-67, a score that doesn’t reveal quite how close the game was most of the way. France was within four of the US both at the end of the first quarter and the end of the first half as they held the US to just 40 first half points. Their defense took a slight step back in the second half and the US picked up the offense as well. The third quarter was the real turning point as the US won the quarter 25-8.

Diana Taurasi scored 18 points and four assists as she led the offense while Maya Moore had 15 points and seven rebounds. The US also got strong games from Sylvia Fowles, who had 12 points and nine rebounds, and Brittney Griner and Seimone Augustus who each had 10 points and six rebounds.

Up next for the US in the gold medal game is Spain on Saturday. Spain finished second in the group stage behind the US at 4-1 with their only loss to the Americans 103-63 in the second game in Rio. Getting to the gold medal game is a nice accomplishment for Spain who missed the Olympics in 2012 but this is also the same matchup as we saw in the World Championship final two years ago when the US beat Spain 77-64 and Spain had a 5-1 overall record.

Boxing

Thursday we didn’t get to watch any actual boxing as Shakur Stevenson’s men’s bantamweight semifinal opponent, Vladimir Nikitin, was forced to pull out of the bout after injuries he sustained in a controversial win in the quarterfinals. Stevenson is now into the gold medal bout on Saturday against Robeisy Ramirez, a gold medalist from 2012 who has plenty of experience. The matchup should be an exciting one with the gold medal on the line.

Cycling

The quarterfinals of the men’s BMX event went pretty well for the American riders. There were plenty of crashes in these tightly contested 40-second races with eight men packed onto the course. Nicholas Long was fifth and fourth in his first two runs so he did need a strong finish to ensure he’d advance and winning the third run was plenty as he advanced to Friday’s semifinals with five points to spare. The other two Americans raced together in the final heat with Connor Fields and Corben Sharrah both finding little resistance as they were top four in each heat and were easily through to the semifinals. Both could have actually rode their best run slowly and finished last and still advanced to the semifinals on Friday.

Diving

Jessica Parratto had a strong women’s 10m platform semifinal on Thursday posting the second best score overall. Parratto never had a poor dive and benefited from some slip ups from some rivals. In the final Parratto wasn’t able to avoid the poor scores and a 44.80 third dive knocked her out of contention as she finished 10th. The other divers also were much stronger in the final as her second place semifinal score would have only been seventh in the final. The Olympics ended quicker for Katrina Young who took a 21.45 second dive and finished five points behind the last qualifier to the final in 13th.

Golf

The women’s golf event saw it’s best round so far as Stacy Lewis shot a remarkable -8 63 on Thursday to move into the medal positions in second. Lewis carded 11 birdies on the day as now is the best shot for a medal among the Americans after being the worst of the three on day one. Lewis starts the third day in the final group at 10:09 AM Friday. Lexi Thompson was at par on Thursday and sits at -3 overall and tied for 22nd going into the third round where she’ll tee off at 8:36 AM. The final American is Gerina Piller who was -4 on the day and is just two strokes out of the bronze in a tie for eighth. Piller tees off at 9:36 AM on Friday.

Modern Pentathlon

The modern pentathlon events began on Thursday in Rio with the fencing rounds of the men’s and women’s events. On the women’s side Isabella Isaksen had a strong day ranking eighth with a 20-15 record and 220 points while Margaux Isaksen went 18-17 and placed 14th with 208 points. On the men’s side Nathan Schrimsher was ninth with a 20-15 record and 220 points.

The women’s pentathlon continues Friday with the rest of the competition while the men’s event finishes on Saturday.

Sailing

The US had a medal contender on the final day of sailing but wasn’t able to take home anymore medals. Annie Haeger and Briana Provancha in the women’s 470 were in third entering the day and led the race after the third mark but were unable to keep their lead and actually ended up the race last after a course that left them well behind the boats they were racing for the medals. They finished seventh overall in Rio.

The other American boats had no chance to medal before going into the medal race. David Hughes and Stuart McNay in the men’s 470 were second in their medal race but finished fourth, still well behind the medalists. In the women’s 49er FX medal race Paris Henken and Helena Scutt were ninth and finished 10th overall in Rio.

Track and Field

The decathlon wrapped up on Thursday with Ashton Eaton going back-to-back as the greatest athlete in the world. Eaton had led the event after day one and never gave up that lead on day two. Eaton opened with a 13.80 110m hurdles time for 1000 points, had a 45.49m discus throw for 777 points, cleared 5.20m on the pole vault for 972 points, had a 59.77m javelin throw for 734 points, and ran 4:23.33 for the 1500m scoring 789 points. Eaton’s total was 8893 points, tying the Olympic record.

