Sunday started with Team USA bringing home medals and making history, both good (first-ever gold medals in fencing and taekwondo) and bad (losing the men's basketball opener, the first loss in the Olympics since 2004).
Later, the American softball team walked off against Japan and Team USA picked up multiple medals in the pool.
U.S. Softball Walks It Off to Finish Preliminary Round Undefeated
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In its last match of the preliminary round, the U.S. softball team earned a walk-off win when Kelsey Stewart hit a solo home run. Japan nabbed the early 1-0 lead in the first inning before the Americans equalized in the sixth.
The U.S. had already advanced to the gold medal round before the match began and has now finished the preliminary round a perfect 5-0.
Team USA also beat Canada, Mexico, Italy and Australia in the round.
The only time Team USA has gone undefeated through the entire tournament was at the 2004 Athens Olympics. The team went undefeated in the group stage at the 2008 Beijing Olympics before falling to Japan in the gold medal game.
The gold medal game is set to be played on Tuesday, July 27 at 12 p.m. CT.
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Team USA Adds to Medal Count, Including Gold, After Another Busy Night in the Pool
The United States men brought home gold in the 4x100m freestyle relay. Team USA has now won back-to-back golds after winning the 4x100m freestyle relay in the 2016 Rio Olympics.
The Americans had a narrow .20-second lead going into the final leg, but Zach Apple pulled away from the field to help secure the gold.
Italy won silver - closely behind the U.S - as they finished with a time of 3:10.11. Australia finished third posting a time of 3:10.22 to claim bronze.
In the 400m freestyle, U.S. swimmer Katie Ledecky won silver, losing to her Australian rival Ariarne Titmus in a much-anticipated showdown.
Titmus, who won the event in the 2019 world championships, took the gold medal with a time of 3:56.69. Ledecky came in at 3:57.36. "I fought tooth and nail and just gave it my all," Ledecky said immediately after the race. "I can't be disappointed with that."
The night did not come without some disappointment. Eighteen-year-old Torri Huske finished fourth in the 100m butterfly, just one-hundredth of a second out of bronze medal position, the smallest possible margin in swimming. Huske was a favorite to medal, but ultimately failed to reach the podium. Canada’s Maggie MacNeil took home gold.
American Michael Andrew also just missed the podium in the men’s 100m breaststroke, finishing fourth. While it is a disappointing result, Andrew will have a chance to redeem himself in the 200m individual medley and 50m freestyle.
Great Britain’s Adam Peaty won the event for the second straight Games. The silver went to Arno Kamminga of the Netherlands, while Italy’s Nico Martinenghi took bronze.
Momiji Nishiya Wins Women's Skateboarding Street, USA's Alexis Sablone Finishes Fourth
At just 13 years old, Japan's Momiji Nishiya skated into history Sunday night by winning the first-ever women’s Olympic street skateboarding event in Tokyo.
Nishiya helped the host nation sweep both the street competitions after Yuto Horigome won gold in the men's event the previous day. Nishiya made more history in addition to winning the events Olympic debut; she also became one of the youngest Olympic gold medalists ever.
American Alexis Sablone finished fourth after scoring 13.57 points, just missing the podium. Sablone, a seven-time X Games medalist (winning in 2015, 2012 and 2010), grew up in Connecticut and started skateboarding at the age of 10. Fort Worth's Alana Smith didn't make it to the final round.
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American Kevin McDowell Has Best American Finish in Men’s Triathlon
Kevin McDowell finished sixth in the men’s triathlon, marking the best finish by an American since the event was added to the Olympics in 2000. He finished 50 seconds behind Kristian Blummenfelt of Norway, who won gold with a time of 1:45:04. Alex Yee of Great Britain and Hayden Wilde of New Zealand claimed silver and bronze, respectively.
Two-time defending world champion Vincent Luis once again finished off the podium in his third Olympics.
US Men's Gymnastics Finish 5th for Third Straight Olympics
The U.S. men's gymnastics team failed to make the podium in a team event for a third straight Olympics after finishing in 5th place at Monday's final.
The team of Russian athletes won gold, its first in gymnastics since Sydney in 2000. Host country Japan will take silver, losing out by one-tenth of a point, and China clinched the bronze medal.
Team USA had the fourth-best score in team qualifying but finished just behind fourth-place finishers Great Britain by just over a point.
Monday's loss comes after Team USA finished fourth in the all-around qualifying competition on Saturday.
The team combined to post the highest score on floor exercise in qualification. Sam Mikulak (parallel bars), Brody Malone (high bar), Yul Moldauer (floor exercise) and Alec Yoder (pommel horse) qualified for individual events.
Rewatch the event online and track the Team USA athletes on the NBC Olympics website. Or catch the competition during NBC’s primetime coverage.
