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Day 9: What to watch Saturday night, Sunday morning at the Tokyo Olympics

Day 9: What to watch Saturday night, Sunday morning at the Tokyo Olympics
Posted at 3:29 PM, Jul 18, 2021
and last updated 2021-07-31 18:01:27-04

Each day of the Tokyo Games, NBC Olympics will provide a rundown of the biggest athletes and the biggest events to watch across a variety of sports. Every single event can be streamed live on NBCOlympics.com and the NBC Sports app, and many can also be seen on the television networks of NBC. For even more events, visit the Olympic schedule page to find listings for specific sports or TV networks.

Caeleb Dressel eyes more gold medals on swimming's final night, Suni Lee is back in action on the uneven bars and the men's 100m sprint gets a new Olympic champion. Here's what to watch on Day 9 of the Tokyo Games.

Primetime on NBC

On Saturday night, NBC will present primetime coverage of track & field prelims and swimming finals, as well as a beach volleyball Round of 16 match featuring U.S. duo Kelly Claes and Sarah Sponcil. In the swimming finals, Caeleb Dressel will have two opportunities to add to to his medal collection as he races in the men's 50m freestyle and 4x100m medley relay.

NBC Primetime: July 31

  • Start Time: 8 p.m. ET
  • TV Channel: NBC
  • Live Stream: Watch

Men's Golf

After three rounds, American Xander Schauffele (-14) holds a one-shot lead over Japan's Hideki Matsuyama (-13). Paul Casey (Great Britain) and Carlos Ortiz (Mexico) sit two shots back of the leader, and Rory McIlroy (Ireland) is among the golfers currently three shots back. This remains a close competition heading into the fourth and final round.

Men's Golf: Round 4

  • Start Time: 6:30 p.m. ET
  • TV Channel: Golf Channel
  • Live Streams:

Beach Volleyball

The Round of 16 gets underway in beach volleyball for both men and women. All four of the U.S. pairing have qualified for the Round of 16, with Americans in two games two days in a row. Kelly Claes and Sarah Sponcil will play the first match of the day against the Canadian duo of Heather Bansley and Brandie Wilkerson on the women's side. Nick Lucena and Phil Dalhausser will meet Cherif Younousse and Ahmed Tijan of Qatar in the men's Round of 16. 

Claes/Sponcil (USA) vs. Bansley/Brandie (CAN)

  • Start Time: 8 p.m. ET
  • TV Channel: NBC
  • Live Stream: Watch

Lucena/Dalhausser (USA) vs. Cherif/Ahmed (QAT)

  • Start Time: 12 a.m. ET
  • TV Channel: NBC
  • Live Stream: Watch

Track and Field

The road to gold in the men's 100m ends on August 1 with a round of semifinals followed by the final. American Ronnie Baker won his July 31 heat in 10.03 seconds, but Italy's Lamont Marcell Jacobs threw down the fastest time of the round with a 9.94. 

The field events will also have three finals on this day. Among the notable Americans in action are Raven Saunders (women's shot put), JuVaughn Harrison (men's high jump) and Keturah Orji (women's triple jump).

Track Prelims

  • Start Time: 8 p.m. ET
  • TV Channel: USA
  • Live Stream: Watch

Men's 100m Final, Track Prelims

  • Start Time: 6 a.m. ET
  • Live Stream: Watch

Field Finals

BMX Freestyle

A new Olympic sport makes it debut with the finals for BMX freestyle. In this event, nine BMX riders drop into a specially-designed park course full of box jumps, spines, walls and other features. Each rider does a pair of 60-second runs in which they execute tricks such as backflips, tailwhips, 360s and wallrides, and then a panel of judges scores each run.

American rider Hannah Roberts, 19, has won three of the last four world titles and is a heavy gold medal favorite in the women's event. On the men's side, Justin Dowell and Nick Bruce are in line to compete for the U.S., and Australia's Logan Martin is considered the favorite. Bruce is dealing with an injury sustained in a practice crash this week that could keep him out of the final though.

