Men’s sport climbing in the discipline of speed starts on Tuesday, Aug. 6. You always hear the 100m dash is the fastest event at the Olympics, but that’s about to change as speed climbing debuts at the Paris Olympics.
Sam Watson, from Southlake, made his Olympic debut in Paris on Tuesday. Watson trains at Movement Plano and made the Olympic team at age 17; now he’s 18 and excited to compete in one of the fastest sports in the Olympics.
Watson, the reigning record holder, broke his own speed climbing world record of 4.79 seconds Tuesday with a time of 4.75 seconds in an elimination heat.
Watson will return to Le Bourget Climbing Venue on Thursday, Aug. 8, when the first-ever men's Olympic speed climbing medals will be up for grabs. Something that could affect the climbers: the sport will be outside in the steamy Paris summer.
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WOMEN'S VOLLEYBALL ADVANCES TO SEMIS
The U.S. Women’s volleyball team is looking to repeat its Olympic gold, and now that pool play is over, it has earned a spot in the quarterfinals. Chiaka Ogbogu of Coppell and Team USA took on Poland Tuesday after both teams finished second in their respective groups and advanced after being Poland in street straight sets.
Team USA will now face Brazil after they beat Dominican Republic in three sets. The semifinals begin at 9 a.m. CT on Thursday. The winner will advance to the gold medal match and the loser to the bronze medal match.
WOMEN'S LONG JUMP
Three Texas connections are involved in the women’s long jump, which begins qualifying rounds on Tuesday. Jasmine Moore, of Grand Prairie, will compete in Paris for her second medal after winning bronze in the women’s triple jump.
Moore qualified Tuesday with a jump of 6.66, as did Monae' Nichols with 6.64. They'll compete in the finals on Thursday, Aug. 8, at 1 p.m. CT.
Remember, Moore is making history. She is the only American woman to ever win a triple jump medal at the Olympics and the first woman to qualify to jump in both triple jump and long jump in the same Olympics. Tara Davis-Woodhall (UT) and Monae Nichols (Texas Tech) also compete in the qualifying rounds.
WOMEN'S SOCCER ADVANCES TO GOLD MEDAL MATCH
The women's team beat the Germans 1-0 in overtime and advanced to the gold medal match at 10 a.m. CT Saturday. The Americans and Germans were tied 0-0 at the end of regulation but pulled ahead on a goal by Sophia Smith in the 95th minute to seal the 1-0 victory.
They'll play the winner of Tuesday's match between Brazil and Spain. The loser will face Germany in the bronze medal match at 8 a.m. CT Friday.
We are waiting to hear if Frisco’s Jaedyn Shaw will be in the lineup Saturday for the U.S. Women’s National Team. She has been injured during the Olympics and hasn’t played any minutes yet.
