RIO DE JANEIRO, Aug. 19 (UPI) — Usain Bolt‘s yellow Jamaica jersey jetted around the Rio de Janeiro track Thursday as he cruised to an easy win in the men’s 200-meter sprint.
Bolt bested Canada’s Andre De Grasse and France’s Cristophe Lemaitre with a time of 19.78 in the run. It was his second gold medal of the Summer Games, after he won the men’s 100-meter run.
If Bolt wins the 4×100 meter relay Friday night, he would tie American Carl Lewis and Paavo Nurmi for the most Olympic gold medals in track and field history.
Team USA’s LaShawn Merritt finished sixth in the run, with a time of 20.19.
But the Americans fared much better in other events on the Thursday slate, upping its medal count to 100.
RUNDOWN IN RIO
American Kerron Clerment won gold in the men’s 400-meter hurdles final over Kenya’s Boniface Mucheru Tumuti and Turkey’s Yasmani Copello.
Team USA’s women’s volleyball team lost to Serbia 3-2 in the semifinals. Shakur Stevenson beat Russia’s Vladimir Nikitin for a bronze medal in a men’s bantam boxing 56 kg semifinal.
Helen Louis Maroulis won a gold medal after beating Japanese legend Saori Yoshida in women’s 53 kg wrestling.
Kazakhstan’s Yekaterina Larionova beat American Elena Sergey Pirozhkova in the women’s 63 kg bronze medal match.
The United States women’s basketball team beat France 86-67 in a semifinal matchup. The Americans now face Spain on Saturday in the final for a gold medal. Diana Taurasi powered Team USA Thursday with 18 points, five rebounds, and four assists. Maya Moore scored 15 points and had seven rebounds in the victory.
Americans Ryan Crouser and Joe Kovacs won gold and silver medals in the men’s shot put final. New Zealand’s Tomas Walsh won the bronze medal in the event.
Ashton Eaton won the men’s decathlon after his 1,500-meter run for a gold medal. He beat France’s Kevin Mayer and Canada’s Damian Warner. His score was 8,893, while Mayer’s was 8,834 for the silver medal. Eaton’s score tied the Olympic record.
Dalilah Muhammad and Ashley Spencer won gold and bronze medals in the women’s 400-meter hurdles final. Denmark’s Sara Slott Petersen won a silver medal in the race.
On Friday, Claresa Maria Shields faces Kazakhstan’s Dariga Shakimova in women’s middleweight boxing 69-75 kg semifinal one at 3:30 p.m. The men’s basketball team battles Spain at 3:30 p.m. in a semifinal bout. The men’s 4×100-meter relay is set for 10:35 p.m
