Everyone expected Caeleb Dressel to be one of the swimming stars of the Tokyo Games, and the American lived up to the hype on Thursday.
Dressel started strongly and held off rival Kyle Chalmers of Australia at the end to win the 100m freestyle, the 24-year-old's first individual Olympic gold after taking two relay wins in Rio and one earlier this week.
The Floridian swam the 100m free three times in Rio and his time got worse from the preliminaries to the semi-finals to the final, ultimately leaving him sixth overall at 48.02 while Chalmers won gold with a 47.58.
This time, Dressel was at his best when it mattered most, posting a 47.02 to break an Olympic record that had stood since Beijing 2008.
Afterward, he described winning his first individual gold as a weight off his shoulders.
"It is different," Dressel said. "I didn't want to admit it but now that I did it, I can.
"It's a lot different – you can't rely on anyone else. It's just you and the water, there's no one there to bail you out. It's tough."
Winning the gold in a head-to-head showdown with the reigning champion made victory even sweeter.
"It's so fun going with Kyle – I mean, every time we make it good," Dressel said. "It's really fun to watch when we go head-to-head.
"I've got nothing but respect for him."
CROATIA'S ROWING BROTHERS GOLDEN AGAIN
Brothers Valent and Martin Sinkovic have teamed up to win a rowing medal for the third consecutive Olympics.
The Croatians took gold in the men's coxless pair event at Sea Forest Waterway, leading throughout the race and winning by 1.29 seconds over Romania's Marius Cozmiuc and Ciprian Tudosa.
The Sinkovic siblings won gold in the double sculls five years ago in Rio after making up half of Croatia's quadruple sculls team that took the silver medal in London in 2012.
They are the first rowers to win gold in both the pair and double sculls since Canada's Kathleen Heddle and Marnie McBean did it in 1992 and 1996.
"It's an unbelievable feeling, hard to describe," said Valent, the older of the pair at 32. "This is like a new gold medal for us because it's in a second discipline, so we celebrate it like it's the first one for us.
"We couldn't be happier. Everything went as planned, we executed the race perfectly."
As for looking toward a potential fourth medal at Paris 2024, Martin Sinkovic said the brothers were done with pairs competitions but might look to row the four in three years' time.
RIO POLE VAULT BRONZE MEDALLIST OUT WITH COVID
Sam Kendricks of the USA, the 2016 bronze medallist and 2017 world champion in the pole vault, has tested positive for COVID-19 and will not compete in Tokyo, the US Olympic and Paralympic Committee announced.
The USOPC said Kendricks has been transferred to a hotel and been placed in isolation in accordance with protocols.
"Sam is an incredible and accomplished member of Team USA and his presence will be missed," the USOPC said. "Out of respect for his privacy, we cannot provide more information at this time."
Earlier on Thursday in its daily media briefing, the International Olympic Committee said three athletes were among the 24 people who had come back positive for COVID-19 in the most recent round of testing.
STRAKA HAS CLUBHOUSE LEAD AS GOLF GETS UNDER WAY
Austria's Sepp Straka went out with the first grouping in the opening round of the men's golf tournament and set the pace for everyone who teed off behind him, taking the clubhouse lead with a 63 on Thursday morning.
Ranked 161st in the world this week after missing the cut at six of his last seven PGA Tour events, Straka turned in a bogey-free round at the Kasumigaseki Country Club, carding four birdies on the front nine and four more on the back.
Thomas Pieters of Belgium and Carlos Ortiz of Mexico finished with six-under-par 65s among the early starters to sit two back of the lead.
Several major winners including Rory McIlroy, Hideki Matsuyama and Collin Morikawa were still on the course.
AUSTRALIA OPEN RUGBY SEVENS DEFENCE WITH ROUT
Defending women's rugby sevens gold medallists Australia made a statement as they opened pool play with a crushing 48-0 defeat of hosts Japan after leading 24-0 at half-time.
Emma Tonegato got three tries while Demi Hayes and debutant Maddison Levi had two each for Australia, who face China later on Thursday.
"I definitely was concerned about this game," said Australia's head coach John Manenti. "Japan, playing at home, it would be very emotional for them and the pressures and expectations could have built on us.
"But I was really pleased with that clinical first half. We could relax at the end of the game and give a few of the girls debuts."
New Zealand, beaten finalists at Rio 2016, began their Tokyo campaign with a 29-7 win over Kenya.
REIGNING BMX GOLD MEDALLISTS ADVANCE TO SEMIS
BMX racers opened competition at Ariake Urban Sports Park, with defending gold medallist Connor Fields of the USA and current world number one Sylvain Andre of France among those booking their spots in the semi-finals.
Andre's countryman Joris Daudet had the top time of the day in his last run to make Friday's semis along with Rio 2016 bronze medallist Carlos Ramirez of Colombia.
On the women's side, world number one and Rio 2016 gold medallist Mariana Pajon of Colombia won all three of her preliminary races to advance, along with 2016 silver medallist Alise Willoughby of the USA.
Willoughby's team-mate Felecia Stancil turned in the best overall time of the day on her first run and also is one of the 16 semi-finalists.
Springboks aiming to have 'two best teams in the world', says Esterhuizen
South Africa centre Andre Esterhuizen said that the Springboks are aiming to have "the two best teams in the world" ahead of their Autumn Nations Series clash against England.
The world champions were pushed all the way by Scotland in their narrow victory at Murrayfield on Sunday, though head coach Rassie Erasmus opted to rotate some key starting positions.
South Africa captain Siya Kolisi and flanker Pieter-Steph du Toit started on the bench, with the changes a common theme during Erasmus' seven-year tenure.
Their opening Autumn Nations Series victory also put them back on top of the world rankings after Ireland's first defeat in 19 home games by New Zealand on Friday.