Women's & Men's BMX Freestyle Finals

  • Start Time: 9:10 p.m. ET
  • TV Channel: CNBC
  • Live Stream: Watch

Swimming

The final night of swimming competition at the Tokyo Olympics is here. Five finals will bring the program to a close, starting with the men's 50m freestyle and ending with the men's 4x100m medley relay. Caeleb Dressel, who just swam three events in one session on Day 8, will take part in both of those events on Day 9. He's the two-time reigning world champion and heavy gold medal favorite in the 50m freestyle, and would be a strong pick for either the freestyle of butterfly leg of the relay. The United States has won nine consecutive gold medals in the men's medley relay — tied for the longest active streak of any country in any Olympic event.

The women will also have finals for the 50m freestyle and 4x100m medley relay on Day 9, and the men's 1500m freestyle final will also be held.

Swimming Finals

  • Start Time: 9:30 p.m. ET
  • TV Channel: NBC
  • Live Stream: Watch

Tennis

There are only three medals left on the final day of tennis competition, and they're all gold. Competition will begin at 2 a.m. ET, with matches running back-to-back-to-back on center court. 

First up, Belinda Bencic (SUI) will look to go double gold in the women's doubles gold medal match just a day after winning the women's singles competition. She and Swiss partner Viktorija Golubic will face the Czech duo of Barbora Krejcikova and Katerina Siniakova

After upending world No. 1 Novak Djokovic 1-6-6 in the men's singles semifinal, Alexander Zverev of Germany will play ROC's Karen Khachanov for the gold medal. Khachanov, fresh off an upset over Spain's Pablo Carreno Busta, has a 2-2 record against Zverev but won their last meeting back in 2019. 

Mixed doubles gold will also be decided as two pairs of ROC athletes go head-to-head. Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and Andrey Rublev took down Aussies Ash Barty and John Peers to make the final. They'll face ROC countrymen Elena Vesnina and Aslan Karatsev

Tennis Gold Medal Matches

Diving

The first individual diving medals are given out in the women's springboard final. The U.S. will be represented by Krysta Palmer and 18-year-old Hailey Hernandez, but Shi Tingmao will be looking to extend China's dominance in this event. In one of the longest active Olympic streaks, Chinese divers have won the gold medal at eight consecutive Games.

Women's Springboard Final

  • Start Time: 2 a.m. ET
  • TV Channel: USA
  • Live Stream: Watch

Gymnastics

Gymnastics event finals begin for both the women and men with medals at stake in men's floor, women's vault, men's pommel horse and women's uneven bars.

Simone Biles announced on Saturday that she will not be competing in vault or uneven bars but "will continue to be evaluated daily" in regard to her status for the floor and balance beam finals. The U.S. women will have Jade Carey and MyKayla Skinner competing on vault and Suni Lee competing on uneven bars. The U.S. men will have Yul Moldauer on floor and Alec Yoder on pommel horse.

Men's and Women's Event Finals

  • Start Time: 4 a.m. ET
  • Live Stream: Watch

Men's Basketball

A pair of unbeaten teams battle for the top spot in Group C, as Dallas Mavs star Luka Doncic leads Slovenia against Ricky Rubio and Spain. Doncic has been sensational thus far in the tournament, putting up 48 points and 25 points in his first two games.

Spain vs. Slovenia

  • Start Time: 4:15 a.m. ET
  • TV Channel: USA
  • Live Stream: Watch

Men's Volleyball

With one day of men's pool play left, the U.S. men hold a 2-2 even record as they meet Argentina. On July 30, Matt Anderson's 22 points and Torey Defalco's 21 led the Americans, but it wasn't enough to hold off Brazil, which won three of the four sets. Argentina is fresh off a 3-2 victory over Tunisia, powered by a whopping 27 points from Bruno Lima

United States vs. Argentina

  • Start Time: 8:45 a.m. ET
  • Live Stream: Watch