Beverly Hills' Annie Lazor takes bronze medal in 200-meter breaststroke
Annie Lazor of Beverly Hills, Mich., won a bronze medal in the women's 200-meter breaststroke at the Summer Olympics on Friday in Tokyo, Japan.
Lazor, 26, is the oldest American swimmer to qualify for her first Olympic team in 17 years, finished in third place in a time of 2:20.84.
South Africa's Tatjana Schoenmaker earned the gold medal in 2:18.95 with Lily King of Evansville, Ind., taking the silver medal in 2:19.92.
Also Friday, former Michigan swimmer Siobhan Haughey won her second silver medal representing Hong Kong in the Olympics.
Haughey finished second in the 100-meter freestyle in a time of 52.27. She became the first Hong Kong swimmer to win a medal on Wednesday with a second-place finish in the 200-meter freestyle.
In the 100M final on Friday, Australia's Emma McKeon won the gold medal in 51.96 and teammate Cate Campbell took the bronze in 52.52.
Full coverage: Summer Olympics in Tokyo
Ex-Wolverine Mason Ferlic failed to qualify for the men's 3,000-meter steeplechase final, turning in a time of 8:20.23 for an eighth-place finish in Thursday's first heat.
Phelps’ successor
Caeleb Dressel got his first individual gold medal on Thursday.
The biggest action of the day session on Day 6 of the Tokyo Olympics came in the pool where America’s successor to Michael Phelps won gold in the 100-meter freestyle.
Dressel’s winning time was an Olympic record of 47.02 seconds – a mere six-hundredths ahead of defending champion Kyle Chalmers of Australia. That gave him a fourth career gold medal, with three previous ones coming in relays.
“It is a lot different. I guess I thought it would be, I just didn’t want to admit to it,” he said. “It’s a lot tougher. You have to rely on yourself, there’s no one to bail you out.”
Track and field
American world champion pole vaulter Sam Kendricks will miss the Olympics after testing positive for COVID-19.
Kendricks’ dad posted on social media that his son had no symptoms but was informed while in Tokyo that he tested positive and was out of the competition.
The U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee confirmed the news and said Kendricks has been placed in isolation at a hotel.
Kendricks won the bronze medal at the 2016 Olympics and took gold at the past two world championships. He holds the American record at 19 feet, 10½ inches (6.06 meters).
More than 50 athletes and officials with the Australian track and field team were briefly isolated in their rooms at the Olympics after having come into contact with Kendricks.
The Australian Olympic Committee said three of its athletes were still being kept isolated after “a brief casual contact with a U.S. track and field athlete who had tested positive.” Those three can still train, but away from other team members.
Boxing
About 15 minutes after Nesthy Petecio clinched the Philippines’ first-ever medal in Olympic women’s boxing, Irma Testa laughed with joy when she achieved the same history for Italy.
When Sena Irie also clinched Japan’s landmark first women’s boxing medal a few hours later, she didn’t contain her tearful glee at her accomplishment during an Olympic tournament thick with women’s boxing history at the Kokugikan Arena.
“It was the result of 13 years of work for me,” Irie said through a translator. “But this tournament is a very big moment for women’s boxing in Japan and in the world.
“We have come a long way. I hope this helps our sport.”
Just nine years after the sport’s debut in London, the biggest women’s boxing field in Olympic history is more talented and more exciting than ever before — and it’s flattening all kinds of milestones in Tokyo.
Petecio, Testa and Irie made their bits of national history Wednesday by winning in the quarterfinals of the Olympic 57-kilogram featherweight division, which didn’t exist before this year.
Tokyo features 100 women fighting in five weight classes, nearly tripling the 36 fighters who competed in just three classes in London and Rio.
Basketball
Japan’s bid for its first Olympic men’s basketball win in 45 years fell short despite a 34-point effort from Rui Hachimura.
Luka Doncic had another impressive performance with 25 points, seven rebounds and seven assists in 26 minutes, Zoran Dragic scored 24 points and Slovenia remained unbeaten in its Olympic debut by beating Japan 116-81 in the Tokyo Games.
Beach volleyball
American beach volleyball players Kelly Claes and Sarah Sponcil dispatched Kenya in just 25 minutes, the fastest women’s match since the Olympics adopted their current format.
The U.S. pair beat Brackcides Khadambi and Gaudencia Makokha, 21-8, 21-6 to improve to 2-0 and almost certainly clinch a spot in the knockout round of 16.
The match was the fastest since the international volleyball federation adopted the rally scoring and best-of-three sets format in 2002.