Troy graduate Vincent Hancock started pursuit of his fourth gold medal in men’s skeet with a perfect showing at the Paris Olympics on Friday.
At Chateauroux Shooting Center, Hancock was the only competitor who did not miss during three 25-shot qualifying rounds. He’ll take a 75-for-75 score into the final two qualifying rounds on Saturday.
The top six finishers in qualifying will advance to the medal round on Saturday.
Hancock took the gold medal in the Olympic men’s skeet competition at the Beijing, London and Tokyo games. If the five-time Olympian wins men’s skeet again, he would become the sixth athlete and the fourth American to win the same Olympic event four times.
Mobile’s Paige Madden will have the opportunity to swim for another medal on Saturday. After winning a silver medal with the U.S. women’s 4-by-200-meter freestyle relay team on Thursday, the former UMS-Wright standout had the second-fastest time in the heat races in the women’s 800-meter freestyle at Paris La Defense Arena.
Madden, who finished sixth in the women’s 400-meter freestyle on Saturday, turned in an eight-minute, 18.48-second showing in 800 qualifying on Friday. The only swimmer faster in the heat races was U.S. teammate Katie Ledecky, the world- and Olympic-record holder in the event, who clocked in at 8:16.62 in the heat.
Greece’s Kristian Gkolomeev (Alabama) came within 0.03 seconds of a medal in the men’s 50-meter freestyle.
On Thursday, Gkolomeev went 21.86 seconds in his heat race to advance to the semifinals, where he swam 21.62 seconds to reach Friday’s medal race.
Gkolomeev continued to improve by going 21.59 seconds in the final race, which placed fifth – 0.02 seconds ahead of Olympic record-holder Caeleb Dressel of the United States on Friday.
Australia’s Cameron McEvoy won the men’s 50-meter freestyle in 21.25 seconds. Great Britain’s Benjamin Proud got the silver medal in 21.30, with Florent Manaudou in the bronze spot in 21.56 seconds. Canada’s Josh Liendo finished between Manaudou and Gkolomeev in 21.58.
Peru’s McKenna de Bever (Auburn) swam the women’s 200-meter individual medley in 2:17.61 seconds, which placed fifth in Heat 2 of the qualifying round. That time did not advance to the semifinals.
Palestine’s Valerie Tarazi (Auburn) went 2:20.56 in the women’s 200-meter individual medley. That time was faster than only one of the 35 swimmers seeking to advance from the heat races.
United States captain Tanner Tessmann battles for the ball during a quarterfinal match against Morocco in the men’s soccer tournament at the Summer Olympics on Friday, Aug. 2, 2024, at Parc des Princes in Paris.(Photo by PAUL ELLIS/AFP via Getty Images)
After failing to qualify for the previous three Summer Olympics, the U.S. men’s soccer team reached the quarterfinals of the Paris tournament with Birmingham’s Tanner Tessmann serving as captain. But the United States’ first trip to the final eight at the Olympics since 2000 ended on Friday with a 4-0 loss to Morocco at Parc des Princes.
As he had in the United States’ three Group C games, Tessmann went all the way in midfield against Morocco. He had four of the United States’ nine shots on Friday, including the only one considered as on-target.
After starting the Paris Olympics with a 3-0 loss to France, the United States defeated New Zealand 4-1 and Guinea 3-0 to advance to the knockout stage.
Daniel Haugh of the United States competes during the qualifying round of the men’s hammer throw at the Summer Olympics on Friday, Aug. 2, 2024, at Stade de France in Saint-Denis, France.(AP Photo/Matthias Schrader)
At Stade de France on Friday, Daniel Haugh (Alabama) did not record a qualifying attempt in three tries and was eliminated from the men’s hammer throw in the preliminaries. Haugh’s qualification group was topped by Canada’s Rowan Hamilton with a throw of 77.78 meters. Haugh had won the U.S. Olympic Trials with a 79.51-meter throw, and he entered the Paris Games ranked sixth in the world. Haugh had finished 11th in the men’s hammer throw at the Tokyo Olympics.
Cyrus’ Olivia Fotopoulou (Alabama) ran 11.50 seconds to finish seventh in Heat 2 of Round 1 in the women’s 100-meter dash. That time was not fast enough to get her into the semifinals, which are set for Saturday with 27 runners.
Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at @AMarkG1.
