The United States remains in a tight battle for the most gold medals in Paris following Day 15 of the 2024 Olympics.
Team USA, which entered Day 15 tied with China atop the gold medal standings, captured five Olympic titles on Saturday, highlighted by the USWNT reclaiming gold and the men’s basketball team securing a five-peat.
But the U.S. still ended the day trailing China by one in the gold medal count, setting up a what should be a dramatic half-day of action heading into Sunday’s Closing Ceremony.
With the final full day of the Paris Games in the books, here’s a look back at the top Day 15 highlights:
USWNT reclaims gold with another 1-0 win
The USWNT once again showed an impressive knack for winning close, high-stakes games. After recording 1-0 extra-time victories in their first two matches of the knockout stage, the Americans pulled out another 1-0 win in the gold medal match. But, this time, they found the breakthrough much earlier.
In the 57th minute, Korbin Albert sent a perfect through-ball to Mallory Swanson, who timed her run perfectly to get behind the Brazil defense. The Chicago Red Stars forward didn’t let the high-danger chance go to waste, putting the U.S. ahead with her fourth goal of the Games.
Goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher then played the hero late for Team USA by coming up with a massive save in stoppage time. Naeher blocked a header from Adriana with one hand that all but sealed the Americans’ first Olympic gold since the 2012 London Games.
Steph Curry heater propels USA men’s basketball to 5th straight gold
Steph Curry‘s first appearance in the Olympics proved to be an iconic one. The Golden State Warriors superstar tallied nine 3-pointers and 36 points in Team USA’s comeback win over Serbia in the semifinals. And he still hadn’t cooled off days later.
An epic 3-point barrage from Curry pushed the Americans past Victor Wembanyama and France 98-87 in the men’s basketball gold medal game. France made it an 82-79 game at the 2:58 mark of the fourth quarter after trailing by as many as 14 points earlier in the second. Then, Curry responded with four 3-pointers on the next five U.S. possessions to fend off France’s late push. Curry knocked down eight 3s en route to a team-high 24 points as the Americans won a fifth straight gold.
LeBron James, who was named tournament MVP by FIBA, tallied 14 points, 10 assists and six rebounds as he earned his third Olympic gold medal and fourth overall. Kevin Durant, who had 15 points, four rebounds and four assists, broke a tie with Carmelo Anthony for the most men’s basketball golds with four.
US sets records in sweep of women’s, men’s 4x400m relays
The U.S. took gold in both the men’s and women’s 4x400m relays with record times, though the Olympic titles came in two very different fashions.
The men’s relay, which featured Christopher Bailey, Vernon Norwood, Bryce Deadmon and Rai Benjamin, came down to a final-lap showdown between the USA’s 400m gold medalist in Benjamin and Botswana’s 200m Olympic champion in Letsile Tebogo. The two runners received the batons at around the same time, but it was Benjamin who crossed the finish line first in an Olympic-record time 2:54.43 — ahead of Tebogo in 2:54.53.
The women’s relay, meanwhile, didn’t feature much drama at all. Team USA’s quartet of Shamier Little, Gabby Thomas, Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone and Alexis Holmes roared to an American-record time of 3:15.27. Not only did they just miss out on the world record, but the Americans also finished over four seconds ahead of second-place Netherlands.
It was Team USA’s eighth straight Olympic title in the women’s relay and third straight in the men’s relay. McLaughlin-Levrone earned her second gold medal in Paris and fourth for her career. Thomas, now a five-time Olympic medalist, moved into a tie for the most gold medals at the 2024 Olympics among Team USA athletes with three. Little earned her second medal of the Games (one gold, one silver) while Holmes made the podium for the first time.
On the men’s side, Benjamin (two golds in Paris), Deadmon (one gold, one silver) and Norwood (one gold, one silver) each picked up their second medal of these Games and fourth medal overall. It was Bailey’s first time on the podium.
Masai Russell earns 100m hurdles gold in photo finish
The women’s 110m hurdles final was the latest track event of the Paris Games to feature a super-close finish — and it was an American who emerged victorious. Masai Russell captured her first Olympic title in a photo finish, crossing the finish line just barely ahead of France’s Cyrena Samba-Mayela.
Just how close was the final? Russell had a time of 12.33 seconds, while Samba-Mayela finished in 12.34.
Brooke Raboutou picks up historic sport climbing medal
Brooke Raboutou became the first American woman to make a sport climbing podium, earning silver in the women’s boulder and lead combined final. She tallied 72.0 lead points for an overall score of 156.0.
Raboutou was in a gold medal position before reigning Olympic champion Janja Garnbret of Slovenia knocked her one spot down on the podium with a lead of 84.1 for an overall score of 168.5.
Grant Fisher rallies for historic 5000m bronze
Grant Fisher didn’t earn any medals in his Olympic debut at the pandemic-delayed 2020 Tokyo Games. But he’ll leave Paris as a history-making two-time medalist.
Fisher used a thrilling late rally to make the men’s 5000m podium. On the final straightaway of the 12.5-lap final, Fisher stormed past multiple runners before crossing the finish line third in 13:15.13.
After earning 10,000m bronze earlier in the 2024 Olympics, Fisher became the first American man to ever medal in both the 5000m and 10,000m events at the same Games.
Shelby McEwen takes high jump silver after lengthy jump-off
The decision between Team USA’s Shelby McEwen and New Zealand’s Hamish Kerr not to share gold in the men’s high jump final led to a lengthy jump-off. The two athletes both cleared 2.36 meters (7 feet, 8.75 inches) before combining for 11 straight misses in regulation and the jump-off.
The bar was raised to 2.38 meters before being dropped down to 2.36 meters. But after they couldn’t clear that height, the bar was lowered again to 2.34 meters (7 feet, 8 inches), where McEwen missed and Kerr cleared to claim gold. McEwen took silver for his first Olympic medal.
Nevin Harrison comes up just short of repeat in C-1 200m sprint
The track wasn’t the only place with a photo finish on Day 15. American canoeist Nevin Harrison was attempting to repeat as Olympic champion in the women’s C-1 200m sprint.
But Harrison’s repeat bid was denied by Canada’s Katie Vincent, who just beat out the reigning Olympic champion by 0.1 seconds with a world-record time of 44.12 seconds. Harrison’s second-place time was 44.13 — significantly better than the 45.93 she posted when she won the inaugural event at the Tokyo Games at age 19.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
