Chasing Gold: History-making Day 6 capped by Suni Lee's gymnatics all-around gold
Whoever is in charge of writing sports history books has some updating to do following a record-breaking Thursday in Tokyo.
Let's start with swimming. All three teams that medaled in the women's 4x200 freestyle relay – China (gold), United States (silver) and Australia (bronze) – broke the world record previously set by the Aussies at the 2019 World Championships. Katie Ledecky anchored the race for the Americans, entering the water a full two seconds behind Chinese swimmer Li Bingjie and trailing Australia's Leah Neale.
On the men's side of things, Caleb Dressel set a new Olympic record and won his first individual gold medal in Tokyo with a time of 47.02 in the 100-meter freestyle. His post-event interview was emotional one.
Dressel's University of Florida teammate Bobby Finke also etched his name in the record books Thursday when he won the 800-meter freestyle with an electrifying final 50 meters. Finke became the first American men's swimmer to win a distance race at the Olympics since 1984 and set a personal best of 7:41.87.
In women's gymnastics, history was also made multiple times over in the all-around competition. Simone Biles pulled out of Thursday's competition due to ongoing mental health concerns, but Suni Lee kept the United States' streak of winning the all-around alive, becoming the fifth straight American to do so. The 18-year-old is the first Hmong American and first Asian woman to win the Olympic all-around.
Check out photos of Lee from the all-around here.
Brazil's Rebeca Andrade also made history in the all-around. The silver medalist is the first woman to bring home a medal of any color in the event for her country.
Oh, and Team USA shooting has continued to dominate, though it was Slovakia that set a record on Day 6. The Americans earned their fifth total shooting medal of these Games with Kayle Browning taking the silver in the women's trap shooting competition, hitting 42 of 50 targets. Slovakia's Zuzana Rehak Stefecekova hit 43 targets — an Olympic record — in the final to win gold.
What's coming up: The USWNT and Sweden play Friday in a rematch of the 2019 World Cup final. Rowing finals for the men's and women's eights are also taking place, and one American rower is upset about Russia winning silver.
Stay up to date: Check out our running medal count (the U.S. is in the lead), live blog and Friday's Olympic schedule to catch up on everything going on this week in Tokyo.
And as always, make sure to subscribe to our morning sports newsletter for all the news you miss overnight from the Olympics to the NFL to the NBA Draft (that's tonight!). You can also text with our reporters in Tokyo if that's more your speed.
That's all for today! Write to you all tomorrow.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Chasing Gold: Suni Lee, Brazilian gymnast make history in all-around
