Simone Biles, Katie Ledecky and Sha’Carri Richardson could all go for gold on the middle Saturday of the Paris Olympics.
The schedule on Olympics.com has slotted gymnastics apparatus finals on their specific days and set specific times for swimming events. Days and times for track and field finals were previously announced.
The schedule, which is still subject to change, has several possible marquee finals involving Americans on Saturday, Aug. 3:
Women’s vault (10:19 a.m. Eastern time). Biles is the 2016 Olympic gold medalist and a two-time world champion in the event.
She has two vaults named after her as the first woman to perform them internationally, including the Yurchenko double pike from last year. She took silver at October’s worlds behind Brazilian Rebeca Andrade.
The five-woman U.S. gymnastics team will be named after June’s Olympic Trials.
Women’s 800m freestyle (3:09 p.m. ET). Ledecky, should she make the team at June’s swimming trials, could bid to become the first woman in any sport to win the same individual Olympic event four times. (Japanese wrestler Kaori Icho won four wrestling golds but in different weight classes.)
Ledecky won the 800m free for the first time in 2012 at age 15 (also on Aug. 3) as the youngest U.S. Olympian across all sports. She then won it in Rio and Tokyo, plus at six consecutive world championships.
On Feb. 8, Summer McIntosh, a 17-year-old Canadian, became the first swimmer to win an 800m free over Ledecky in 13 years. But McIntosh might not swim the 800m free in Paris.
McIntosh’s primary events are the 200m butterfly, 400m individual medley and 400m free. She is the second-fastest woman in history in the 800m free and fourth fastest in the 200m IM, though she has never swum either event at the world championships.
It was already known that the 200m IM and the 800m free finals would be in the same session on the Olympic schedule. The current schedule has the 200m IM taking place 10 minutes before the 800m free, making it unrealistic to swim both.
Women’s 100m semifinals (1:50 p.m.) and final (3:20 p.m. ET). The women’s 100m finalists could be getting in the starting blocks as the women’s 800m free winner touches the wall in the pool.
In 2023, Richardson won the world 100m title in her global championship debut. In Paris, she can become the first U.S. woman to win the Olympic 100m since Gail Devers in 1992 and 1996, should she make the team at track trials.
Due to tweaks in scheduling, the Paris Games have finals in artistic gymnastics, pool swimming and track and field on both Saturday and Sunday of the middle weekend for the second time ever, joining 1988, according to Bill Mallon of the OlyMADMen.
Other potentially notable finals for the U.S. on Aug. 3:
Rowing: women’s eight (4:50 a.m. ET). The U.S. won every Olympic and world title from 2006 to 2016. They placed fourth at the Tokyo Games and took silver at the 2023 Worlds.
Tennis: women’s singles (6 a.m. ET). Coco Gauff won her first Grand Slam singles title at the 2023 U.S. Open, is ranked third in the world and was the 2022 French Open runner-up at Roland Garros, the Paris Olympic venue.
Shooting: men’s skeet (9:30 a.m. ET). Vincent Hancock could bid to become the first shooter to win the same individual event at four Olympics and the fourth American to do so in any sport after Al Oerter, Carl Lewis and Michael Phelps. Ledecky could join the list about five hours later.
Track and Field: men’s shot put (1:35 p.m. ET). Ryan Crouser is a two-time Olympic gold medalist, world record holder and arguably the most dominant athlete in the sport.
Swimming: men’s 100m butterfly (2:30 p.m. ET). Caeleb Dressel is the reigning Olympic gold medalist and world record holder. Dressel, who won five total golds in Tokyo, is working his way back after taking months off from swimming in late 2022.
Swimming: women’s 200m individual medley (2:59 p.m. ET). Kate Douglass is the two-time reigning world champion. She could end the longest U.S. gold medal drought in a women’s swimming event — 40 years to the day since Tracy Caulkins won the 200m IM at the Los Angeles Games.