Entering Thursday Jeremy Taiwo was in fifth overall. Taiwo opened with a 14.57 110m hurdles time for 902 points, had a 39.91m discus throw for 663 points, cleared 5.00m on the pole vault for 910 points, had a 51.29m javelin throw for 608 points, and ran 4:21.96 for the 1500m scoring 798 points. Taiwo’s total was 8300 points as he placed 11th in the final standings.

Zach Ziemek was tenth entering the second day of competition. Ziemek opened with a 14.77 110m hurdles time for 878 points, had a 49.42m discus throw for 858 points, cleared 5.20m on the pole vault for 972 points, had a 60.92m javelin throw for 752 points, and ran 4:42.97 for the 1500m scoring 662 points. Ziemek’s total was 8392 points as he placed 7th in the final standings.

The entire men’s shot put event was held on Thursday with the qualifying in the morning and the final in the evening. Both Ryan Crouser and Joe Kovacs had automatic qualifying scores in the morning with Crouser putting up an event high 21.59m while Kovacs had a score of 20.76m. Darrell Hill was unable to join them in the final with a 19.56m throw that placed him 23rd. In the final Crouser was the clear dominant thrower hitting a 22.22m throw on his second attempt that was better than anyone else would reach. Crouser topped his own mark twice including an Olympic record 22.52m fifth throw as he won gold. Kovacs opened with a 21.78m that momentarily held the lead until Crouser passed it and never did top it himself but took silver with that mark. The US had taken bronze in 2012 with Reese Hoffa and silver in 2008 with Christian Cantwell but had not won gold since Athens where Adam Nelson took the top spot.

Three Americans made the final in the women’s high jump as 17 women cleared the automatic qualifying height. Vashti Cunningham made it just barely after clearing 1.89m and 1.92m on the second try and needing all three tries at 1.94m. Chaunte Lowe and Inika McPherson had it easier as they both cleared every attempt they took on the day. The final will be Saturday night.

There was great drama Thursday morning as the women’s 4x100m team of Morolake Akinosun, Tianna Bartoletta, Allyson Felix, and English Gardner failed to complete their relay cleanly, dropping the baton on the back stretch and finishing last. After protest though the US was allowed to run again as Felix had been bumped going into the exchange and that caused her to stumble and fail to properly complete the handoff. In their re-run later in the day all alone on the track they were much better and advanced to the final with the top time. The US men’s 4x100m team of Mike Rodgers, Christian Coleman, Tyson Gay, and Jarrion Lawson ran the best time of anyone in the heats. On Friday night the women’s final is at 9:15 PM with the men’s final at 9:35 PM.

To close the morning there was a gold for the US as Kerron Clement won the men’s 400m hurdles final. Michael Tinsley took silver in this event in 2012 but the US had not won gold since Angelo Taylor won the event in 2008 in an American sweep where Clement took silver.

In the evening session in the men’s 1500m semifinals Ben Blankenship was fourth in his heat and Matthew Centrowitz Jr. was third in his heat as the two made Saturday night’s final. Robby Andrews had initially made the final but was disqualified for running out of bounds while making a pass on the home stretch.  In the women’s 800m semifinals Ajee Wilson and Kate Grace each were third in their heat. Grace had one of the two best at-large times though and made Saturday night’s final while Wilson was unable to grab one of those spots.

The night ended with a two-medal performance from the US in the women’s 400m hurdles final as Dalilah Muhammad dominated the field to take gold while Ashley Spencer had an incredible final 100m to take bronze. The US had taken silver in this event in 2012 with Lashinda Demus but had never won gold since it was first held in 1984. The last double medal for the US was Kim Batten and Tonja Buford-Bailey in 1996. The final event of the night belonged to Usain Bolt who dominated the field in the men’s 200m final. LaShawn Merritt finished sixth in the race.

Triathlon

The men’s triathlon was on Thursday. The Americans were not contenders though they hung around for various lengths of time before the leaders pulled away from them. Joe Maloy has a full 45 seconds put on him in the 1.5km swim by the leader but did stay strong throughout the race finishing 23rd and 3:29 behind the winner. Ben Kanute briefly led during the biking and was in seventh going into the running but faded during the 10km run to finish 29th, 3:58 back. The final American was Greg Billington who finished 37th, 7:03 back.

Volleyball

The US women were upset on Thursday in a semifinal rematch with Serbia. The US had gotten the better of Serbia over the last few years but that was not the case this time as Serbia took control in the middle of the match and then hung on at the end in a back and forth tiebreak to win 3-2 (20-25, 25-17, 25-21, 16-21, 15-13). The US now faces the Netherlands in the bronze medal match on Saturday. These two teams played in the pool earlier in the Olympics with the US winning but the match going five sets.

