Nageotte soars to pole vault gold on Day 7 of Olympic Games

TOKYO -- Katie Nageotte’s clutch clearance in the women’s pole vault gave Team USATF its fifth gold medal of the Games and brought the medal count to 20 at the end of day seven in National Stadium. The next highest medal count is seven for Jamaica, and the U.S. also dominates the scoring table with 214 points, 138 ahead of Jamaica.
 
Fans in the U.S. can watch on demand video here via NBC properties.  
 
Women’s Pole Vault final
Tricky winds and a stern bar progression complicated the task for world leader Nageotte (Powder Springs, Georgia / USATF New York), but after surviving early scares she went over 4.90m/16-0.75 on her second attempt to clinch gold, the first for the U.S. since 2012 and the third since the event was added to the Olympic program in 2000. It was the highest height ever cleared by an American woman at the Games.
 
Nageotte needed three attempts to get over the opening height of 4.50m/14-9, and then took two tries to scale the next height, 4.70m/15-5. She got into the groove and sailed over 4.80m/15-9 first time and did the same at 4.85m/15-11 to put the pressure on Russia’s Anzhelika Sidorova, the reigning world champion who had no misses through that height. Sidorova had two misses at Nageotte’s winning height and then one desperation try at 4.95m/16-2.75, but to no avail. 
 
After a tearful celebration, Nageotte had the bar raised to 5.01m/16-5.25, but her job was already done and she ran through one time before starting her festivities in earnest.
 
Morgann LeLeux-Romero (New Iberia, Louisiana / USATF Southern) did not clear the opening height of 4.50m/14-9.
 
Men’s Decathlon
For the first time since Atlanta in 1996, the U.S. had three men finish in the top 10. Gutting it out for a big lifetime best in the 1,500m to try and claw his way onto the podium, Garrett Scantling (Athens, Georgia / USATF Georgia) crossed the line in 4:35.54 to tally 8,611 points for fourth and miss out on bronze by just 38 points. Two places behind him in the final point standings was Zach Ziemek (Sun Prairie, Wisconsin / USATF Wisconsin), who scored 8,435 with a personal best 4:38.38 to cap it off. Hampered by an injury to his hand early in the pole vault, Steven Bastien (Ann Arbor, Michigan / USATF Michigan) was nevertheless able to stay in the hunt and he won the final event in 4:26.95 to take 10th with 8,236.
 
Scantling, the Trials champion, started day two with a 14.03 in the 110m hurdles, the fastest of the U.S. athletes ahead of Bastien’s 14.42 and a season best 14.51 for Ziemek. The discus was a down event for all three men with Scantling the best at 45.46m/149-2, but Ziemek’s 5.30m/17-4.5 was the second highest in the pole vault competition and pushed him back up in the standings. Scantling went over 5.10m/16-8.75, close to his personal best, while Bastien was limited to a 4.60m/15-1 after his injury. Season bests in the javelin for Scantling (69.10m/226-8) and Ziemek (60.44m/198-3) set the stage for the finale.
 
Women’s Heptathlon
Kendell Williams (Kennesaw, Georgia / USATF Georgia) led Team USATF to three top 10 finishes, scoring 6,508 points to place fifth. Annie Kunz (San Clemente, California / USATF Southern California) was sixth with 6,420, while Erica Bougard (Chula Vista, California / USATF New York) took ninth with 6,379.
 
Williams had a solid long jump performance with a 6.57m/21-6.75 to open the second day and then produced a big lifetime best of 48.78m/160-0 in  the javelin to put herself in bronze medal position heading into  the 800m. Williams gamely tried to stay in the medal mix but her 2:16.91 finish in the 800m did not earn her enough points for a medal winning score.
 
The long jump was also key for Kunz, who spanned 6.32m/20-9 to remain in fourth place, but Bougard’s 6.06m/19-10.75 dropped her to seventh. In the javelin, Kunz was again solid with a 42.77m/140-4, while Bougard rebounded from her long jump disappointment to get near her personal best with a 46.60m/152-11. Bougard tried to go hard in the final event and made the early pace, but clocked 2:15.92 to finish .01 ahead of Kunz.
 
Men’s 400m final
Michael Cherry (Inglewood, California / USATF Southern California) ran the race of his life and was closing quickly down the homestretch, but fell just short of the medals with a 44.21 lifetime best in fourth. Olympic Trials champion Michael Norman (Sherman Oaks, California / USATF Southern California) was running in lane eight and had an early lead, but couldn’t respond when he was passed off the final turn and finished fifth in 44.31.
 
