TOKYO, Japan — Day nine was a wet one for cycling, but the medals still SHONED BRIGHTLY for Team USA! Let’s get to the day’s events…
We start at Mt. Fuji, where 58-year-old Jill Walsh took home a Bronze in the Road Race for Cycling she picked up a time of 1:05:48 in the Women’s T1-2 Road Race while being walloped by heavy downpours.
In other cycling news, Team USA placed third in the mixed H1-5 Team Relay with riveting performances from Ryan Pinney, Alicia Dana and Alfredo de los Santos as the trio clocked in at 53:11 in a close battle that saw France (53:03) place second and Italy (52:32) take the gold.
Team USA Women’s Goalball needed extra time and they took care of business against the former world champions Brazil 5-4, using six extra throws in the process. A true nail biter till the end! With the win, Team USA moves on to face Turkey in the Gold Medal Match on Friday. Amanda Dennis brought the United States back from potential elimination and a 2-0 deficit with two of her own goals in the final 2:28 of regulation.
China proved to be a formidable foe for the U.S. Men’s Goalball team in the semi-finals. With a victory of 8-1 against the United States, China will be moving onto the Gold Medal Match against Brazil while the U.S. will face their friendly rivals Lithuania in the bronze medal match tomorrow.
In USA Swimming news, let’s hear it for the ladies of the 4x 100-meter medley 34 pts: Jessica Long, Hannah Aspden, Mikaela Jenkins, and Morgan Stickney! The super impressive time of 4:52.40 earned the women Gold in the race with Russia grabbing second and Australia the bronze medal. With the win Long cements her name in the history books getting her overall 28th medal and 15th gold all-time.
What can be said about Elizabeth Smith other than she is so fly… as in 100m butterfly S9 fast. She spanked most of the competition earning silver at 1:08.22 for her third Paralympic medal at the Tokyo Aquatics center.
On the track Noah Malone and Jaleen Roberts caused the price of Silver on the NYSE Commodities Floor today to go up because it was highly in demand. Malone got an Americas record of 47.93 in the Men’s 400-meter T12 in the morning session at Tokyo Stadium> Meanwhile Jaleen Roberts captured silver in not only the Women’s 100m t37 with a time of 13.16 to win her second Paralympic medal, but leaping lizards, she destroyed the Women’s Long Jump t37 also taking home silver Congrats to them!
Cheri Madsen thanks to her silver medal in the Women’s 400-meter t54 is not just a one-time Paralympian medalist, but she broke the double digit mark, earning her TENTH medal all-time. Madsen on Thursday at Tokyo Stadium clocked at 53.91 coming in second to Switzerland’s Manuela Schaer by less than half a second. A four-time Paralympian, she competed in Atlanta in 1996, Sydney in 2000, and then took a 13-year hiatus to have a family, then came back in 2016 in Rio.. and the rest, is history as they say.
The Women of the United States of America’s Wheelchair Basketball team could noit get passed the Chinese Women’s Wheelchair Basketball team and thus are headed to the Bronze Medal Match as they fell 41-36. Rose Hollermann led all scorers with 13 points. The United States will play Germany on Saturday in the Bronze match at 17:45 local time.
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