"One of the good things is that everyone is getting game time now," Esterhuizen told the BBC's Rugby Union Weekly podcast.
"It is also about looking forward, you've got to be able to spare all the guys for the next World Cup and build experience into it.
"The aim is to have the two best teams in the world, all in one squad.
"We want to make it second nature for people slotting in, so if someone steps in, they can just slot in and play the same if not better than the other player."
South Africa next face England, who are yet to pick up a win this autumn, at Twickenham on Saturday.
Steve Borthwick's side suffered a narrow two-point defeat by New Zealand, before conceding an injury-time winning try to Australia on Saturday.
England have now lost each of their last four Test matches, their longest such run since losing five straight games in 2018, but Esterhuizen's former Harlequins team-mate Marcus Smith has been impressive for the Red Roses.
"It's a great space, I obviously love to play there," Esterhuizen added. "It will be great to be running at Marcus, not run off him.
"It's going to be a great match, England have played well in the last few games, it's unfortunate that it hasn't been the results that they want. I think it's going to be a big one."
The Springboks have won three of their last four matches against England (L1), including each of their last two. Three of the last five games between England and South Africa have been decided by single-point margins.
Lawrence aiming to overhaul 'idol' McIlroy in Race to Dubai chase
Thriston Lawrence said winning this week's DP World Tour Championship and overhauling Rory McIlroy to clinch the Race to Dubai title would "mean the world" to him.
Lawrence is the only player who can prevent McIlroy from winning the Race to Dubai title – formerly the Order of Merit – and joining the late Seve Ballesteros on six and going only two behind Colin Montgomerie's record.
The South African, however, needs a victory at Jumeirah Golf Estates and then needs Northern Irishman McIlroy to finish tied for 11th or lower.
McIlroy finished third at the Abu Dhabi Championship last weekend, crucially finishing a shot ahead of Lawrence as Paul Waring claimed his second DP World Tour success, and his first title in six years.
Lawrence has had five runner-up finishes - including at The Open and the BMW PGA Championship - and five more top-10s during an impressive campaign.
It leaves him currently 1,785 points behind McIlroy with 2,000 available to the winner in Dubai, and Lawrence is relishing the opportunity of competing against his "idol".
"It's nice to have a chance," Lawrence said in his pre-tournament press conference. "It's going to take a lot, but just incredible to have an opportunity. I'm very grateful just to be inside the top 50 to be able to compete this week.
"It has been an unbelievable year. Rory [McIlroy] has been an idol for me since growing up as a youngster and being able to clinch it this week would be the cherry on the cake for myself.
"It would mean the world - being the best golfer on the European Tour over the year is an unbelievable achievement.
"Sitting here right now, I've achieved a lot of things that I've wanted to. But to get this trophy behind me would just be unbelievable."
Lawrence won twice on the DP World Tour in each of his first two seasons and has since moved inside the world's top 50 despite his only 2024 victory coming on the Sunshine Tour, with the 27-year-old proud of his progression as a golfer.
"The consistency has been the highlight," Lawrence added. "Finishing in the top 10 ten times this year proves that I'm growing as a golfer, and I'm getting more comfortable out here.
"Obviously, ranking-wise, it's the best season I've had in my life. I won twice in my rookie year, twice last year. This year, I won on the Sunshine Tour, which is nice.
"I always feel like with the strength of golfers in today's time, winning on any tour is quite an achievement.
"Not won on this tour yet, but there is still one event left, so maybe it's my time this week. Where I am now, it just feels comfortable.
"It feels like I can win every week. Just to see myself grow from two years ago is just unbelievable."
Ireland ready to respond after 'honest' New Zealand chat, says Hansen
Mack Hansen has backed Ireland to bounce back from their 23-13 defeat to New Zealand that saw their 19-game home winning streak come to an end.
The loss also saw Ireland tumble from atop the world rankings to third as the All Blacks repeated their World Cup quarter-final success from last year, and also marked New Zealand's first win on Irish soil since 2016.
Ireland had previously won 25 of their 26 home games under Andy Farrell, which was their longest run on home soil, with their latest defeat before last Friday coming against France in 2021 (13-15).
While questions have been asked of a team that have been beaten in three of their past five matches, Hansen was adamant that the mood is not dampened ahead of Friday’s visit of Argentina.
"People are always very eager to jump on you when you’re down. It’s like in South Africa, nobody gave them a hope after the first Test," said Hansen.
“And what happens? They come back and win it. That’s the best thing about this group. The outside noise is outside noise and nobody knows what goes on in here, how hard we work and how resilient we are.
"People can chat away. The people who know us know, unfortunately, it was one of those weeks [against New Zealand], but we’re ready to bounce back.”
Ireland's display was littered with errors against the All Blacks, which included 21 handling mistakes, 30 missed tackles and 13 penalties conceded at the Aviva Stadium.
But eradicating those mistakes could prove difficult when they face Argentina on Friday, who come into the encounter on the back of a 50-18 thrashing of Italy.
Ireland, however, have not lost to the Pumas since the 2015 World Cup quarter-final and have beaten them on the three subsequent occasions they have played in Dublin.
And Hansen is confident his team-mates can respond against Felipe Contepomi's side and continue their impressive run against Argentina.
“There weren’t really hard chats, just honest chats,” added Hansen on Monday's debrief.
"We came to the conclusion that it wasn’t good enough and also that it just wasn’t us.
"So this week we’re looking to right a lot of wrongs and no better place to do it then back in the Aviva in front of a home crowd."
SportsMax is the Caribbean sports channel of choice, committed to providing sporting content of the highest quality to the Caribbean, delivered by a team of highly innovative, passionate and qualified professionals.
(876) 619-7629
digitalmedia@sportsmax.tv