Men’s 20K Race Walk final
Contested at Sapporo’s Odori Park, the 20K race walk had Trials champion Nick Christie (Vacaville, California / USATF Southern California) go through 4K in 17:35 and 10K in 44:26. Christie passed 14K in 63:36 and crossed the finish line in 1:34:37 for 50th place.
 
Men’s 1,500m semifinal
Trials champion Cole Hocker (Indianapolis, Indiana / USATF Indiana), the youngest man in the field at age 20, was in the first semi with reigning world champion Timothy Cheruiyot of Kenya and the pace was more than honest from the start. Cheruiyot went to the front and carried the pack through 400m in 56.05 and then went past 800m in a swift 1:56.39, with Hocker lurking near the back of the field and out of trouble. 
 
With 550m remaining, Hocker started to move out and up to position himself for the final sprint and he made a strong move with 200m to go to challenge for the win, finishing second in 3:33.87, a huge personal best and the fastest ever run by an American at the Games. Hocker will compete in the final on Saturday, August 7 at 7:40 A.M. ET / 8:40 P.M. in Tokyo. 
 
Reigning champion Matthew Centrowitz (Arlington, Virginia / USATF Oregon) was in the front half of the field in the second semi at 400m, which was passed about a second slower than the first section. The pace picked up after that point, pushed very hard by Australia’s Stewart McSweyn, and Centrowitz was sixth at the bell, with only five going forward automatically. Eighth with 200m to go, Centrowitz wasn’t able to go with the leaders and he ended up ninth in a season best 3:33.69 to miss out on the final by one place. Kenya’s Abel Kipsang set an Olympic record of 3:31.65 to win and 3:32.86 was the last time qualifier.
 
Women’s 4x400m Relay 1st round
 
Lead leg Kaylin Whitney (Clermont, Florida / USATF Florida) ran well in lane eight to split 50.78 and passed to Wadeline Jonathas (West Columbia, South Carolina / USATF South Carolina) in the lead, if just barely. Jonathas had the fastest carry of the quartet with a 49.68 to give Kendall Ellis (North Hollywood, California / USATF Southern California) a small lead on the penultimate handover and Ellis then clocked 50.06 to get the baton safely to Lynna Irby (Indianapolis, Indiana / USATF Indiana), who brought it home in 50.34 to win comfortably in 3:20.86 and advance to the final with the fastest time overall.
 
The women’s 4x100m relay final takes place Friday, August 6 at 9:30 A.M. ET / 10:30 P.M. in Tokyo. 
 
Full session results are available on the World Athletics website. The next event begins Friday at 3:30 A.M. ET / 4:30 P.M. local with the Women’s 20km Racewalk. 
 
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USATF Medal Count (20)
Gold (5)
Women’s Discus Throw - Valarie Allman
Women’s 800m - Athing Mu
Women’s 400m Hurdles - Sydney McLaughlin
Men’s Shot Put - Ryan Crouser
Women’s Pole Vault - Katie Nageotte
 
Silver (11)
Women’s Shot Put – Raven Saunders
Men’s 100m – Fred Kerley
Women’s 100m Hurdles - Keni Harrison
Women’s Long Jump - Brittney Reese
Men’s 400m Hurdles - Rai Benjamin
Men’s Pole Vault - Chris Nilsen
Women’s 400m Hurdles - Dalilah Muhammad
Women’s 3,000m Steeplechase - Courtney Frerichs
Men’s 200m - Kenny Bednarek
Men’s 110m Hurdles - Grant Holloway
Men’s Shot Put - Joe Kovacs
 
Bronze (4)
4x400m Mixed Relay – Trevor Stewart, Kendall Ellis, Kaylin Whitney, Vernon Norwood
Women’s 800m - Raevyn Rogers
Women’s 200m - Gabby Thomas
Men’s 200m - Noah Lyles
 
World Records (1)
Women’s 400m Hurdles - Sydney McLaughlin (51.46)
 
American Records (3)
Men’s 400m Hurdles - Rai Benjamin (46.17)
Women’s 800m - Athing Mu (1:55.21)
Women’s 400m Hurdles - Sydney McLaughlin (51.46)
 
Olympic Records (1)
Men’s Shot Put - Ryan Crouser (23.30m/76-5.5)
 
USATF Statistician