Thursday, August 1
Ali Weisz secured a quote spot in the women's 10-meter air rifle for the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 as U.S. athletes continued to have historic performances at the Pan American Games.
Below are recaps of Team USA’s performances for the day. For live scores and results, please click here.
Podium Finishes:
Badminton (2 bronzes)
Team USA’s Iris Wang earned the bronze medal in the women’s singles event. Wang fell to Michelle Li of Canada, 2-0, in the semifinals, but Wang’s strong tournament performance meant she tied for third for the podium spot.
Team USA faced Canada in the semifinal once again, this time in the mixed doubles event. Howard Shu and Paula Obanana ultimately fell, 2-0, to their opponents, but the semifinal finish was strong enough to earn the duo a bronze medal as well.
In the semifinal for the men’s doubles event, brothers Phillip and Ryan Chew defeated Brazil to clinch a spot in the gold medal match on Aug. 2. After narrowly dropping the first game, 20-22, the pair bounced back to win the next two games, 21-13 and 21-17, to advance to the final on Aug. 2.
The U.S. duo of Kuei-Ya Chen and Jamie Hsu defeated Brazil, 2-1, in the women’s doubles semifinal to also advance to the gold-medal match. Chen and Hsu dropped the first game 17-21 but were not discouraged, coming back in the second game with a 21-12 win. In the third, must-win game, the American pair earned a 21-18 victory to clinch the spot in the final on Aug. 2.
Boxing (1 gold)
Oshae Jones clinched the gold medal in the women’s welter (64-49 kg.) division, besting Canada’s Myriam Da Silva in the final bout. Jones won on points, defeating Da Silva in all three rounds. The victory marked Team USA’s first boxing gold medal at this year’s Pan American Games, after her teammates took home five bronze medals on July 30.
Cycling – Track (1 gold)
Team USA’s Daniel Holloway earned the gold medal in the men’s omnium event, besting Mexico’s Ignacio Prado Juarez and Chile’s Felipe Penaloza Yanez for the top spot on the podium. Holloway finished in the top three of all four races – including first-place finishes in both the tempo race and the points race – to take gold. The American earned a total of 181 points across the four races, ahead of Prado Juarez’s 168 points and Penaloza Yanez’s 166 points.
On the women’s side, the pursuit team – consisting of Christina Birch, Chloe Dygert-Owen, Kim Geist and Lily Williams – earned the fastest time in the team pursuit qualifying round with 4:28.186 to rank first and face Colombia in the first round. Against Colombia, the team tied its qualifying time, again finishing in 4:28.186. Besting Colombia by nearly 12 seconds, Team USA qualified for the gold-medal race and will face Canada on Aug. 2.
Diving (1 silver, 1 bronze)
The diving duo of Sarah Bacon and Brooke Schultz secured the silver medal in the women’s synchronized 3-meter springboard event. Consistency was key as the pair earned judges’ scores of seven to eight on every dive, only one of two teams to do so. Bacon and Schultz earned a total of 290.10 points across their five dives, finishing behind Canada (309.60 points) and besting Mexico (285.00 points) for the second-place finish.
On the men's side, Andrew Capobianco clinched the bronze medal in the 1-meter springboard event, with teammate Michael Hixon finishing sixth. In the preliminaries, Capobianco earned 356.30 points for a fourth-place rank behind Jamaica’s Yona Knight-Wisdom (378.20), Mexico’s Juan Celaya Hernandez (368.00) and Mexico’s Yahel Castillo Huerta (358.80). Hixon finished eighth with 334.90 points. With a clean slate coming into the final, both divers were able to rise in the rankings, with Capobianco earning a score of 411.25 points and Hixon earning 385.80 points in the final. Celaya Hernandez finished first with 435.60 points while Knight-Wisdom earned the silver medal with 429.90.
Shooting (1 gold, 1 silver)
In women’s 10-meter air rifle, U.S. athletes broke two records as Ali Weisz and Minden Miles earned the top two spots on the podium. Weisz clinched the gold medal with 249.4 points – a Pan American record – and Minden earned the silver medal, just behind her teammate with 246.4 points. Both advanced to the final elimination stage, with third-place Fernanda Russo Romero from Argentina rounding out the podium after being eliminated in the second-to-last round with 225.8 points. Weisz's win also earned the final quote spot for the U.S. women's 10-meter air rifle team for the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020.
