Usain Bolt Wins 200 In 19.79, Third Straight 100-200 Sweep- Day 7 Evening Session Recap

Aug 18, 2016

Usain Bolt Wins 200 In 19.79, Third Straight 100-200 Sweep

Article: Dennis Young

For the third straight Olympics, Usain Bolt swept the 100 and 200 meters. He already was the only man to win both back to back, and now he's threepeated.

He ran 19.78 in a dominant performance in the 200 final tonight. Canadian Andre De Grasse was second and Frenchman Christophe Lemaitre was third. American LaShawn Merritt was sixth.

Results :
1. 19.78 Usain Bolt (JAM)
2. 20.02 Andre De Grasse (CAN)
3. 20.12 Christophe Lemaitre (FRA)
4. 20.12 Adam Gemili (GBR)
5. 20.13 Churandy Martina (NED)
6. 20.19 LaShawn Merritt (USA)
7. 20.23 Alonso Edward (PAN)
8. 20.43 Ramil Guliyev (TUR)

Bolt didn't celebrate early like he did in the 100m, but he was every bit as dominant as ever.

Dalilah Muhammad Caps Dominating 2016 Season with Olympic Gold Medal

Dalilah Muhammad dominated the women's 400m hurdle final tonight in Rio to claim the gold medal in 53.13.

After running 52.88 to win the U.S. Olympic trials in July, Muhammad has remained unbeatable in the event. And after Kerron Clement won the men's 400m hurdle title this morning, the two made history as the first pair of athletes from the same nation to win both 400m hurdle golds.

This is the first gold medal for Team USA since the women's 400m hurdles was added to the Olympic program in 1984.

RELATED: Dalilah Muhammad Overcomes Adversity One Hurdle at a Time

Sara Petersen of Denmark took silver in 53.55, while American Ashley Spencer had a massive race to earn bronze with a personal best mark of 53.72.

Spencer wasn't in medal contention rounding the curve, but made up ground over the final two hurdles and beat out two-time World champion Zuzana Hejnova by two-tenths of a second.

After finishing seventh in the Olympic trials 400m final, Spencer ran 54.02, her PB at the time, to finish runner-up behind Muhammad in the 400m hurdles in her sixth race of the weekend. The two-time NCAA 400m champion is now a bronze medalist in the 400m hurdles in her first full season of concentrating in the event.

Ashton Eaton Defends Olympic Decathlon Gold

Ashton Eaton clinched his second straight Olympic gold medal in the decathlon tonight, tying the Olympic record and the seventh best decathlon performance of all time with 8,893 points. It is his third best decathlon ever, behind only his world records at the 2012 Olympic Trials and 2015 World Championships. Eaton is the third man ever to win two Olympic decathlons and the first since Daley Thompson won in 1980 and 1984.

Eaton also won gold at the 2012 Olympics and 2013-15 World Championships.

France's Kevin Mayer broke a national record to take silver, and Canada's Damian Warner took bronze.

Americans Zach Ziemek and Jeremy Taiwo were seventh and eleventh, respectively. 2016 NCAA champion Lindon Victor was 17th.

Results :
1. 8,893 Ashton Eaton (USA)
2. 8,834 Kevin Mayer (FRA)
3. 8,666 Damian Warner (CAN)
7. 8,392 Zach Ziemek (USA)
11. 8,300 Jeremy Taiwo (USA)

Eaton's scores :
Day 1
985 pts 10.46 100m
1,045 pts 7.94m long jump
773 pts 14.73m shot put
813 pts 2.01m high jump
1,005 pts 46.07 400m

Day 2
1,000 pts 13.80 110m hurdles
777 pts 45.49m discus
972 pts 5.20m pole vault
734 pts 59.77m javelin
789 pts 4:23.33 1500m

Ryan Crouser Breaks Olympic Record, Wins Shot Put Gold

Ryan Crouser, 23, shattered the Olympic record in the men's shot put with a massive personal best throw of 22.52m. After exhausting his eligibility at the University of Texas this winter, four-time NCAA Champion Crouser is now an Olympic Champion. Ulf Timmermann of Germany previously held the record with his 22.47m throw in Seoul.

