Team USA has a great game coming up on Saturday at the Paris Olympics, with a ton of gold medals potentially up for grabs.
And it’s led by three women: Simone Biles, Katie Ledecky and Shakyari Richardson.
Biles will compete in the women’s artistic gymnastics vault final at 10:20 a.m.
She won the team final on Tuesday and the individual all-around final on Thursday and is seeking a third gold medal in Paris and revenge after withdrawing from the 2021 Tokyo Olympics.
The vault is one of the nine-time Olympic medalist’s best events, with her winning two medals in the event.
According to Sporting News, Biles’ margin of victory on vault was larger than her margin of victory on floor exercise in 2016.
Even in the individual all-around final in Paris, her lead on vault was bigger than her lead on floor exercise.
She received top scores in three of the four events in the team all-around final, falling just short only on the uneven bars.
Following Biles, Ledecky will try to make more history in the 800m freestyle final, one of the events in which she holds the world record, at 3:08 p.m.
On Thursday, the 27-year-old from Bethesda, Maryland, won silver in the 4x200m relay, earning her 13th Olympic medal and making her the most decorated American female athlete in history.
Ledecky has won medals at the three Olympic Games in Paris.
She claimed her seventh gold medal with a commanding victory in the 1,500m freestyle on Tuesday, and also won bronze in the 400m freestyle final.
If Ledecky wins gold, the United States would surpass Australia in that category.
The U.S. has won 21 pool medals while Australia trails with 13, but has more gold medals than the U.S. (7-4).
The 24-year-old Richardson is competing in his Olympic debut and is aiming for gold and is considered the favorite to win the 100 meters.
She will compete in the semi-finals on Saturday at 1.50pm, followed by the final at 3.20pm.
Richardson qualified to compete in the race at the Tokyo Games three years ago before he was suspended for testing positive for THC, a substance banned under World Anti-Doping Agency rules.
The Dallas native is the reigning world champion in the event after posting a 10.71-second sprint at last month’s U.S. qualifying rounds – the fastest by a woman in the world this year – but she outshone the other competitors in Friday’s opening meet with a time of 10.94 seconds.
If each of these three athletes wins a gold medal, the United States will move closer to tying China for the lead in gold medal totals at the Paris Olympics.
China tops the list with 13, France and Australia come in second with 11, and the United States and the United Kingdom come in fourth with nine.