Earlier in the day, both American athletes competed in the qualification stage to earn their spots in the final. Miles set a Pan American qualifying record with a six-series total of 627.4 points to finish first, while Alison Weisz took sixth with 620.5 points.
Keith Sanderson and Jack Leverett finished just off the podium in the men’s 25-meter rapid fire pistol event, placing fourth and fifth in the final. Earlier in the day, Sanderson and Leverett both improved from their first stage of qualification, where they had finished ranked second and sixth, to place first and fifth in the second stage and advance to the final. Sanderson shot a total of 586-17x over the two stages for a Pan American qualifying record. Leverett earned a total of 578-18x.
After the first qualification day for women’s skeet, U.S. athletes Kim Harryman and Dania Vizzi are tied for first. Through the three rounds, both Americans earned totals of 73. Their qualification process continues with two more rounds on the morning of Aug. 2, when the top six athletes will qualify for the final that afternoon.
Softball (1 silver)
Team USA clinched the silver medal in men’s softball, besting Mexico in the morning to advance to the grand final, where the team ultimately fell to Argentina for the second-place finish.
In their first game of the day, the U.S. men faced Mexico for the second time in the tournament, battling for the spot in the grand final. Team USA earned two runs in the first inning – including a home run by Jeff Nowaczyk – and while Mexico managed to tie the game, the team was never able to take the lead, with the U.S. clinching a 7-4 win to advance. In the grand final, Team USA once again faced Argentina. While the first inning passed 0-0, the U.S. fell 2-0 in the second inning and were unable to close the gap, ultimately finishing second as Argentina took gold, 5-0.
Other results:
Basketball
In the team’s second game of the preliminary round, Team USA defended its winning record with a 70-53 victory over Venezuela. The U.S. men trailed only when Venezuela earned the first basket; the deficit was cut by the end of the first minute and the U.S. never fell behind again. Myles Powell proved himself a key player in the game earning 30 of Team USA’s 70 points.
Field Hockey
The U.S. men’s field hockey team fell to Canada, 0-4, in its second match of preliminary pool play. Canada scored two penalty shots in the first period to take the lead, and Team USA was unable to even the score. Now with a 1-1 record in pool play, the U.S. will face Mexico on Aug. 3 for its final match of the preliminary round.
Surfing
In men’s longboard, American Cole Robbins garnered a two-wave total of 16.33 points to defeat Brazil’s Wenderson Conceicao. With his waves both earning eight points or more (8.00, 8.33), Robbins bested Conceicao by 4.43 points and advanced to the fourth main round. The American surfer will face Peru’s Benoit Clemente on Aug. 3 for a place in the finals.
On the women’s side, Team USA’s Tiare Thompson fell to Canada’s Mathea Dempfle-Olin, earning a two-wave total of 10.36 to Dempfle-Olin’s 12.03. Still in the running for a medal, Thompson will compete next in the repechage rounds on Aug. 2.
Team Handball
In their second game of the preliminary round, the U.S. men edged out Cuba for the win. Team USA’s Samuel Hoddersen opened the scoring 34 seconds into the first half, with Cuba responding just 33 seconds later. The entire first half was a back-and-forth game, with the teams staying within one point of each other to finish the first 30 minutes tied at 14-14. The second half finished in a similar fashion with no team ever holding more than a two-point lead. Tied 25-25 in the final minute, Ty Reed scored with just 22 seconds left in the game to clinch Team USA’s first victory of the tournament, defeating Cuba 26-25.
Tennis
The U.S. women’s doubles team of Usue Arconada and Caroline Dolehide found success on the court in the quarterfinals. After both advancing to the quarterfinals in the singles tournament the day before, Arconada and Dolehide teamed up to defeat Peru’s Dana Guzman and Dominique Schaefer in two straight sets, 6-1 and 6-1.
In the men’s singles third round, Michael Redlicki fell to Argentina’s Facundo Bagnis, 2-0, and did not advance. Fellow American Alexa Graham also competed, falling to Mexico’s Renata Zarazua in two sets to miss the quarterfinals.
Volleyball
The U.S. men defeated Mexico in their second match of the preliminary round. Propelled by leading scorer Brenden Sander, Team USA won in three straight sets, 26-24, 25-22 and 25-23. Bouncing back from its loss the day before, the team is now 1-1 in pool play and will face Brazil on Aug. 2 for its final game of the preliminary round.