American Joe Kovacs threw 21.78m to earn the silver medal, making the men's shot put the third field event (after men's triple jump and women's long jump) where the U.S. swept the gold and silver medals.

Crouser's winning throw of 22.52m is a huge improvement from his 22.11m mark set en route to winning the U.S. trials. His margin of victory over Kovacs is the largest in Olympic history, and it is the first outright U.S. Olympic victory in this event since 1996.*

Hear from Ryan Crouser after he tied the indoor NCAA record at the 2016 Big 12 Championships:

*Adam Nelson was awarded the gold medal from the 2004 Athens Games after Yuri Bilonog of the Ukraine was stripped of his medal for doping violations

Kate Grace Runs 1:58 PB, Advances to the Olympic 800m Final

In her first Olympic appearance, Kate Grace advanced to the Olympic 800m final by finishing third in her section behind Caster Semenya and Lynsey Sharp with a new personal best 1:58.79.

Ajee Wilson finished third in the first section and ended her Olympic campaign.

The field went through 400m in 59.30, the slowest of the three semifinals, and though Wilson closed well, heats two and three were much faster.

Grace smashed her previous PB of 1:59.10, a mark she set en route to winning the U.S. trials. She benefitted off the quick pace, 57.65 through 400m. She closed hard to finish third behind event favorite Semenya and 1:57 runner Sharp, and out-kicked the 2015 World Champion Marina Arzamasova to secure a spot in the final.

Auto Qualifiers Heat 1:
1:59.21 Margaret Wambui (KEN)
1:59.59 Francine Niyonsaba (BDI)

Auto Qualifiers Heat 2:
1:58.93 Joanna Jozwik (POL)
1:59.05 Melissa Bishop (CAN)

Auto Qualifiers Heat 3:
1:58.15 Caster Semenya (RSA)
1:58.65 Lynsey Sharp (GBR)

Time Qualifiers:
1:58.79 Kate Grace (USA)
1:58.87 Marina Arzamasova (BLR)

The women's 800m final will take place Friday, August 19 at 7:15PM CST.

Men's 1500: Centrowitz and Blankenship Make Final, Andrews DQ'd

If the results hold up, this will be the first time three Americans made the men's 1500m final since 1968. Ben Blankenship, Robby Andrews, and Matt Centrowitz all finished comfortably in automatic qualifying position.

However, Andrews tried to pass on the inside in the second heat, ended up taking a few steps inside the rail, and may have impeded Mekonnin Gebremedhin of Ethiopia. We'll update this post with any developments.

UPDATE: Andrews is listed in the results as disqualified. He'll assuredly file a protest, and then appeal the outcome if he loses, and we'll update this post throughout the night.

Automatic qualifiers :
Heat 1
3:39.73 Asbel Kiprop (KEN)
3:39.88 Taoufik Makhloufi (ALG)
3:39.96 Nick Willis (NZL)
3:39.99 Ben Blankenship (USA)
3:40.05 Charlie Grice (GBR)

Heat 2
3:39.42 Ronald Kwemoi (KEN)
3:39.46 Ayanleh Souleiman (DJI)
3:39.61 Matt Centrowitz (USA)
3:40.02 Ryan Gregson (AUS)
3:40.67 Ronald Musagala (UGA)

Time qualifiers
3:40.11 Abdalaati Iguider (MAR)
3:40.20 Nate Brannen (CAN)

Update: U.S. Women's 4x100 Makes Final With Fastest Time On Re-Run

UPDATE: The quartet of Tianna Bartoletta, Allyson Felix, English Gardner, and Morolake Akinosun ran 41.77 in a solo re-run in lane two. That's the fastest time of any qualifiers, and bumps China out of the final. China had the same time as Canada in 42.70, but ran thousandths slower than the Canadians. The unprecedented re-run came after a Brazilian runner bumped Felix in the prelims just steps before she was going to hand off to Gardner. Our original story appears below.

