On Friday in Paris, Americans added six more medals to their tally when Regan Smith won her third Olympic medal of 2024 and Grant Fisher became the second American man to finish on the podium in the 10,000-meter run since 1964.
With seven more points than France in second place, Team USA now has a total of 43. Through Friday’s events, the French, who had started the day behind the US by 10 medals, had an Olympic record nine.
Leon Marchand, the winner of the men’s 200-meter medley final, claimed one of those. Marchand won his fourth gold medal at the Paris Olympics with that triumph. In addition, he triumphed in the 400-meter medley, 200-meter butterfly, and 200-meter breaststroke.
Marchand told NBC, “The crowd has been amazing, even tonight it was kind of crazy.” “I was more relaxed than usual because I won three gold medals before.”
Smith, fellow swimmers Katie Ledecky and Torri Huske, and several other athletes are tied for second place with three medals apiece, although Marchand has the most medals in Paris with four.
Smith placed second in the women’s 200-meter backstroke final to win her third medal in Paris and sixth overall. In that event, Australia’s Kaylee McKeown won in a time that set an Olympic record of 2:03.73. Kylie Masse of Canada came in third.
Sagen Maddalena placed second in the women’s 50-meter rifle 3-position shooting final to win the first American medal of the day. That event was won by Chiara Leone of Switzerland. Zhang Qiongyue of China took home the bronze.
Then, in the men’s skiff medal race, American sailors Ian Barrows and Hans Henken took home the bronze. New Zealand took home the silver medal and Spain the gold.
In the team jumping final, Laura Kraut, Karl Cook, and McLain Ward of Team USA won a silver medal. In that event, Great Britain prevailed. A bronze medal was claimed by France.
Indians were defeated by Americans Casey Kaufhold and Brady Ellison in the bronze medal archery mixed team competition.
Smith then leaped into the pool to secure her third medal of the Summer Olympics and a second-place finish.
The last American medal of the day went to Fisher, who finished the men’s 10,000-meter event in a season-best time of 26:43.46 to win the bronze.
Billy Mills’ gold medal from the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo marked the second time an American man had won the medal in that particular event. The only other American men to medal in the event are Lewis Tewanima (Stockholm 1912) and Galen Rupp (London 2012).
On Friday, Joshua Cheptegei of Uganda won gold for his third career medal on the purple track of Stade de France, setting an Olympic record with a time of 26:43.14. He won the silver medal in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. With a time of 26:43.44, Berihu Aregawi of Ethiopia came in second.
Caeleb Dressel, the reigning gold medalist, was not able to qualify for the 100-meter butterfly in the non-medal events. The Team USA athlete, who also won an event in Tokyo, placed sixth in the men’s 50-meter freestyle final on Friday.
Alongside Regan Smith, Charle Swanson, and Abbey Weitzeil, he set the fastest qualifying time to secure a spot in the mixed 4×100-meter medley relay final, which is scheduled for this Saturday in Paris.
In the singles bronze medal match at Roland Garros, No. 67 Anna Karolina Schmiedlova of Slovakia lost to No. 1 seed Iga Swiatek of Poland. Men’s No. 2 Novak Djokovic of Serbia and No. 3 Carlos Alcaraz of Spain won their respective straight-set semifinal matches on Friday in Paris to move on to their respective singles finals.
In the men’s soccer tournament quarterfinals, Morocco eliminated the Americans. Achraf Hakimi, Soufiane Rahimi, and Ilias Akhomach scored goals in the 4-0 victory at the Parc des Princes.
Xander Schauffele shot a 5-under-66 in the second round of the Le Golf National golf tournament. He is currently tied for first place in the tournament with Tommy Fleetwood of Great Britain and Hideki Matsuyama of Japan at 11-under.
The leader of the first round, Matsuyama, shot three under in the second. Fleetwood shot a 64 at 7 under. With a 2-under 62 in the second round, American Scottie Scheffler is tied for tenth place at 6-under overall.
American teammates Wyndham Clark (1-over) and Collin Morikawa (4-under) are tied for 19th and 46th place, respectively.
