Herriman’s Ryan White will be swimming for a medal tonight in primetime.
The Team USA swimmer was the second-fastest qualifier in the women’s 200-meter backstroke Thursday with a time of 1:02.73 seconds.
Australia’s Kaylee McKeown continued her pursuit of a backstroke sweep and finished with the top qualifying time at 1:02.84. White followed. After that came Canada’s Kylie Masse (1:02.59) and a second American, 18-year-old Phoebe Bacon (1:02.71).
White is the first U.S. Olympic swimmer to come out of Utah.
The 21-year-old will swim in the 200 finals at about 7:35 p.m. MT.
Men’s volleyball loses to Brazil
(Manu Fernandez | AP) United States' Taylor Sander blocks a ball during a men's volleyball preliminary round pool B match between Brazil and United States at the 2020 Summer Olympics, Friday, July 30, 2021, in Tokyo, Japan.
BYU Cougar Tayler Sander and the USA men’s volleyball team are dealing with frustration after a loss to Brazil.
A serve at a key moment going into the net. Blocking strategy that was poorly executed. Attacks that couldn’t get through Brazil’s defense at the net.
Those kinds of mistakes left the usually calm U.S. men’s volleyball coach John Speraw bewildered on the sideline and knowing the Americans can ill afford any more setbacks following a four-set loss to Brazil in pool play on Friday.
“I was pretty frustrated today,” Speraw said. “We really weren’t executing and that can get frustrating when we’re not executing. That’s something that I expect. If we say we’re going to do this, we need to go do that.”
After pulling out a grueling opening set 32-30, the Americans dropped the next three to Brazil 25-23, 25-21, 25-20.
The loss leaves the U.S. with a 2-2 record with one match remaining in pool play on Sunday against Argentina. Defending gold medalist Brazil is 3-1.
“I don’t think the match was really one-sided,” American Matt Anderson said. “They got a couple of runs here and there. But I think we were able to shut down their runs early on the first set, and that gave us a chance. But in the second, third and fourth, they put aside a few strings of points together that were hard to come back from.”
The U.S. can clinch a spot in the quarterfinals with a win against Argentina, giving it a chance to win another medal after getting bronze five years ago in Rio de Janeiro. A loss would likely send the Americans home after pool play for the first time since 2000, when they lost all five matches in Sydney.
Rugby stumbles in the quarterfinals
(Shuji Kajiyama | AP) Jordan Matyas of the United States tries to break through Japan's Honoka Tsutsumi, left, and Japan's Mifuyu Koide in their women's rugby sevens match at the 2020 Summer Olympics, Thursday, July 29, 2021 in Tokyo, Japan.
BYU’s Jordan Matyas won’t be returning from Tokyo with a medal.
The U.S. women’s rugby team suffered a 21-12 loss to Britain in the quarterfinals.
“Absolutely devastating ... heartbreaking,” U.S. captain Abby Gustaitis said. “It’s sport, it brings you the highest of highs and the lowest of lows. Unfortunately, we’re on a low. Britain came out swinging, they didn’t miss a beat. We didn’t get the job done.”
The U.S. will next play China in the fifth-place game tonight.
American beach volleyball duo suffers first defeat
Americans Jake Gibb and Tri Bourne have lost for the first time in Tokyo.
The U.S. men fell to Qataris Cherif Samba and Ahmed Tijan on Friday night 21-18, 21-17. The Qataris (3-0) finished first in the pool and moved on to the knockout round. But Gibb and Bourne (2-1) had already clinched a spot in the round of 16.
It was the first loss for the Americans since they were thrown together on the eve of the Olympics when Gibb’s usual partner, Taylor Crabb, tested positive for COVID-19. Gibb and Bourne had never played together before taking the sand in Japan.