Olympics Day 6: Lee Kiefer gets her 3rd gold as U.S. wins its first team fencing event

PARIS — Lee Kiefer became the first American fencer to win three Olympic gold medals as the U.S. got its first-ever team fencing gold in women’s foil at the Paris Olympics on Thursday.

The team of two-time individual gold medalist Kiefer, silver medalist Lauren Scruggs, Jacqueline Dubrovich and Maia Weintraub held on for a 45-39 win over Italy in the final.

“A team medal for this Olympic Games was my true dream. I think (in) individual there’s a lot of factors and momentum and luck, but as a team, every bout, we’ve put in so many hours of work together,” Kiefer said.

Tears poured down Kiefer’s face as the U.S. anthem played. The 30-year-old said she had realized 23 years of effort had paid off. “I met my goals in fencing,” she said.

Scruggs faced a late rally from Italy’s Arianna Errigo, who cut an eight-point U.S. lead to three, but the 21-year-old took the next three points to close out the win and celebrated with a shout of delight.

“I just didn’t want to be that person who loses after a big lead,” Scruggs said. “I was like, ‘Oh, man, I can’t lose for my own pride.’ It’s kind of what pushed me forward and made me snap out of it.”

Weintraub, the U.S. team’s alternate, was substituted into the final and immediately faced Italy’s most experienced fencer, the 2012 gold medalist Errigo. That didn’t faze Weintraub, who went 6-4 against Errigo and 11-5 from her two matchups.

“I think fencing is probably 40 or 50 percent mental, and going on to that strip I knew who they were, their results, how they are amazing fencers,” Weintraub said. “But I also had to remind myself that I’m here for a reason, my team is here for a reason, and we’re in the finals for a reason, that we deserve to be there just as much as anybody else.”

The U.S. now has four fencing medals at the Paris Olympics and two gold medals in fencing at the same Olympics for the first time, as well as a first-ever team gold for the U.S.

An American fencer, Albertson Van Zo Post, won two gold medals at the 1904 St. Louis Games but one of those was a team event in which he competed alongside two Cuban fencers. That medal is officially considered a “mixed team” win, not a U.S. gold.

Japan won its first women’s fencing medal of the Paris Olympics with a 33-32 win over Canada in the bronze-medal bout.

Tennis

Carlos Alcaraz says he doesn’t feel unbeatable at Roland Garros, the site of the Paris Olympics tennis competition and the French Open title he won last month. His opponents might disagree.

Alcaraz ran his winning streak at the place to 11 matches and became the youngest man to reach the singles semifinals at a Summer Games since Novak Djokovic in 2008, getting past Tommy Paul of the U.S. 6-3, 7-6 (7) at Court Philippe Chatrier on Thursday.

In the semifinals Friday, Alcaraz will take on Felix Auger-Aliassime of Canada, a 6-4, 6-7 (8), 6-3 winner over three-time major runner-up Casper Ruud of Norway, and the 37-year-old Djokovic will meet Lorenzo Musetti of Italy. Djokovic felt pain in his surgically repaired right knee while beating Stefanos Tsitsipas 6-3, 7-6 (3) on Thursday night and said he’s concerned about how he’ll be against Musetti.

Musetti eliminated Tokyo Games gold medalist Alexander Zverev of Germany 7-5, 7-5.

The women’s final Saturday will be between Zheng Qinwen of China and Donna Vekic of Croatia. Zheng defeated No. 1 Iga Swiatek of Poland 6-2, 7-5, while Vekic was a 6-4, 6-0 winner against Anna Karolina Schmiedlova of Slovakia.

In men’s doubles, 37-year-old Andy Murray, who had said the 2024 Summer Games would be his last event, and partner Dan Evans were beaten by the American duo of Taylor Fritz and Tommy Paul 6-2, 6-4 at Court Suzanne Lenglen.

Men’s golf

Victor Perez of France repeatedly pumped his fist over his head before the opening tee shot Thursday, celebrating the start of Olympic golf before a large and raucous home crowd.

And then Hideki Matsuyama quietly went about his business for an 8-under 63 and a two-shot lead at Le Golf National. Right behind was a familiar figure — Xander Schauffele, 10 days removed from his British Open title and playing as though he hasn’t missed a beat.

The surprise was outside the ropes — nearly 20,000 spectators in stifling heat, traipsing across rough terrain and seeing unusually low scoring from overnight rain that softened the course.

Matsuyama, who lost in a seven-man playoff for the bronze in the Tokyo Games, had six birdies through 10 holes and kept a clean card with a 15-foot par save on the 17th.

The opening round slowed at the end when storm clouds approached, causing two delays because of lightning in the area. Schauffele had to leave the course while on the 18th tee, returned to make par and then another delay settled in.

Carlos Ortiz of Mexico was challenging for the lead amid the stop-and-start action. He hit his tee shot into the water on the par-3 16th for a double bogey and then a bogey at the end. He had to settle for a 69.

