American men finally winning Olympic gold medals after women opened 9-0 lead

The American men are finally matching the women at the Paris Olympics, where the female athletes went into the halfway mark with a 9-0 lead in individual gold medals for the United States.

The men wearing red, white and blue found a groove on Sunday — Day 9 of the Games.

Bobby Finke set a world record in the 1,500-meter freestyle on the final night of swimming, Scottie Scheffler delivered the best performance of his greatest year by rallying from four shots behind to win the men’s golf tournament, and Noah Lyles became the first American to win the men’s 100 meters in 20 years.

That all came a day after the American men started to claw their way into the standings when Vincent Hancock made his final two shots to win gold in the men’s skeet, and Ryan Crouser followed with his third straight gold in shot put.

American women still made their mark on Sunday: Kristen Faulkner won the women’s road race to become the first U.S. rider in 40 years to win a medal in the event, the 4×100 medley relay team set a world record while winning gold in the pool, and gymnast Sunisa Lee won her third medal of these Games with a bronze on bars.

A look at what happened on Day 9 of the Games:

Lyles at last gets his gold

Lyles has officially cemented himself as “The Fastest Man in the World” with a win in the 100 meters that was decided in a photo finish.

The 27-year-old Lyles is the first American to win the event since Justin Gatlin at the 2004 Athens Games. His lean at the finish line was enough to give him the gold by just .005 seconds over Kishane Thompson of Jamaica. Fred Kerley won the bronze as the United States put two sprinters on the podium.

Lyles ran a career best 9.784 seconds to earn the gold and will seek a sweep later this week in the 200 meters. Thompson’s silver is his first Olympic medal, and Kerley took bronze in 9.81 seconds.

It was the closest 100-meter since at least Moscow in 1980 — or maybe even ever. Back then, Britain’s Allan Wells narrowly beat Silvio Leonard in an era when timing didn’t go down into the thousandths of a second.

Lyles will be a favorite later this week in the 200 meters — his better race — and will try to join Usain Bolt as the latest runner to win both Olympic sprints.

Defending champion Marcell Jacobs of Italy made the final but did not medal.

Meanwhile, Jamaican sprinter Shericka Jackson pulled out of the women’s 200 meters and will not race for an individual medal in Paris. She had already pulled out of the 100 meters to focus on the 200.

Americans set two world records as swimming ends

The giddiness over Finke’s world record was short-lived as the Americans lost the men’s 4×100 medley relay at the Summer Games for the first time.

China stunned the U.S., which had won gold in the event at every Olympics other than the boycotted Moscow Games in 1980. The medley relay was added to the program in 1960.

The Americans had to settle for silver, with France taking bronze to give Léon Marchand his fifth medal of the games to go along with four individual golds.

The Americans closed the swimming portion of these Games with two gold and two world records Sunday. The second medal came in the women’s 4×100 medley relay.

Lilly King made up for a disappointing showing in her individual events by powering the Americans to the lead in the breaststroke segment, then it was Gretchen Walsh and Torri Huske, two of the biggest U.S. stars at these Games, bringing it home in 3:49.63 to break the record of 3:50.40 set by the U.S. at the 2019 world championships. Regan Smith led off in the backstroke leg, finally earning her first career gold.

Scheffler comes back to take gold in golf

Scheffler is already a six-time winner on the PGA Tour this year — his tally includes his second Masters title — and now he’s Olympic champion. The world’s No. 1 player won with a 9-under 62 in a thriller at Le Golf National.

Although he matched the course record, Scheffler still needed help.

Jon Rahm of Spain had a four-shot lead over Tommy Fleetwood of England when he stepped on the 11th tee. Fleetwood caught him in two holes as Rahm had a stunning collapse. Six players then entered the chase, including Victor Perez of France, who came within one shot of the podium.

But it was Scheffler who charged to the front with four straight birdies down the stretch. He set an Olympic record for 72 holes at 19-under 265.

Fleetwood won the silver medal and the bronze went to Hideki Matsuyama of Japan.

U.S. women roll in basketball

The Americans continue their domination in women’s basketball as they chase an eighth consecutive gold medal.

The United States beat Germany, 87-68, to extend their record winning streak to 58 consecutive games dating to the 1992 Barcelona Olympics. The team clinched the top seed in its pool as it moves into the quarterfinals.

Novak Djokovic finally wins gold

Djokovic came to the Paris Olympics determined to fill the gap in his resume with a gold medal.

He did it by beating Carlos Alcaraz 7-6 (3), 7-6 (2) in an enthralling men’s tennis singles final. The victory gave the 37-year-old Serbian the last significant win he was missing in his storied career.

Djokovic already had a men’s-record 24 Grand Slam titles and the most weeks spent at No. 1 in the rankings by any man or woman. And although he won an Olympic medal in the 2008 Beijing Games, it was a bronze.

He’d lost to the eventual gold medal winner in three semifinals: Rafael Nadal at Beijing in 2008, Andy Murray at London in 2012, and Alexander Zverev in Tokyo three years ago. To finally get the gold, Djokovic had to beat Alcaraz in a rematch of the Wimbledon title match three weeks ago that Alcaraz won to follow up his French Open title in June.

Djokovic is the oldest man to win the singles gold in his sport since 1908 — and prevented Spain’s Alcaraz, who is 21, from becoming the youngest.

Reporting by The Associated Press.

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