5 to watch: U.S. softball walks off, Katie Ledecky takes silver originally appeared on NBC Sports Washington
Momiji Nishiya Wins Women's Skateboarding Street, USA's Alexis Sablone Finishes Fourth
At just 13 years old, Japan's Momiji Nishiya skated into history Sunday night by winning the first-ever women’s Olympic street skateboarding event in Tokyo. Nishiya helped the host nation sweep both the street competitions after Yuto Horigome won gold in the men's event the previous day. Nishiya made more history in addition to winning the events Olympic debut; she also became one of the youngest Olympic gold medalists ever.American Alexis Sablone finished fourth after scoring 13.57 points, just missing the podium. Sablone, a seven-time X Games medalist (winning in 2015, 2012 and 2010), grew up in Connecticut and started skateboarding at the age of 10.
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U.S. softball walks it off to finish preliminary round undefeated In its last match of the preliminary round, the U.S. softball team earned a walk-off win when Kelsey Stewart hit a solo home run. Japan nabbed the early 1-0 lead in the first inning before the Americans equalized in the sixth. The U.S. had already advanced to the gold medal round before the match began and has now finished the preliminary round a perfect 5-0. Click here for the highlight. Team USA adds to medal count, including gold, after another busy night in the pool. The United States men brought home gold in the 4x100m freestyle relay. Team USA has now won back-to-back golds after winning the 4x100m freestyle relay in the 2016 Rio Olympics. The Americans had a narrow .20-second lead going into the final leg, but Zach Apple pulled away from the field to help secure the gold. Italy won silver - closely behind the U.S - as they finished with a time of 3:10.11. Australia finished third posting a time of 3:10.22 to claim bronze. Click here for the highlight.
In the 400m freestyle, U.S. swimmer Katie Ledecky won silver, losing to her Australian rival Ariarne Titmus in a much-anticipated show down. Titmus, who won the event in the 2019 world championships, took the gold medal with a time of 3:56.69. Ledecky came in at 3:57.36. "I fought tooth and nail and just gave it my all," Ledecky said immediately after the race. "I can't be disappointed with that." Click here to watch the highlight. The night did not come without some disappointment. Eighteen-year-old Torri Huske finished fourth in the 100m butterfly, just one-hundredth of a second out of bronze medal position, the smallest possible margin in swimming. Huske was a favorite to medal, but ultimately failed to reach the podium. Canada’s Maggie MacNeil took home gold. American Michael Andrew also just missed the podium in the men’s 100m breaststroke, finishing fourth. While it is a disappointing result, Andrew will have a chance to redeem himself in the 200m individual medley and 50m freestyle. Great Britain’s Adam Peaty won the event for the second straight Games. The silver went to Arno Kamminga of the Netherlands, while Italy’s Nico Martinenghi took bronze.
American Kevin McDowell Has Best American Finish in Men's TriathlonKevin McDowell finished sixth in the men’s triathlon, marking the best finish by an American since the event was added to the Olympics in 2000. He finished 50 seconds behind Kristian Blummenfelt of Norway, who won gold with a time of 1:45:04. Alex Yee of Great Britain and Hayden Wilde of New Zealand claimed the silver and bronze, respectively.
Two-time defending world champion Vincent Luis once again finished off the podium in his third Olympics.
