By Signal StaffÂ
Saugus High School graduate Abbey Weitzeil anchored Team USA to a silver medal in the women’s 4×100 medley relay in her final swim of the Tokyo Olympics on Sunday.
It was the second medal of these Olympics for Weitzeil, 24, who also won bronze in the women’s 4×100 freestyle relay on the opening weekend of competition.
Swimming in the final leg of the medley relay, Weitzeil and Australia’s Cate Campbell engaged in a neck-and-neck sprint to the finish in which both teams broke the previous Olympic record for the event. Campbell edged Weitzeil by just 0.13 seconds at the finish.
Weitzel also qualified for the finals in both of her individual events, finishing eighth in the 100-meter freestyle and the 50-meter freestyle. She also swam in the qualifying heat for the 100-meter mixed medley relay — in which each team featured two men and two women — and the U.S. team qualified for the final. She did not swim in the final, in which the team placed fifth.
With her gold and silver in the 2016 Rio Olympics, Weitzeil now has a total of four Olympic medals.
Allyson Felix
With swimming and softball competitions completed, and the U.S. men’s volleyball team eliminated, runner Allyson Felix is the lone remaining Olympian from the Santa Clarita Valley competing in the final week of the Tokyo Olympics.
Felix is entered in both the women’s 400-meter and the women’s 4×400 relay.
She won her individual 400-meter heat race Tuesday morning in Tokyo — Monday night prime time in the U.S. — posting a time of 50.84 seconds. The win qualified Felix for the semifinals, which are scheduled Wednesday evening in Tokyo, about 3:30-3:45 a.m. Pacific Time. Â
The individual 400-meter final is scheduled Friday evening, Tokyo time, about 5:35 a.m. Pacific.
Heats in the 4×400 relay are scheduled Thursday and the 4×400 final is scheduled Saturday.
Felix, 35, enters the Tokyo Olympics tied with Jamaica’s Merlene Ottey as the most decorated woman in track and field Olympics history, with nine total medals spanning four previous Olympics.
Men’s volleyball
The Olympics ended after pool play for U.S. men’s volleyball, including team members David Smith, a three-time Olympian and Saugus High graduate, and Kyle Ensing, a first-time Olympian and Valencia High graduate.
The U.S. team completed pool play with a straight-set loss to Argentina, ending the Olympics with a 2-3 record and one win short of making it to the quarterfinals.
Simone Biles
After withdrawing from the team finals as well as the individual finals for vault, uneven bars and floor exercise in order to address mental health concerns, Simone Biles is scheduled to compete in the final individual women’s gymnastics event, the balance beam.
Biles and Team USA teammate Sunisa “Suni” Lee — who won gold in the individual all-around after Biles’ withdrawal — are both in the eight-gymnast field for the beam final, which is scheduled 5:50 p.m. Tuesday in Tokyo, or 1:50 a.m. Pacific.
In competitions held Sunday and Monday, Team USA’s Jade Carey won gold in the women’s floor exercise final, Lee took bronze in the uneven bars and Mykayla Skinner won silver in the vault.