Wrestling

The US had a great day in women’s freestyle wrestling on Thursday with their first ever gold medal in a shocking upset along with a bronze medal chance. Helen Maroulis had an incredible day for the US in the 53kg division. Maroulis got a 12-1 win over Yuliia Khavaldzhy Blahinya to start the day and a 10-0 win over Zhong Xuechun to reach the quarterfinals. Maroulis took the lead in the final 30 seconds of a 7-4 win over Myong Suk Jong in the quarterfinals and then got a fall in the semifinals over Sofia Mattsson to reach the gold medal match. Facing Saori Yoshida, a 13 time World Champion and a 3 time gold medalist, Maroulis pulled a major upset scoring four points in the second period to get a 4-1 win and become the first ever US women’s wrestling gold medalist.

Elena Pirozhkova nearly won a medal as well as she beat Taybe Yusein 10-7 and Battsetseg Soronzonbold 3-2 to reach the semifinals of the 63kg division. Pirozhkova lost a tight semifinal to Maryia Mamshuk 3-2 and then got pined in her bronze medal match by Yekaterina Larionova despite leading the match at the time.

Adeline Gray had the shortest day for the US in the 75kg division. Gray got a pin in her opening match against Andrea Olaya in the round of 16 but lost 4-1 to Vasilisa Marzaliuk in the quarterfinals and did not get a repechage chance.

August 19th Preview:

All times ET!! All events should be available online via NBC’s Olympic website and apps (assuming a cable package that gives you access). What is live on NBC in ET/CT is usually tape delayed in MT/PT. Yell at NBC for their ridiculous decision to tape delay an Olympics happening one hour east of ET, it’s insane. Schedules of competition and of course TV coverage subject to change, especially if the US competitors unexpectedly advance in a competition.

Basketball

The US men face Spain on Thursday in the semifinals at 2:30 PM. Spain started off the Olympics with two losses but has been on a roll coming into the semifinals winning their last three games by at least 19 points. This has been the gold medal matchup in the last two Olympics with the US winning both by single digits. This will be the fourth straight Olympics where the two sides meet. Spain hosted the World Cup in 2014 but was knocked out in the quarterfinals and never faced the US.

NBCSN will have LIVE coverage of the game.

Boxing

Friday is the second bout in Rio for Claressa Shields as the heavy gold medal favorite in the women’s middleweight division tries to reach the final. Shields will be facing Dariga Shakimova in the semifinals at 2:30 PM with hopes of making the final on Sunday and defending her gold medal.

NBCSN will have tape delayed coverage of boxing between 9 PM and 12 AM.

Cycling

With all three American men advancing to the semifinals it’ll be a full American contingent racing on Friday afternoon. The women and men will take turns going as they tackle their three semifinal runs starting at 12:30 PM. The women go first with Alise Post in heat one and Brooke Crain in heat two. The top four from each heat over three runs will go in the one-run final at 2 PM. The men’s semifinal runs follow right after the women’s but we don’t know yet which heats Nicholas Long, Connor Fields, and Corben Sharrah are in. If they advance to the men’s final it will be at 2:10 PM.

The BMX finals will be LIVE at 2 PM on NBC.

Diving

David Boudia and Steele Johnson are the final two Americans to compete in diving in Rio. Boudia and Johnson start the men’s 10m platform diving competition with the preliminaries on Friday at 3 PM. They’ll need to finish only in the top 18 to advance to Saturday morning’s semifinal so most of the 28-man field will be moving on.

The preliminaries will be covered in primetime on NBC between 8 PM and 10:30 PM.

Equestrian

The jumping individual final will be on Friday with three US riders among those contesting the medals. The first round starts at 9 AM with Lucy Davis 18th to go, McLain Ward 27th to go, and Kent Farrington 32nd to go. If the Americans are in the top 20 after the first half of the final they’ll ride again in the second half at 12:30 PM. The scores from the two final rounds are combined for the medal standings.

NBC will have LIVE coverage during their window from 10 AM to 12:10 PM with tape delayed coverage between 3:45 PM and 5 PM.

Golf

The women’s golf event enters Friday with an American in the medal spots. Stacy Lewis shot a remarkable -8 63 on Thursday to move into second and starts the third day in the final group at 10:09 AM. Lexi Thompson is -3 overall and tied for 22nd going into the third round where she’ll tee off at 8:36 AM. The final American is Gerina Piller who is just two strokes out of the bronze in a tie for eighth at -4 and tees off at 9:36 AM on Friday.

Golf Channel will have LIVE coverage from 6:30 AM to 3 PM.

Gymnastics

The rhythmic gymnastics individual qualifying round is on Friday. Laura Zeng represents the US in the event and will be second to go in each rotation. She’ll be with the ball first at 9:20 AM, with the hoop at 10:50 AM, with the ribbon at 1:50 PM, and with the clubs at 3:20 PM. She’ll need a top 10 finish to advance to the final on Saturday.

