TOKYO — The final weekend of the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games got underway Saturday with an early (6 a.m. Tokyo) start for the women’s marathon because of threatening weather. The race produced a USA bronze medal for Molly Seidel, in only her third marathon – and just the third time the USA has won a women’s medal in that event.
Events on the track conclude Saturday night, with only the men’s marathon remaining on Sunday. The final women’s event is the 4 x 400 meter relay, in which Canada and Menlo School product Maddie Price will be in the mix.
Maddy Price
Price keyed Canada’s 4 x 400 meter relay team through semifinal qualifying Thursday with a quick 50.80 seconds third leg, second fastest on the team. The Canadians qualified fifth in their race in 3:24.05, won by the favored USA quartet in 3:20.86.
The American team in the finals will likely be anchored by Allyson Felix. The 35-year-old mom became the first woman to claim ten Olympic track medals, taking bronze in the 400 meters on Friday. She is the sixth woman in any sport to reach that plateau.
The record is 12 medals, all by swimmers, set by Stanford’s Jenny Thompson; equaled by Cal’s Natalie Coughlin, also by Dara Torres and Allison Schmitt – and the past week by Stanford’s Katie Ledecky (who resides in Atherton).
“I’m not wrapped up in winning more medals,” said Felix on Friday after medaling in her fifth Olympics. “The biggest thing for me was coming back.” She struggled with financial sponsorship through her pregnancy and return to competition.
The USA men’s track team is in the unique position of having yet to win a men’s gold medal on the oval.
The lone champion so far came in the field, from world shot put record holder Ryan Crouser.
While being shutout from gold in individual races, the American 4 x 400 meter relay remains a slight favorite in the meet finale. No USA individual medaled in the 400 meter race, however.
Recommended for you
GOLD IN BEACH VOLLEYBALL FOR STANFORD’S ALIX KLINEMAN
Former Stanford volleyball player Alix Klineman joined two-time beach volleyball medalist April Ross for the 2020 Games. They reached the top of the ladder together on Friday, taking just 43 minutes to capture gold with a convincing 21-15, 21-16 win over Australia’s Mariafe Artacho del Solar and Taliqua Clancy.
“People should realize what a risk April took, taking me on as a partner,” said Klineman. “When we got together, I had less thana year of experience on the beach. She just took my indoor experience (including at Stanford) into account.”
The USA women’s volleyball team, led by middle blocker Foluke Akinradewo Gunderson out of Stanford, seeks its first ever gold medal Saturday afternoon against Brazil. USA coach Karch Kirally praised the play of Akinradewo in Friday’s 3-0 semifinal win over Serbia, saying “We were led by her superb blocking. She got some good swing today. She was serving up a storm.” The Americans have won 18 of 25 sets in the tournament and eight straight.
BAY AREA WATER POLO PLAYERS LOOKING FOR GOLD ON SUNDAY
The U.S. women are in their fourth straight Olympic final and are trying to win their third straight Olympic title. They meet Spain, on Sunday after a 15-11 win over the Russian Olympic Committee in the semifinals, led by a trio of Stanford grads. Maddie Musselman had five goals, Maggie Steffens had three, and Mackenzie Fisher had two. Five of the 13 USA team members are from Stanford and Cal.
The USA has medaled in every Olympics since the women were added to the competition in 2000.
USA BASEBALL VS. JAPAN FOR GOLD ON SATURDAY
Team USA (4-1) was slated to face unbeaten Japan (4-0) in the baseball gold medal game Saturday evening at Yokohama Baseball Stadium (4 a.m. Pacific time). It’s the first U.S. appearance in the finals since 2000, when the Americans blanked two-time defending champion Cuba, 4-0. The USA also won the 1988 title at Seoul.
Keep the discussion civilized. Absolutely NO
personal attacks or insults directed toward writers, nor others who
make comments. Keep it clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd,
racist or sexually-oriented language. Don't threaten. Threats of harming another
person will not be tolerated. Be truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone
or anything. Be proactive. Use the 'Report' link on
each comment to let us know of abusive posts. PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK. Anyone violating these rules will be issued a
warning. After the warning, comment privileges can be
revoked.
Please purchase a Premium Subscription to continue reading.
To continue, please log in, or sign up for a new account.
We offer one free story view per month. If you register for an account, you will get two additional story views. After those three total views, we ask that you support us with a subscription.
A subscription to our digital content is so much more than just access to our valuable content. It means you’re helping to support a local community institution that has, from its very start, supported the betterment of our society. Thank you very much!
(0) comments
Welcome to the discussion.
Log In
Keep the discussion civilized. Absolutely NO personal attacks or insults directed toward writers, nor others who make comments.
Keep it clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language.
Don't threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated.
Be truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone or anything.
Be proactive. Use the 'Report' link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts.
PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK.
Anyone violating these rules will be issued a warning. After the warning, comment privileges can be revoked.