It came down to the final throw, and Team USA’s Michelle Carter made good on it. With a 19.87-meter throw under her belt that would have tied for second place, she needed to improve by 55 centimeters to take the gold medal away from two-time defending champion Valerie Adams of New Zealand. Carter delivered -- and then some.
2016 Olympics, track and field results: Michelle Carter becomes first American to win women’s shot put gold
Carter brings home the first track and field gold for Team USA and Almaz Ayana sets the track on fire in the 10,000 meters as track and field gets underway in Rio.
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She threw an American record of 20.63 meters in her final throw to shock Adams, and the world. The victory made her the first American woman to ever win gold in the event. Adams, sister of Oklahoma City Thunder star Steven Adams, took second with a throw of 20.42 meters. Hungarian Anita Marton threw a national record of 19.87 meters.
For Carter, the win was even more special in that she topped her father, Michael, who won silver in the shot put at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics. Michael Carter was also a football player, winning three Super Bowl titles with the San Francisco 49ers. Michelle, who goes by the nickname “Shot Diva,” said afterward she had some bragging rights on her father now.
Almaz Ayana sets world record in greatest 10,000-meter race ever
Ethiopian Almaz Ayana averaged 4:42 per mile for 6.2 miles to obliterate the field and win gold in the 10,000 meters in a world record 29:17.45. The run broke a 23-year-old world record by 14 seconds. In her wake, seven other runners broke national records in what was the most impressive 10,000-meter run of all time. Included in the record breaking was Molly Huddle of the US, who ran 30:13.17 to take sixth place. She broke the old American record by nine seconds. The first medal event on the track made one thing clear: this Rio track is fast.
Jessica Ennis-Hill leads heptathlon field at midway point
Defending Olympic champ Jessica Ennis-Hill of Great Britain is on her way to another title. After Day 1 of the heptathlon, the two-day, seven-event competition that’s a brutal test of athleticism, strength and endurance, Ennis-Hill has 4057 points. Nafissatou Thiam of Belgium is in second with 3985 points. Canadian Brianne Theisen-Eaton, wife of decathlon world-record holder Ashton Eaton, is in sixth with 3871 points. The athletes completed the 100-meter hurdles, the high jump, the shot put and the 200 meters on Friday, with the long jump, javelin and 800 meters scheduled to go off on Saturday.
Favorites advance in women’s 100 and men’s 400
Two-time defending Olympic champion Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce of Jamaica advanced easily in the heats of the 100 meters, and so did Americans Tianna Bartoletta, Tori Bowie and English Gardner. In the men’s 400 meters, Kirani James of Grenada, LaShawn Merritt of the US and Wayde van Niekerk of South Africa all advanced easily to the semifinals -- at last year’s world championships, van Niekerk won in the first race that saw three men each break 44 seconds. The semifinals of the 400 take place on Saturday.
Action continues tomorrow with finals in the men’s discus, long jump and 10,000 meters and women’s 100 meters along with the conclusion of the women’s heptathlon.
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