NBCSN will have coverage between 11 AM and 2:15 PM while NBC will have LIVE coverage between 3:45 PM and 5 PM.

Modern Pentathlon

The women’s modern pentathlon event wraps up on Friday. Isabella Isaksen will face her 200m freestyle swim at 11 AM and Margaux Isaksen goes at 11:15 AM. They’ll be in the fencing bonus round at 1 PM where they’ll get at least one bout and if they win face the next higher ranked fencer from the ranking round with each win being a bonus for their standings until they lose. The show jumping event comes at 2:30 PM with the finale, the run/shoot combined event, at 5 PM. The finale is easy to follow as they hold the athletes who are trailing the leader a set amount of time that corresponds to how far behind they are in the competition. This sets up a simple first over the finish line final.

There is no scheduled TV coverage.

Taekwondo

The US has two competing in the taekwondo competitions on Friday. Steven Lopez is up first in the men’s -80kg division with an 8:15 AM bout in the round of 16 against Albert Gaun. Lopez would move on to the quarterfinals at 2:15 PM, the semifinals at 4:15 PM, and the gold match at 9:15 PM. Pagie McPherson is up at 10:30 AM  with a -67kg bout in the round of 16 against Farida Azizova. McPherson would move on to the quarterfinals at 3 PM, the semifinals at 4:30 PM, and the gold match at 9 PM. If either one loses to a finalist they’d be in the repechage bracket with two bronze medal matches in each weight class.

NBCSN will have coverage between 11 AM and 2:15 PM and 9 PM and 12 AM.

Track and Field

The only preliminaries left in the track and field schedule are in the 4x400m relays as the focus turns to finals. Friday begins with the men’s 50km race walk at 7 AM as John Nunn goes for the US. The women’s 20km race walk will be at 1:30 PM with Miranda Melville and Maria Michta-Coffey both going for the US.

In the evening inside the stadium things begin with the women’s pole vault final at 7:30 PM. Sandi Morris and Jennifer Suhr give the US a couple of medal hopefuls in the field. The track events begin with the 4x400m relay first round races. The US women will go at 7:40 PM and the men at 8:10 PM with the top three in each heat and the two best at-large times advancing to the finals on Saturday night. Track finals begin with the women’s 5000m final with Shelby Houlihan and Abbey D’Agostino at 8:40 PM. Then things wrap up with the two 4x100m relay finals the women will run at 9:15 PM while the men go at 9:35 PM.

NBCSN will have LIVE coverage of the men’s race walk from 7 AM to 11 AM with MSNBC covering the women’s race walk on delay in their 2-4 PM window.  NBC will have LIVE coverage in primetime from 8 PM-10:30 PM of the stadium track events.

Volleyball

The US men are surprisingly the last ones with a shot at gold medal after the women were upset in the semifinals on Thursday. The men will be trying to do what Serbia did to the US women, upset a team that beat them earlier in the Olympics in pool play. The US lost to Italy 3-1 in their second pool match but all three sets the US dropped were by two points, a very close match. These teams met in the quarterfinals in London with Italy sweeping the US. The two countries have met in every Olympics since 2000. The US beat Italy 3-1 in the first round of pool play at the World Championships two summers ago and swept Italy 3-0 in pool play of the World League this summer in Rome but lost to them 3-1 in pool play of the final round later in the tool tournament. The USA-Italy men’s semifinal is scheduled for 12 PM on Friday.

You can catch this one LIVE on NBC.

Water Polo

The undefeated USA women’s water polo team faces Italy in the gold medal match on Friday at 2:30 PM as the women’s water polo tournament wraps up. The Italians are also undefeated in Rio with only one really close match, an 8-7 group stage win over Australia. The US defeated Italy 9-6 in the quarterfinals in London and the two teams draw a group stage match in Beijing. This is the fourth straight Olympics where the two sides have met. The US beat Italy 11-9 in group play at the World Championship last summer where the Italians finished fourth.

NBC will have LIVE coverage of the water polo match.

Wrestling

The US will have their biggest gold medal favorite wrestling on Friday as Jordan Burroughs competes in the men’s 74kg event. Burroughs will start off with Augusto Midana in the round of 16. Daniel Dennis is the other US wrestler going on Friday in the men’s 57kg division and he’ll start off with Vladimir Dubov in the round of 16.  The quarterfinal, and semifinal matches follow in the morning. If anyone loses to a finalist in their division they are in the repechage bracket later in the day. The repechage matches and medal matches are held later in the day starting at 3 PM.

NBCSN has LIVE coverage in their window between 11 AM and 2:15 PM with CNBC picking up live coverage from 5-6 PM.