Paris Olympics Day 7: Richardson wins first-ever race, Marchand remains perfect in Paris

PARIS (AP) — Sha’Carri Richardson won her first-ever race at the Olympics and Australia's swimmers and Léon Marchand continued their dominance in the pool on Day 7 of the Paris Games.

Richardson ran a blazing opening round in the 100 meters Friday in 10.94 seconds to easily qualify for the semifinals.

Wearing neon green shoes, which contrasted well against the bright purple track, the American captured the first of eight first-round races on the opening day of track action at a jam-packed Stade de France.

Richardson’s American training partners, Melissa Jefferson and Twanisha Terry, also made it through.

Meanwhile, the U.S. mixed 4x400 meter relay team set a world record when Vernon Norwood, Shamier Little, Bryce Deadmon and Kaylyn Brown finished the four laps in 3 minutes, 7.41 seconds to break the mark of 3:08.80 set at world championships last year.

All the record did was place the Americans in Saturday’s final, where the record — in an event that is only 5 years old — will be in jeopardy once again.

Pool dominance

Marchand cemented his status as one of the biggest stars of the Summer Games by dominating his swimming competition once again. He captured his fourth gold with another runaway victory, this time in the 200-meter individual medley.

The 22-year-old French star set an Olympic record and just missed breaking Ryan Lochte’s 13-year-old world mark. Marchand previously in Paris won the 400-meter individual medley, 200-meter butterfly and 200-meter backstroke.

Meanwhile, Australia continued its rout of the United States in the pool.

Cameron McEvoy became the first Australian man to win swimming gold at these Games by dethroning Caleb Dressel in the 50-meter freestyle.

Kaylee McKeown followed by winning the 200-meter backstroke — becoming the first woman to sweep the Olympic backstroke events at two straight Games — and Australia now has a leading seven swimming golds overall.

McKeown became the first Australian in history to win four individual Olympic golds.

Belarusian athletes medal

Trampoline gymnasts Ivan Litvinovich and Viyaleta Bardzilouskaya of Belarus became the first two neutral athletes to win medals at this Olympics.

Litvinovich defended his men’s title from Tokyo to win gold, while Bardzilouskaya took home silver in the women’s competition won by Britain’s Bryony Page.

They are two of the 17 Belarusians competing as individual athletes for Team AIN at the Paris Games, along with 15 Russians. The countries are barred from team sports because of the war in Ukraine.

Djokovic, Alcaraz in men's tennis final

Novak Djokovic is in the men’s singles final at the Olympics for the first time after the 37-year-old from Serbia defeated Lorenzo Musetti of Italy 6-4, 6-2. Djokovic next faces Spain’s Carlos Alcarez for gold. Djokovic is the oldest men’s player in the Olympic final. Alcaraz advanced by beating Felix Auger-Aliassime of Canada 6-1, 6-1.

US men's soccer eliminated

The United States is out of men’s soccer after getting routed 4-0 by Morocco in the quarterfinals. The Americans — in the Games for the first time since Beijing 2008 — were outclassed by Morocco, which reached the semifinals at the Olympics for the first time.

“It’s sad because I think it’s a group that has a lot of belief in each other and a lot of character and I don’t think it showed through,” defender Walker Zimmerman said. “That’s what’s hard is knowing how much everyone did care (and) had each other’s back.”

American archers win bronze

American archers Brady Ellison and Casey Kaufhold — mentor and student — defeated Ankita Bhakat and Dhiraj Bommadevara of India 6-2 to claim Olympic bronze in the mixed team category.

Kaufhold was just 15 when she teamed up with the veteran Ellison in 2019 to earn silver at a World Cup event and gold at the Pan-American Games. Five years later, the pairing has proved to be strong.

Men's golf through two rounds

Tommy Fleetwood is chasing more gold outside Paris, this time an Olympic medal and not the Ryder Cup trophy.

The British golfer shot a 64 in the men’s competition and shares the lead with two-time major winner Xander Schauffele and Japanese star Hideki Matsuyama. They are at 11-under 131 and that ties the 36-hole Olympic record Schauffele set in the Tokyo Games.

Schauffele is the defending champion and a two-time major champion this year. Fleetwood has the experience at Le Golf National — along with his Ryder Cup memories, he won the 2017 French Open.

Jon Rahm was two shots back.

French judo icon wins

French icon Teddy Riner became the second three-time individual Olympic gold medalist in judo history in one of the most electrifying events of the Games so far.

The 35-year-old heavyweight defeated South Korea’s Kim Min-jong for the gold in his fifth Olympics.

An 11-time world champion and four-time Olympic gold medalist, Riner is one of the most popular and beloved figures in any sport from France. Riner was France’s flag bearer during the opening ceremony and joined retired French track and field sprinter Marie-José Pérec in lighting the cauldron at the end of the night.

Riner is widely considered the greatest judoka the sport has ever seen. He had a 10-year unbeaten streak in which he dominated opponents with his imposing size and athleticism.

More opening ceremony fallout

Paris police have opened a hate speech investigation following a complaint by Olympics opening ceremony artistic director Thomas Jolly over death threats.

The Paris prosecutors’ office said in a statement that Jolly filed a police complaint on Tuesday, four days after the opening ceremony, for death threats, “public insults” and “defamation.” France’s Central Office for Combating Crimes Against Humanity and Hate Crimes has been charged with the investigation.

Jolly’s complaint comes after the Paris Olympics’ opening ceremony prompted a storm of outrage for a contentious scene featuring drag queens and other performers. Although Jolly has repeatedly said that he wasn’t inspired by “The Last Supper,” critics interpreted part of the show as a mockery of Leonardo Da Vinci’s painting showing Jesus Christ and his apostles.

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