KSR Today: Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone leads the Cats in Paris

Another day, another whirlwind of an Olympic schedule for the Cats in Paris, things seemingly getting busier with more current and former University of Kentucky athletes and coaches spread across as many events. It’s hard to keep up — well, unless you have KSR’s ultimate viewing guide bookmarked to read each morning with your coffee. That’s been a game changer, all thanks to Mrs. Tyler Thompson for setting that up before the Olympics and updating the daily schedule with new results.

What’s new today? Well, things got rolling while you were likely asleep or in the very, very early stages of waking up. Maybe during a groggy bathroom break in the middle of the night? Whatever your sleep schedule looks like, a trio of Cats took care of business in track and field at 4:15 a.m. ET in the first round of the Women’s 100M Hurdles.

Participating in three separate heats of five total, all three Kentucky representatives advanced to the semifinals. Masai Russell of the United States and Jasmine Camacho-Quinn of Puerto Rico both won their heats — the former in a photo finish — while Devynne Charlton of the Bahamas finished second to qualify and advance.

Russell, a standout at UK from 2018-23, closed with a 12.538 to tie with Nadine Visser down to the thousandths of a second. It was the race of the morning, the former Wildcat making her presence felt in her Olympic debut.

As for Camacho-Quinn, the flag bearer for Puerto Rico, she cruised to a statement win with a 12.42 in her heat as she looks to defend her title as the women’s 100mH gold medalist in Tokyo.

Not a bad way to get the morning started in Paris, just the first three of seven different Wildcats set to compete across five different events on Wednesday.

Wednesday’s Cats in Paris Schedule

The action continues right now in diving with more track and field to come this afternoon with women’s basketball to close out the day. Take a look at the updated schedule:

• TRACK & FIELD — 4:15 AM: Women’s 100mH Round 1 (Masai Russell, USA — 12.53, QUALIFIED ; Jasmine Camacho-Quinn, Puerto Rico — 12.42, QUALIFIED ; Devynne Charlton, Bahamas — 12.71, QUALIFIED )
• DIVING — 9:00 AM: Women’s 3m Springboard Preliminary (Julia Vincent, South Africa); E!, Peacock
• TRACK & FIELD — 1:05 PM: Men’s 110mH Semifinal (Daniel Roberts, USA); NBC, Peacock
• TRACK & FIELD — 2:45 PM: Women’s 400m Semifinal (Alexis Holmes, USA); USA, Peacock
• WOMEN’S 5×5 BASKETBALL — 3:30 PM: Nigeria (Adebola Adeyeye) vs. USA; Quarterfinals; USA, Peacock

Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone breaks another record

How did things go for the Cats in Paris on Tuesday? One was the biggest story in the Olympics, the face of women’s track and field and arguably the most dominant athlete to ever set foot on campus at the University of Kentucky.

Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone competed in the women’s 400mH semifinal and dusted the competition, as expected. She only races against herself at this point, looking to break her own world record in the event for the fifth time. Hardly breaking a sweat, the former Wildcat won her heat in 52.13 seconds, the fastest time in the semifinal of the event in Olympic history.

In fact, announcers broke the news that her PR with hurdles is officially faster than her competitors’ PR without hurdles.

It doesn’t make sense until you remember this is Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone we’re talking about. Nothing she does makes sense. That’s how you become the fastest woman in the world.

She’s the top qualifier for Thursday’s final at 3:25 p.m. ET on NBC and Peacock, her main competition being Femke Bol of the Netherlands — a friendly rival in the track and field world. But again, her top competition is that 50.65 world record time she set at the US Olympic Trials in June, McLaughlin-Levrone very openly talking about getting under that 50-second mark at some point in her career.

Can she do it in Paris? We’ll find out Thursday.

Other Tuesday results in the Olympics

McLaughlin-Levrone was the headliner, but eight total athletes from UK competed on the world stage on Tuesday. How did the others do?

For starters, Avery Skinner dominated the competition to help the USA sweep Poland (25-22, 25-14, 25-20) in women’s volleyball. The former Wildcat finished with 12 kills, ten digs and eight total receptions in the statement win, the U.S. advancing to the semifinals for the fifth straight Olympics, where they’ll face rival Brazil at 10 a.m. ET on Thursday.

Elsewhere, Devin Booker , Anthony Davis and Bam Adebayo combined for 40 points in a 122-87 win for USA men’s basketball over Brazil to set up a date with Serbia in the semis on Thursday. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander , Jamal Murray and Trey Lyles , however, saw their Olympic journeys come to an end for Canada as Victor Wembanyama and France pulled off the upset as 7.5-point underdogs in the quarterfinals. The host country will take on Germany in the semifinals on the other side of the bracket.

Louisville bowler becomes 1500M bronze medalist

A local story went worldwide on Tuesday, as Louisville native and duPont Manual High School graduate Yared Nuguse earned a bronze medal in the 1500m final, one of the most anticipated events of the Olympic cycle with a historic finish.

The 25-year-old Kentuckian came back down the stretch alongside fellow American and Indianapolis native Cole Hocker, who earned gold to give the U.S. its first two medalists in the same 1500m event in 112 years. And they did so with all eyes on Great Britain’s Josh Kerr and Norway’s Jakob Ingebrigtsen, the favorites and bitter rivals. Hocker and Nuguse stormed in to steal a medal away from Ingebrigtsen while nearly pushing Kerr to third, the Louisville native missing out on silver by a nose.

The coolest part of the story? Nuguse actually started out as a bowler with no interest in running. It was his P.E. teacher at Manual who recommended him to the school’s track coach after watching him run miles in class . After turning him down initially, the in-state superstar finally gave track a shot and the rest is history. A few short years later, he’s an Olympic bronze medalist.

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