THREE THINGS TO WATCH
Here are three things to watch in prime time Thursday at the Olympics (all times Pacific):
1. Swimming (6:30 p.m. Thursday, NBC): Ryan Murphy (Cal) will attempt to follow up his bronze in the 100meter backstroke with a gold in the 200 meters of the same discipline. Murphy won gold in both backstroke events in 2016. The women’s 200 breaststroke final will feature American medal contenders Lilly King and Annie Lazor. King took bronze in the 100, an event in which she holds the world record, thanks to an upset by 17yearold teammate Lydia Jacoby, a rare Alaskan Olympic swimmer.
2. Track and field (5 p.m. Thursday, USA Network):
Action at Olympic Stadium gets under way with qualification heats and an early look at what figures to be a rivalry to follow in the 400meter men’s hurdles. U.S. medal contender Rai Benjamin and worldrecord holder Karsten Warholm of Sweden will compete in separate heats. Other Americans to watch include 800meter runners Ajee’ Wilson, the U.S. record holder, and Athing Mu. The first track and field medal will be awarded in the men’s 10,000 meters. 3. Beach volleyball (5 p.m. Thursday, CNBC): The Americans’ “ATeam” of April Ross and Alix Klineman (Stanford) looks to finish pool play undefeated. The Americans face the Netherlands’ Sanne Keizer and Madelein Meppelink, the Games’ secondhighest scorer through two matches for the Dutch team that has yet to win. The worst Ross and Klineman could finish in preliminaries is a threeway tie for first, which would be broken in a “lucky loser” match Saturday. This is Klineman’s first Olympics; Ross won silver in 2012 and bronze in 2016.