Paris Olympics Day 12: U.S. women pursuit team wins gold after 12 years of silver and bronze medals

The American women’s pursuit team had twice before raced for the Olympic gold medal, and it had been on the podium all three times the event had been on the program for the Summer Games.

Successful, to be sure, but also disappointing, because it had never been the top step.

On a steamy Wednesday night at the Olympic velodrome, road race champion Kristen Faulkner, time trial bronze medalist Chloe Dygert, Jennifer Valente and Lilly Williams finally took that last step up. They soared to a big early lead on New Zealand in their head-to-head showdown, then held on through a ragged finish to finally win the gold medal at the Paris Games.

“We knew we had a strong team coming in,” Faulkner said with a smile, “and I feel like the lucky one, because they have won medals before on the track and I haven’t. I just wanted to live up to their expectations.”

Did she ever. Faulkner’s relatively recent addition to the squad might have made the difference.

“It’s pretty surreal,” Williams added. “I do not think anybody expected this.”

The Americans led by more than a second a quarter of the way through the 4,000-meter race, and they stretched the gap at one point to nearly two seconds. When they began to come apart from their single-file, aerodynamic draft with about two laps to go, they had to fight to the finish to hold off Ally Wollaston, Bryony Botha, Emily Shearman and Nicole Shields.

“There’s just a lot of support for this program,” said Dygert, who has been part of the past three U.S. Olympic pursuit teams, “and we’ve been able to bring in really strong riders, and now we were finally able to pull it off.”

In the final of the men’s pursuit, Sam Welsford, Oliver Bleddyn, Conor Leahy and Kelland O’Brien of Australia beat Britain in a close final at the Vélodrome National de Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines to win gold for the first time in two decades.

Hildebrandt beats Cuban for gold after original opponent, India’s Phogat, misses weight

The most unusual day of Sarah Hildebrandt’s wrestling career ended with her earning an Olympic gold medal.

The American won the 50-kilogram women’s category on Wednesday, defeating Yusneylis Guzman Lopez of Cuba 3-0 in the championship match to become the fourth U.S. woman to win a gold medal.

For a while, she thought she wouldn’t even have a gold medal match.

Vinesh Phogat of India appeared to reach the finals of the 50-kilogram category after three wins on Tuesday. But United World Wrestling, the sport’s governing body, disqualified her after she barely missed weight on Wednesday morning.

Measures such as cutting Phogat’s hair weren’t enough to shed the necessary weight. Team India said Phogat was 100 grams — about a fifth of a pound — over the weight limit.

Hildebrandt originally thought she had won gold by forfeit. Instead, Guzman Lopez, who had lost to Phogat in a semifinal, was moved up from a bronze medal match.

“There was a lot of celebrating,” the 30-year-old Hildebrandt said. “It was very strange. ‘Oh my God, I just won the Olympics.’ And then an hour later, it was like, psych, you did not win the Olympics. I was like, ‘Oh, this is very weird.’ So there had to be a reset.”

Phogat, who stunned four-time world and defending Olympic champion Yui Susaki of Japan in the first of her three matches on Tuesday, would have been the first women’s wrestler from India to compete for a gold medal. Instead, she left empty-handed.

“As a big weight cutter myself, yeah, I feel for her,” Hildebrandt said. “She had an amazing day yesterday, did an insane feat and, you know, I don’t think she saw that happening, ending her Olympics like that. So for sure, my heart goes out to her. I think she’s an amazing competitor, an amazing wrestler and person.”

Susaki eventually earned a bronze medal with a 10-0 win over Oksana Livach of Ukraine.

U.S. weight off his shoulders

Hampton Morris became the first U.S. men’s weightlifter to earn an Olympic medal in four decades, taking bronze in the 61-kilogram division. It had not happened since Mario Martinez and Guy Carlton at the 1984 Los Angeles Games, notably boycotted by several communist countries.

The 20-year-old Morris, trained by his dad in the garage at their home in Marietta, Georgia, finished third in a competition won again by Li Fabin of China. Li defended his title from the Tokyo Games in 2021 and set an Olympic snatch record.

