The second Sunday of the 2024 Paris Games includes a handful of Team USA’s biggest names vying for medals.
Suni Lee will compete in the final of the women’s uneven bars, and event in which she earned bronze at the Tokyo Games in 2021. Lee has a bronze medal and a gold already in Paris, and uneven bars is one of two remaining events for her, with the other being the balance beam finals on Monday.
On the track, Noah Lyles will look to earn a medal in the men’s 100-meter final. But first he must advance past the semifinals. Lyles admitted he underestimated the field in his preliminary round run on Saturday, finishing second in the race.
Spain’s Jon Rahm and the United States’ Xander Schauffele are tied for first place at 14 under heading into the final day of men’s golf’s individual stroke play. Great Britain’s Tommy Fleetwood sits in third at 13 under, while there’s a tie for fourth between Japan’s Hideki Matsuyama and Norway’s Nicolai Højgaard at 11 under.
Sunday marks the last day of the swimming events at the Paris Games with three finals. Team USA’s Gretchen Walsh can win her fourth medal of Paris in the women’s 50-meter freestyle, while American swimmer Kate Douglass looks for the same total as she competes in the women’s 4×100-meter medley relay.
In a rematch of the Wimbledon 2024 final, Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz face off in the men’s singles gold medal tennis match at Roland Garros. A win would give Djokovic, of Serbia, his first Olympic gold medal.
Here’s what to look out for on Sunday.
7:29 a.m. ET — Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone starts off gold medal defense strong
Having just broken her own world record in the 400m hurdles earlier this summer — the fifth time she’s reset the world record in the event — expectations couldn’t have been much higher for McLaughlin-Levrone as she entered her first chance to run her signature event in Paris.
She still met them in stride though, leading the pack throughout her heat by a considerable margin en route to a comfortable first round success. McLaughlin-Levron will race in the event’s semifinal round on Tuesday.
Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone doing what she does. 🔥
Her gold medal defense opens with another decisive victory. #ParisOlympics
📺 USA Network & Peacock pic.twitter.com/DpkNWPQbqK
— NBC Olympics & Paralympics (@NBCOlympics) August 4, 2024
7:14 a.m. ET — ‘Powerful’ American 200m sprinters win heats
Team USA’s women’s sprinters got off to very strong start Sunday morning at Stade de France, when all three 200-meter runners won their respective opening-round heats.
It started with two-time Olympian Gabby Thomas. The current world’s No. 2 in the event breezed through the second heat in 22.20 seconds, easing up in the final 10 meters after it was clear she would win and move on to the semifinal. Thomas’ time held up as the fastest for the day.
Following Thomas’ run, 2024 NCAA champion McKenzie Long dominated her first round in 22.55 seconds, and fellow first-time Olympian Brittany Brown cruised to her own victory in 22.38 seconds.
All three Americans will be in Monday’s semifinal.
“My coach wanted me to go out there and win, but be dominant and smooth and in control and that’s what we did,” Brown said.
Brown ran a comfortable race, coming out the blocks quickly and owning the heat from start to finish. Her first few steps were filled with power — just like her eyelids.
Sporting glittering nails and a purple and blue eye shadow, Brown raced in style. She said the fitting eye shadow was part of Danessa Myrick’s “I am” palette series. The specific eye shadow Brown went with Sunday?
“I am powerful,” Brown said.
For the semifinals, she said she plans on trotting out the “I am brave” color series, “because I’m going to need to be brave.”
A first-time Olympian, the 29-year-old’s top international accomplishment to this point was a silver earned at the 2019 world championships.
Moments before the start of Sunday’s 200-meter races, Jamaican favorite Shericka Jackson withdrew. It remains unclear why she pulled out of the race. Her non-start came one day after her countrywoman Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce also withdrew from the 100 meters due to an injury, her coach said.
Jackson also pulled out of the 100 meters just before the Olympics began, but indicated she was not injured. –Coley Harvey
7:11 a.m. ET — Scheffler finding his groove
Scottie Scheffler spent the first three rounds of the Olympic golf circuit lingering between sixth and tenth place. Now, the current world No. 1 is heating up and making a move. Back-to-back birdies have fired Scheffler to a three-under par start to the fourth and final round, and he’s climbed up the standings to third position, just one stroke back from the first place tie between Spain’s Jon Rahm and American teammate Xander Schauffele. Rahm and Schauffele teed off for the final round roughly 20 minutes after Scheffler got underway.
HERE. COMES. SCOTTIE. 🔥🇺🇸
Back-to-back birdies to start his Sunday!
📺 Golf Channel and Peacock | #ParisOlympics pic.twitter.com/L6ZDJsBbZ4
— Golf Channel (@GolfChannel) August 4, 2024
6;50 a.m. ET — Holloway cruises in preliminary heat
The reigning back-to-back world champion in the 110m hurdles, Grant Holloway arrived in Paris with intentions of upgrading his silver medal from the 2020 Games to gold.
He looked on pace to just that in a dominant round one showing, flying out of the blocks en route to a blistering 13.01 finish — good for the best time from any first round heat.
NOBODY is touching Grant Holloway! 🤯
Dominance from the world champion in round one. #ParisOlympics
📺 USA Network & Peacockpic.twitter.com/QfueUpgYfg
— NBC Sports (@NBCSports) August 4, 2024
Source Agencies
