Elaine Thompson-Herah of Jamaica won the women’s 100-meter run on Saturday, breaking the record set by the legendary Florence Griffith Joyner in the Seoul Olympics in 1988.
Thompson-Herah posted a time of 10.61 at Tokyo’s Olympic Stadium, besting Griffith Joyner’s mark of 10.62.
The Jamaicans swept the medals, with Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce running the race in 10.74 and Shericka Jackson in 10.76.
Those were the first three medals of the Tokyo Olympics for Jamaica, a running powerhouse expected to add to its medal count with the track and field events now underway.
Through eight days of competition, the United States and China are tied atop the standings with 46 overall medals each, followed by Russia Olympic Committee (37), Japan (30) and Great Britain (28). China has the most gold medals with 21. Japan has 17 and the United States 16.
In other Olympics action Saturday:
- American Caeleb Dressel broke his own record in the men’s 100-meter butterfly to capture his second gold medal, and third overall, in Tokyo. He swam the two lengths of the pool in 49:45, topping the mark of 49:50 he set two years ago at the world championships. Kristof Milak of Hungary won the silver medal and Noe Ponti of Switzerland took the bronze.
- Katie Ledecky continued her dominance in the distance races, winning the women’s 800-meter freestyle in the third consecutive Olympics in a time of 8:12.57. Ariarne Titmus of Australia was second, followed by Simona Quadarella of Italy. Ledecky’s competition in Tokyo is over, and the American leaves with two gold and two silver medals.
- In track and field, the 4-by-400-meter mixed relay team from Poland set an Olympic record with a winning time of 3:09.87. The Dominican Republic (3:10.21) won the silver medal, with the United States (3:10.22) in bronze-medal position.
- Kevin Durant became the highest-scoring player in Team USA history as the Americans locked up a quarterfinal spot in the men’s basketball tournament with a 119-84 win over the Czech Republic. He made eight of his 11 shots and finished with 23 points as he surpassed Carmelo Anthony’s record of 336 points. Jayson Tatum came off the bench to lead the Americans in scoring with 27 points in just 24 minutes on 10-of-16 shooting.
- Spaniard Pablo Carreno Busta claimed the bronze medal in men’s tennis singles play after posting a 6-4, 6-7 (6), 6-3 victory over top-seeded Serbian Novak Djokovic. The sixth-seeded Carreno Busta fended off three break points to win the first set. He then avenged a setback in the second set and won the first three games in the third en route to dispatching Djokovic in two hours and 49 minutes. Karen Khachanov of ROC and Alexander Zverev of Germany will play Sunday for the gold medal.
- In women’s tennis, Belinda Bencic became the first Swiss woman to win an Olympic gold medal in singles play when she defeated Marketa Vondrousova 7-5, 2-6, 6-3. The difference in the match, which lasted two hours and 30 minutes, was Bencic’s ability to convert six of 10 break opportunities and hold serve on 12 of the whopping 18 break chances Vondrousova had. In the bronze-medal match, Elina Svitolina of Ukraine rallied from three games down in the final set to defeat Kazakhstan’s Elena Rybakina 1-6, 7-6 (5), 6-4 to win her country’s first Olympic tennis medal.
–Field Level Media