Men’s water polo down to final four

Adrian Weinberg made two blocks in a penalty shootout to help the United States beat Australia 11-10 in the quarterfinals.

Hannes Daube and Alex Bowen each scored two goals in regulation as the U.S. reached the semifinals at the Olympics for the first time since 2008. Daube and Bowen also converted their penalty shots in the tiebreaker.

“It was exhausting,” U.S. attacker Marko Vavic said. “Both of us fighting for our country, each trying to get to the semifinal. It’s what we’ve been dreaming about since we were kids. Everyone put it down on the line.”

It was the third straight win for the U.S., which will play Serbia on Friday at Paris La Defense Arena. Serbia is trying to become the third men’s team to win three consecutive Olympic gold medals.

Croatia will face Hungary in the other semifinal. Croatia beat Spain 10-8 in the first quarterfinal of the day, and Hungary edged Italy 12-10 in another game that went to a penalty shootout.

Serbia advanced when captain Nikola Jaksic skipped home a perfect shot from deep with 3 seconds left, lifting his country to a 12-11 victory over Greece.

China dominates artistic swimming

China took gold in the artistic swimming team event, dominating in the absence of Russia, which had won every gold medal in artistic beginning with the 2000 Sydney Games.

It was a big medal for China, and also a step forward for the sport, which changed its name from synchronized swimming several years ago to update its image. Some swimmers still call it “synchro.”

China finished with 996.1389 points, ahead of the United States and Spain. It was the first U.S. medal in the sport since 2004.

Men had an opportunity for the first time to compete in artistic swimming at the Olympics, but no men were picked by any of the teams. There is consideration to add a mixed duet team event for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, which would create more space for men to compete.

Lin Yu-ting advances to gold-medal bout

Boxer Lin Yu-ting of Taiwan advanced to the gold-medal bout in the women’s featherweight division. She won her third consecutive bout while dealing with widespread scrutiny regarding misconceptions about her gender.

One day after welterweight Imane Khelif of Algeria reached her weight division’s final with a third straight victory in Paris, Lin defeated Esra Yildiz Kahraman of Turkey 5:0.

Lin will fight for gold on Saturday.

Lin and Khelif have dominated all of their Olympic bouts despite the massive distractions created by the fallout from the Olympic-banished International Boxing Association’s decision last year to disqualify both fighters from the world championships for allegedly failing an eligibility test.

Both fighters have responded to this unwelcome spotlight by making two of the best tournament runs of their lengthy amateur careers.

WEDNESDAY’S MEDALISTS

ATHLETICS

Men’s 3000m Steeplechase

GOLD: Soufiane El Bakkali, Morocco

SILVER: Kenneth Rooks, United States

BRONZE: Abraham Kibiwot, Kenya

Men’s 400m

GOLD: Quincy Hall, United States

SILVER: Matthew Hudson-Smith, Britain

BRONZE: Muzala Samukonga, Zambia

Men’s Discus Throw

GOLD: Roje Stona, Jamaica

SILVER: Mykolas Alekna, Lithuania

BRONZE: Matthew Denny, Australia

Women’s Pole Vault

GOLD: Nina Kennedy, Australia

SILVER: Katie Moon, United States

BRONZE: Alysha Newman, Canada

Marathon Race Walk Relay Mixed

GOLD: Spain (Alvaro Martin, Maria Perez)

SILVER: Ecuador (Brian Daniel Pintado, Glenda Morejon)

BRONZE: Australia (Rhydian Cowley, Jemima Montag)

BOXING

Men’s 63.5kg

GOLD: Erislandy Alvarez Borges, Cuba

SILVER: Sofiane Oumiha, France

BRONZE: Lasha Guruli, Georgia

BRONZE: Wyatt Sanford, Canada

Men’s 80kg

GOLD: Oleksandr Khyzhniak, Ukraine

SILVER: Nurbek Oralbay, Kazakhstan

BRONZE: Arlen Lopez Cardona, Cuba

BRONZE: Cristian Javier Pinales, Dominican Republic

SPORT CLIMBING

Women’s Speed

GOLD: Aleksandra Miroslaw, Poland

SILVER: Lijuan Deng, China

BRONZE: Aleksandra Kalucka, Poland

CYCLING TRACK

Men’s Team Pursuit

GOLD: Australia (Oliver Bleddyn, Conor Leahy, Kelland O’Brien, Sam Welsford)

