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Simone, Sha’Carri & Katie all go today 😱🥇


Your Olympics essentials.

  • What happened yesterday: Grant Fisher won bronze in the 10,000m, just the second American man to medal in the event in 56 years! Regan Smith won silver in the 200m backstroke! U.S. equestrian won its third straight silver in the team jumping event − despite a last-minute lineup change! Check out all the day’s highlights.
  • What’s happening today: Sha’Carri Richardson runs in the 100m semis and finals! Simone Biles competes in the vault final! Katie Ledecky goes for four straight golds in the 800m! Ryan Crouser goes for three straight golds in the shot put! The USWNT plays Japan in the quarterfinals! The U.S. men’s hoops team plays Puerto Rico in their last group stage game! Follow all the day’s action.
  • The latest medal count: Entering Saturday, the U.S. held the lead in the medal count with 43 (nine golds, 18 silvers, 16 bronze), although China led the gold medal count with 13.

The stars are out.

OK, America’s biggest stars at these Olympics are in action today, with Sha’Carri Richardson and Katie Ledecky in their finals only eight minutes apart. So, I want to highlight our recent feature stories on them for you all. Let’s get to it. 

  • Simone Biles will almost certainly throw her Yurchenko double pike in the vault final (10:20 a.m. ET)  today, one of five skills named after her. It’s crazy to watch in person, is the hardest vault in the world and is incredibly dangerous. Here’s how she pulls it off. If Biles wins gold, it will be her seventh, tying her with Allyson Felix for most golds among American women who aren’t swimmers. It would also be her 10th Olympic medal overall, one behind Felix’s career total of 11. After today, Biles has two medal events left: Balance beam and floor exercise.
  • The most dominant U.S. men’s track and field athlete at the Paris Olympics isn’t a sprinter, nor a distance runner or even a jumper. It’s a man who has a bench max of 550 pounds and can squat up to 723 pounds. It’s Ryan Crouser, the shot put world-record holder who has a chance to make history today (1:35 p.m. ET) by winning a third straight medal in the event, which has never been done.
  • What a difference three years makes for Sha'Carri Richardson, who is the fastest woman in the world. A medal in the 100m final (3:20 p.m. ET) today would be the first Olympic medal for Richardson. If she wins gold, it will break the Jamaicans’ streak of four straight Summer Games winning the 100m.
  • Katie Ledecky is chasing a four-peat in the 800m (3:28 p.m. ET), and would be the first female swimmer to do it. It would be her ninth gold medal, tying her with four other athletes − USA’s Carl Lewis and Mark Spitz; Finland’s Paavo Nurmi and Soviet Union’s Larisa Latynina − for the second-most in Olympic history. All five athletes would still be behind Michael Phelps’ untouchable 23 (no, that’s not a typo) gold medals.

The Paste BN app brings you every Team USA medal — right when it happens. Download for full Olympics coverage, crosswords, audio storytelling, the eNewspaper and much more.

Other highlights from yesterday.

  • The U.S. men’s soccer team was knocked out in the quarterfinals. Womp womp.
  • American Sagen Maddalena was a surprise medalist in the women's 50-meter three-position rifle shooting competition, taking home silver. It marks Team USA's first Olympic medal in shooting at the Paris Games.
  • Americans Casey Kaufhold and Brady Ellison won the bronze medal in the archery mixed team competition. The Americans beat India 6-2 in the bronze medal match after losing 5-3 to Germany in the semifinals.
  • Ian Barrows and Hans Henken won bronze medal in the men's skiff during the sailing competition, which marked Team USA's first Olympic medal in the event.
  • Only one thing has slowed golf's Xander Schauffele at these Olympics: Ants.