Joaquin Niemann of Chile, Emiliano Grillo of Argentina and Tom Kim of South Korea were at 66, with Masters champion and tournament favorite Scottie Scheffler at 67.

Rowing

Liam Corrigan, Justin Best, Michael Grady and Nick Mead made a little history, winning the first U.S. rowing gold medal in the men’s four class since 1960. The U.S. held off New Zealand and defending world champion Britain, finishing in 5:49.03.

“It’s literally unbelievable,” Corrigan said. “I crossed the line, I thought I was going to have some kind of celebration, but I was just in disbelief, like my hands were on my head. It was just crazy.”

All four Americans were at the Tokyo Games three years ago but left without any medals. Corrigan, Best, Grady and Mead have been together since last season. The last time the U.S. won an Olympic medal of any color in men’s four rowing was in 2012 in London.

THURSDAY’S MEDALISTS

ATHLETICS

Men’s 20km Race Walk

GOLD: Brian Daniel Pintado, Ecuador

SILVER: Caio Bonfim, Brazil

BRONZE: Alvaro Martin, Spain

Women’s 20km Race Walk

GOLD: Jiayu Yang, China

SILVER: Maria Perez, Spain

BRONZE: Jemima Montag, Australia

CANOE SLALOM

Men’s Kayak Single

GOLD: Giovanni de Gennaro, Italy

SILVER: Titouan Castryck, France

BRONZE: Pau Echaniz, Spain

FENCING

Women’s Foil Team

GOLD: United States (Lauren Scruggs, Lee Kiefer, Jacqueline Dubrovich, Maia Mei Weintraub)

SILVER: Italy (Arianna Errigo, Martina Favaretto, Alice Volpi, Francesca Palumbo)

BRONZE: Japan (Sera Azuma, Yuka Ueno, Karin Miyawaki, Komaki Kikuchi)

ARTISTIC GYMNASTICS

Women’s All-Around

GOLD: Simone Biles, United States

SILVER: Rebeca Andrade, Brazil

BRONZE: Sunisa Lee, United States

JUDO

Men – 100 kg

GOLD: Zelym Kotsoiev, Azerbaijan

SILVER: Ilia Sulamanidze, Georgia

BRONZE: Peter Paltchik, Israel

BRONZE: Muzaffarbek Turoboyev, Uzbekistan

Women – 78 kg

GOLD: Alice Bellandi, Italy

SILVER: Inbar Lanir, Israel

BRONZE: Zhenzhao Ma, China

BRONZE: Patricia Sampaio, Portugal

ROWING

Men’s Four

GOLD: United States (Nick Mead, Justin Best, Michael Grady, Liam Corrigan)

SILVER: New Zealand (Ollie Maclean, Logan Ullrich, Tom Murray, Matt Macdonald)

BRONZE: Britain (Oliver Wilkes, David Ambler, Matt Aldridge, Freddie Davidson)

Men’s Double Sculls

GOLD: Romania (Andrei Sebastian Cornea, Marian Florian Enache)

SILVER: Netherlands (Melvin Twellaar, Stef Broenink)

BRONZE: Ireland (Daire Lynch, Philip Doyle)

Women’s Four

GOLD: Netherlands (Marloes Oldenburg, Hermijntje Drenth, Tinka Offereins, Benthe Boonstra)

SILVER: Britain (Helen Glover, Esme Booth, Sam Redgrave, Rebecca Shorten)

BRONZE: New Zealand (Jackie Gowler, Phoebe Spoors, Davina Waddy, Kerri Williams)

Women’s Double Sculls

GOLD: New Zealand (Brooke Francis, Lucy Spoors)

SILVER: Romania (Ancuta Bodnar, Simona Radis)

BRONZE: Britain (Mathilda Hodgkins Byrne, Rebecca Wilde)

SHOOTING

50m Rifle 3 Positions Men

GOLD: Yukun Liu, China

SILVER: Serhiy Kulish, Ukraine

BRONZE: Swapnil Kusale, India

SWIMMING

Men’s 200m Backstroke

GOLD: Hubert Kos, Hungary

SILVER: Apostolos Christou, Greece

BRONZE: Roman Mityukov, Switzerland

Women’s 200m Butterfly

GOLD: Summer McIntosh, Canada

SILVER: Regan Smith, United States

BRONZE: Yufei Zhang, China

Women’s 200m Breaststroke

GOLD: Kate Douglass, United States

SILVER: Tatjana Smith, South Africa

BRONZE: Tes Schouten, Netherlands

Women’s 4 x 200m Freestyle Relay

GOLD: Australia (Lani Pallister, Jamie Perkins, Brianna Throssell, Shayna Jack, Mollie O’Callaghan, Ariarne Titmus)

SILVER: United States (Anna Peplowski, Erin Gemmell, Simone Manuel, Alex Shackell, Claire Weinstein, Paige Madden, Katie Ledecky)

BRONZE: China (Muhan Tang, Yaqi Kong, Chutong Ge, Yaxin Liu, Junxuan Yang, Bingjie Li)