U.S. wrestler Steveson wins with 2 takedowns in closing 10 seconds
With 10 seconds remaining, Gable Steveson trailed the biggest wrestling match of his life by three points. When the clock hit zero, he was an Olympic gold medalist.
Steveson trailed Georgia’s Geno Petriashvili 85 with time running out. The 21yearold American remained composed and took control against his experienced opponent, scoring on a spinbehind takedown with 10 seconds remaining, then another with less than a second remaining to win the men’s freestyle 125kilogram class final 108 on Friday night.
Steveson held up two fingers for two points after the move, but even he couldn’t believe what happened.
“I looked at the clock and it was like 0.3,” Steveson said. “And I was like, ‘Ain’t no way.’ And my head just like flushed with everything. And I was like, ‘Wow.’ ”
Georgia challenged the final points, to no avail. Steveson gained a point on the challenge, giving him five points in 10 seconds.
He walked around the mat with the U.S. flag draped over his shoulders, then dazzled with the backflip he saves for his biggest wins.
Now the wrestling world awaits the next move from Steveson, who earned $250,000 for winning gold.
Named for American Dan Gable, the 1972 Olympic gold medalist and a former longtime college coach, Steveson could return to school for his senior season and cash in on the NCAA rules changes regarding name, image and likeness. Steveson was the heavyweight champion at the Minnesota this past season and shared the Dan Hodge Trophy for the nation’s best college wrestler.
He also has aspirations of joining World Wrestling Entertainment. But Steveson isn’t ready to look ahead yet, saying he’s “living in my moment.”
⏩ American Kyle Snyder, the returning Olympic gold medalist in the men’s 97kg freestyle class, will go for gold. He beat Turkey’s Suleyman Karadeniz 50 in a semifinal and will face the Russian Olympic Committee’s Abdulrashid Sadulaev. Sadulaev, the No. 1 seed, won gold at 86kg in 2016 and is a fourtime world champion.
⏩ American Kyle Dake defeated Italy’s Frank Chamizo 50 for bronze in the freestyle 74kg class.
⏩ American Jacarra Winchester lost her bronzemedal match 40 to Belarus’ Vanesa Kaladzinskaya in the 53kg freestyle class.
⏩ USA’s Sarah Hildebrandt led China’s Yanan Sun 71 at the break in the women’s 50kg freestyle semifinal, but Sun rallied in the final seconds to win 107. Hildebrandt will wrestle for bronze Saturday.
Women’s marathon: Peres Jepchirchir led a 12 Kenyan finish in the race, withstanding the heat and humidity while running through the streets of Sapporo.
Jepchirchir finished in a time of 2 hours, 27 minutes, 20 seconds in a race moved up an hour to avoid the heat. A smattering of fans lining the course applauded as the Tokyo Games moved north for the marathons and race walks. Her teammate Brigid Kosgei was second and American Molly Seidel, a relative newcomer to the marathon stage, took home the bronze.
Track and field: Italy surprisingly won the men’s 4x100meter relay to give Marcell Jacobs his second gold medal of the Tokyo Games. Jacobs won the men’s 100meter title Sunday and was on the team that won the sprint relay in a national record 37.50 seconds.
The Italians edged Britain by 0.01 of a second and Canada took bronze in 37.70. It was Italy’s first Olympic medal in the relay since a bronze at the 1948 London Olympics.
⏩ The Jamaican women added the 4x100meter relay title to their collection after sweeping the 100meter medals. The Jamaicans won in a national record 41.02 seconds, edging the U.S. (41.45). It was the secondfastest time in history and ended the U.S. team’s push for a third consecutive Olympic gold in the event.
⏩ The Netherlands’ Sifan Hassan kept her medal run going with a bronze in the 1,500 meters, won by Faith Kipyegon of
Kenya, to go with gold in the 5,000. Hassan will chase a third medal in the 10,000 final Saturday, her sixth race in eight days.
⏩ Joshua Cheptegei of Uganda made his decision to come to the Olympics a highly profitable one with a gold in the 5,000 meters to go with his silver in the 10,000. Cheptegei had said he was considering skipping Tokyo after an injury and a run of poor form.
⏩ Liu Shiying of China won the women’s javelin. She led all the way after a first throw of 66.34 meters (217 feet, 73⁄4 inches).
⏩ Antonella Palmisano of Italy won the women’s 20kilometer race walk.
⏩ Dawid Tomala of Poland won what might be the last Olympics 50kilometer race walk. The event has been dropped for Paris in 2024.
Women’s soccer: Canada earned its first women’s soccer gold medal by beating Sweden in a penalty shootout. Canada won bronze in 2012 and 2016.
The game time had been changed from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. to avoid Tokyo’s stifling heat and humidity, and the teams played to a 11 draw through regulation and extra time.
That set up the penalty kicks where Canada prevailed 32 on Julia Grosso’s match winner that bounced off the right hand of Sweden’s Hedvig Lindahl.
Women’s volleyball: The U.S. made it to the goldmedal match for the fourth time by defeating Serbia 2519, 2515, 2523. The Americans next will face Brazil, which beat South Korea in straight sets, all 2516.
Women’s golf: American Nelly Korda finished with 12 pars for a 2under 69 to maintain her lead in pursuit of the gold medal at Kasumigaseki Country Club. She had a threeshot lead over Aditi Ashok of India, who had a
68.
Boxing: Heavyweight Julio Cesar La Cruz won Cuba’s third gold medal in boxing in a final 50 victory over Russian athlete Muslim Gadzhimagomedov. La Cruz won the eighth heavyweight gold medal for the vaunted Cuban team, the first since Odlanier Solis claimed the division’s title in 2004.
Gold medal roundup: The Netherlands defeated Argentina 31 in the women’s field hockey final after rolling through pool play with a 50 record, outscoring rivals 182.
⏩ Christian Sorum and Anders Mol beat Russia in the men’s beach volleyball gold medal match, earning Norway’s first medal in the sport. The topseeded Norwegians beat the reigning world champions 2117, 2118
⏩ Germany won the men’s kayak four 500 meters to make Ronald Rauhe the first man to medal in canoe sprint in five Olympic Games. Rauhe, 39, is also the secondoldest gold medal winner in men’s canoe sprint. Only Sweden’s Gert Fredriksson was older at 40 in 1960. Spain won silver and Slovakia won bronze.
⏩ Hungary won gold in the women’s kayak four 500 meters. New Zealand’s Lisa Carrington missed a fourth medal of the Tokyo Games when the Kiwi boat finished fourth. Hungary finished 0.61 of a second clear of silver medalists Belarus and Poland won the bronze. Carrington had already won three gold medals, in the single 200 and 500 and 500 pairs. She has five gold medals in her Olympic career and six overall.
⏩ Brazil’s Isaquias Queiroz dos Santos won the men’s 1,000 meters canoe sprint and Moldova’s Serghei Tarnovschi took the bronze five years after his similar result in Rio was stripped because of a performanceenhancing drug violation.
⏩ China’s Mengya Sun and Shixiao Xu have won the country’s first medal in women’s canoe sprint by winning the gold in the canoe double 500.
⏩ Slovenia’s Janja Garnbret lived up to her billing as the world’s best female climber, dominating to win the sport’s inaugural Olympic gold.
⏩ Harrie Lavreysen of the Netherlands won the men’s cycling sprint, coming back from an initial loss to Dutch teammate Jeffrey Hoogland in the bestofthree finals.