The U.S. women failed to get the baton around the track in the preliminaries of the 4x100m relay, but will be given another chance for a spot in the final.

Allyson Felix and English Gardner botched the second exchange and dropped the baton. Felix said she felt contact from an athlete on the Brazil team in the lane next to her. The U.S. team filed a protest and Brazil was disqualified.

The U.S. will run a time trial at 5:00PM CST and must run faster than 42.70 to advance to the finals. Canada and China both recorded 42.70 in the prelims, and China is listed as the eighth qualifier, one one-thousandth slower than Canada.

China has filed a protest against the re-run decision.

A dropped baton isn't out of the ordinary for Team USA. Charts don't lie:

Year	Meet	Event	Team	What happened	Who was involved
2016	Olympics (Rio)	W 4x100m	USA	Botched exchange	Allyson Felix to English Gardner
2015	World Championships (Beijing)	M 4x100m	USA	DQ in final (3rd exchange out of zone)	Tyson Gay to Mike Rodgers
2015	World Relays	W 4x200m	USA	DNF	Jeneba Tarmoh to Allyson Felix exchange
2015	World Relays	M 4x200m	USA	DQ in final (2nd to 3rd exchange out of zone)	Isiah Young to Curtis Mitchell, dropped baton
2014	World Relays	W 4x1500m	USA	2nd leg falls down after collision with AUS at exchange	Katie Mackey
2014	World Relays	M 4x100m	USA	DQ in heats (2nd to 3rd exchange out of zone)	Trell Kimmons to Rakieem Salaam
2014	World Relays	M 4x200m	USA	DQ in final (2nd to 3rd exchange out of zone)	Curtis Mitchell to Ameer Webb
2013	World Championships (Moscow)	M 4x100m	USA	Silver medal (3rd exchange outside lane, no DQ)	Mookie Salaam to Justin Gatlin
2011	World Championships (Daegu)	M 4x100m	USA	DNF	Darvis "Doc" Patton crash with Harry Aikines-Aryeetey (GBR)
2009	World Championships (Berlin)	W 4x100m	USA	DNF in heats	Alexandria Anderson to Muna Lee (Lee injury)
2009	World Championships (Berlin)	M 4x100m	USA	DQ in rounds	Darvis "Doc" Patton to Shawn Crawford
2008	Olympics (Beijing)	M 4x100m	USA	DNF	Darvis "Doc" Patton to Tyson Gay
2008	Olympics (Beijing)	W 4x100m	USA	DQ in heats	Torri Edwards to Lauryn Williams
2005	World Championships (Helsinki)	M 4x100m	USA	DNF in rounds	First exchange (Mardy Scales to Leonard Scott)
2004	Olympics (Athens)	W 4x100m	USA	DQ	Marion Jones to Lauryn Williams: pass out of zone
2001	World Championships (Edmonton)	M 4x100m	USA	Retroactive DQ (Doping)	Tim Montgomery
2001	World Championships (Edmonton)	W 4x100m	USA	Retroactive DQ (Doping)	Marion Jones

The U.S. squad of Mike Rodgers, Christian Coleman, Tyson Gay and Jarrion Lawson won their preliminary heat in 37.65, the fastest time of the morning.

Though a country can run an entirely different squad in the final, we know that our top runners, Trayvon Bromell and Justin Gatlin, are banged up.

Women

Auto Qualifiers:
41.79 Jamaica
41.93 Great Britain
42.18 Germany
42.49 Ukraine
42.55 Nigeria
43.62 Trinidad and Tobago

Time Qualifiers:
42.70 Canada
42.70 China

Men

Auto Qualifiers:
37.65 USA (Mike Rodgers, Christian Coleman, Tyson Gay, Jarrion Lawson)
37.68 Japan
37.82 China
37.89 Canada
37.94 Jamaica
37.96 Trinidad and Tobago

Time Qualifiers:
38.06 Great Britain
38.19 Brazil

The finals of the 4x100m relay will take place Friday, August 19 at 8:15PM, 8:35PM CST.