Track and field continues Wednesday night, and while there are a host of events on the slate Jamaica’s Usain Bolt is once again the headliner.
Bolt will be running in the semis of the 200, with challengers such as Americans Justin Gatlin and LaShawn Merritt, Canada’s Andre DeGrasse and Jamaica’s Yohan Blake also looking to lock up a spot in Thursday night’s final. Jamaica swept the medals in this event four years ago, but it’s going to be a lot more difficult to pull that off in Rio. In addition to the 200 semis competition will begin in the men’s javelin, with reigning world champion Julius Yego and Americans Cyrus Hostetler, Sam Crouser and Sean Furey all looking to advance.
WATCH LIVE: Women’s long jump final, women’s 200 final, women’s 100 hurdles final, men’s 200 semis, men’s decathlon — 4:45 p.m.
There will also be three event finals taking place, the women’s long jump, women’s 200 and women’s 100 hurdles. Americans Tianna Bartoletta and Brittney Reese are competing in the women’s long jump, with Reese looking to repeat as Olympic champion in the event. Russia’s Darya Klishina, the lone track and field athlete from her nation allowed to compete in Rio, is also part of the field.
Two of the three medalists in the women’s 100 are also running in the 200 final, as Jamaica’s Elaine Thompson will look to pull off the 100/200 double with American Tori Bowie (silver in the 100) among those looking to prevent that from happening. As for the 100 hurdles, there will be a new Olympic champion as none of the medalists from 2012 are running in Rio. Americans Nia Ali, Brianna Rollins and Kristi Castlin all advanced to the final, as did Germany’s Cindy Roleder, but Belarus’ Alina Talay (Roleder and Talay were 2nd and 3rd at last year’s Worlds in Beijing) did not.
Throughout the evening events in the decathlon will also be held, with American Ashton Eaton leading the competition through three events on 2803 points.
