Olympics 2021: Day 3 schedule, what to watch, results from Tokyo as Simone Biles, Katie Ledecky get started

The Tokyo Olympics are entering their third day, with a great deal having already happened and still a long ways to go. The Olympics has already offered great intrigue, with a major upset in tennis and the United States getting on track after being shut out of winning medals on opening day.

Tennis

Olympic tennis saw a stunner in the first round of women’s competition, as Ash Barty — the No. 1-ranked player in the world — was beaten by Sara Sorribes Tormo of Spain. Barty’s defeat comes only two weeks after her victory at Wimbledon, and was partially the product of unforced errors. Barty hit her first serve only 54% of the time, and was credited with 55 unforced errors compared to 13 by Sorribes Tormo. Sorribes Tormo prevailed 6-4, 6-3 in straight sets.

Skateboarding

The debut of Olympic skateboarding became a proud moment for the Olympic host nation, as Japan’s Yuto Horigome won gold, besting Kelvin Hoefler of Brazil (silver) and Jagger Eaton of the United States (bronze). Eaton picked up the slack for the U.S. as Nyjah Huston, who had been among the favorites to contend for gold, finished seventh after wiping out on four of his five trick attempts.

Taekwondo

Sunday marked a historic day for the United States and for Anastasija Zolotic, as the 18-year old from Largo, Florida earned the U.S. its first-ever gold medal in women’s Taekwondo. Zolotic prevailed 25-17 over Russia’s Tatiana Minina to claim the featherweight division title. After a high-scoring first round, Zolotic was able to gradually put her opponent away with two-point body kicks.

Zolotic was only the fourth American ever to reach a final in Taekwondo, and just the second woman. Team USA’s previous two Olympic Taekwondo medals had come by virtue of Steven Lopez, who won gold in 2000 and 2004.

Swimming

Swimming heats were headlined by Katie Ledecky qualifying fastest for Monday’s final in 400m freestyle, as she finished her heat in 4:00.45, beating China’s Li Bingjie (4:01.57) and Australia’s Ariarne Titmus (4:01.66). Ledecky, the event’s world record holder, was able to gain an edge over Titmus entering Monday’s final in what has been billed as a showdown between two of the biggest stars in women’s swimming.

While Titmus ran third in her qualifiers, Australia was able to claim a new Olympic record after the fastest-ever time in the women’s 100m backstroke fell three separate times. After the record was first broken by Canada’s Kylie Masse and America’s Regan Masse, Australian Kaylee McKeown set a time of 57.88 seconds to be the fastest qualifier, breaking the previous world record set by fellow countrywoman Emily Seebohm in 2012.

Meanwhile, the men’s side saw the United States earn a 1-2 finish, with Chase Kalisz earning his first-ever gold medal in the 400m individual relay with a time of 4:09.42. He was flanked by fellow countryman Jay Litherland, who posted a 4:10.28 to edge Australia’s Brendon Smith for silver.

In all, Americans claimed six medals in swimming between men and women, with Kieran Smith earning bronze in men’s 400m freestyle and Emma Weyant & Hali Flickinger earning silver and bronze in women’s 400 individual medley. Those events were won by Tunisia’s Ahmed Hafnaoui and Japan’s Yui Ohashi respectively.

Gymnastics

Gymnastics saw an uncharacteristically uneven start for the USA’s women’s gymnastics team as the United States’ much ballyhooed group finished second to Russia in Sunday’s qualifiers. That marked the first time since the 2010 World Championships that the U.S. has failed to finish first in either qualifying or team finals.

The American’s performance was sluggish and sloppy by their standards, with Grace McCallum, Suni Lee, and Jordan Chiles all committing their own mishaps. Even Simone Biles seemed off, as two separate errors cost her three tenths in deductions.

The good news for Team USA is that their slate will be wiped clean on Tuesday, as scoring will start over again in team finals.

Biles, meanwhile, did qualify for the individual finals in each of the four events.

Here are some highlights from the Olympics thus far, and the schedule of events for Day 3 (All times Eastern):

Day 3 – July 25