SILVER: Britain (Daniel Bigham, Ethan Hayter, Charlie Tanfield, Ethan Vernon, Oliver Wood)

BRONZE: Italy (Simone Consonni, Filippo Ganna, Francesco Lamon, Jonathan Milan)

Women’s Team Pursuit

GOLD: United States (Chloé Dygert, Kristen Faulkner, Jennifer Valente, Lily Williams)

SILVER: New Zealand (Bryony Botha, Emily Shearman, Nicole Shields, Ally Wollaston)

BRONZE: Britain (Elinor Barker, Josie Knight, Anna Morris, Jessica Roberts)

SAILING

Men’s Dinghy

GOLD: Matt Wearn, Australia

SILVER: Pavlos Kontides, Cyprus

BRONZE: Stefano Peschiera, Peru

Women’s Dinghy

GOLD: Marit Bouwmeester, Netherlands

SILVER: Anne-Marie Rindom, Denmark

BRONZE: Line Flem Hoest, Norway

SKATEBOARDING

Men’s Park

GOLD: Keegan Palmer, Australia

SILVER: Tom Schaar, United States

BRONZE: Augusto Akio, Brazil

ARTISTIC SWIMMING

Team

GOLD: China (Hao Chang, Yu Feng, Qianyi Wang, Ciyue Wang, Liuyi Wang, Binxuan Xiang, Yanning Xiao, Yayi Zhang, Wentao Cheng)

SILVER: United States (Anita Alvarez, Jaime Czarkowski, Megumi Field, Keana Hunter, Audrey Kwon, Jacklyn Luu, Daniella Ramirez, Ruby Remati, Calista Liu)

BRONZE: Spain (Iris Tio Casas, Alisa Ozhogina Ozhogin, Meritxell Mas Pujadas, Blanca Toledano Laut, Paula Ramirez Ibanez, Lilou Lluis Valette, Marina Garcia Polo, Txell Ferre Gaset, Sara Saldana Lopez)

TAEKWONDO

Men -58kg

GOLD: Taejoon Park, South Korea

SILVER: Gashim Magomedov, Azerbaijan

BRONZE: Cyrian Ravet, France

BRONZE: Mohamed Khalil Jendoubi, Tunisia

Women -49kg

GOLD: Panipak Wongpattanakit, Thailand

SILVER: Qing Guo, China

BRONZE: Lena Stojkovic, Croatia

BRONZE: Mobina Nematzadeh, Iran

WEIGHTLIFTING

Men’s 61kg

GOLD: Fabin Li, China

SILVER: Theerapong Silachai, Thailand

BRONZE: Hampton Morris, United States

Women’s 49kg

GOLD: Zhihui Hou, China

SILVER: Mihaela Valentina Cambei, Romania

BRONZE: Surodchana Khambao, Thailand

WRESTLING

Men’s Greco-Roman 77kg

GOLD: Nao Kusaka, Japan

SILVER: Demeu Zhadrayev, Kazakhstan

BRONZE: Malkhas Amoyan, Armenia

BRONZE: Akzhol Makhmudov, Kyrgyzstan

Men’s Greco-Roman 97kg

GOLD: Mohammadhadi Saravi, Iran

SILVER: Artur Aleksanyan, Armenia

BRONZE: Gabriel Alejandro Rosillo Kindelan, Cuba

BRONZE: Uzur Dzhuzupbekov, Kyrgyzstan

Women’s Freestyle 50kg

GOLD: Sarah Ann Hildebrandt, United States

SILVER: Yusneylis Guzman Lopez, Cuba

BRONZE: Yui Susaki, Japan

BRONZE: Ziqi Feng, China