Big news Monday in the women’s gymnastics competition at the Tokyo Olympics: Simone Biles is set to return in the balance beam final. Plus, Maggie Steffens who hails from Danville and Stanford University leads the women’s water polo team in its quest for gold. Here are Monday’s and Tuesday’s marquee events and how to watch:
Simone Biles returns to Olympic competition in balance beam
The GOAT of gymnastics is back.
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Seven days after exiting the women’s team final, Simone Biles will return to the Olympic gymnastics stage. She will be competing with teammate Suni Lee in the final women’s event, the balance beam, which begins at 1:53 a.m. Tuesday.
Biles left the team final last week and has since withdrawn from finals in the individual all-around, vault and floor exercise. Team USA has stepped up without Biles — Lee won gold in the individual all-around, MyKayla Skinner earned a silver medal in vault and Jade Carey brought home another goal in the floor exercise.
Watch Biles and Lee perform on Peacock, or stream live
Women’s water polo takes on Canada in quarterfinal
The U.S. women’s water polo team finished the preliminary group stage with a 3-1 record as the club seeks its third straight Olympic gold medal.
Team captain and three-time Olympian Maggie Steffens of Danville moved to the top of the all-time Olympic water polo scoring list while Mackenzie Fischer propelled Team USA with three goals in an 18-5 win over the ROC the last time the Americans were in the pool.
The U.S. will face Canada in the quarterfinals. Watch on the USA Network at 10 p.m. or stream live.
Team USA tips off against Spain in men’s basketball quarterfinals
It’s a battle of basketball heavyweights in a quarterfinal at 9:40 p.m. Monday.
Team USA comes in as the three-time defending gold medalists. Things haven’t come easy for Kevin Durant and Co. though, as the team lost a pair of exhibitions coming into Tokyo and lost its first Olympic game to France. With improved performances from the likes of Durant, Damian Lillard and Jayson Tatum, the U.S. bounced back with wins against Iran and the Czech Republic.
The Americans will face their toughest test yet in their elimination game against Spain in the quarterfinals. Spain has medaled at each of the last three Olympics and lost a pair of gold medal games to the U.S. in 2008 and 2012.
Watch on USA Network, or stream live.
Sport Climbing will make its Olympic Debut
Sport climbing will make its Olympic debut 1 a.m. Tuesday.
There are three disciplines in Olympic sport climbing: Bouldering, Speed, and Lead. Each participant must compete in all three, and a winner is determined by multiplying a competitor’s placement in the various disciplines. The lowest score wins gold. Because each competitor must compete in all three disciplines, each climber must have a combination of speed, flexibility, and endurance if they wish to reach the podium.
Team USA’s hopes of for gold in sport climbing’s Olympic debut rest on the shoulders of Nathaniel Coleman and Kyra Condie. Coleman won three consecutive USA Climbing Bouldering OPen National Championships (2016-2018). Condie is making an Olympic debut that was once thought impossible. Early into her climbing career it was discovered that she had idiopathic scoliosis and would require surgery. After being told she would never climb again, Condie now has a chance to be an Olympic medalist.
Watch on USA Network at 7:30 a.m., or stream live at 1 a.m.
Women’s 200m final headlines track and field events
The Tokyo Olympics recently crowned Jamaican Elaine Thompson-Hera the world’s fastest woman, a title she also claimed at the 2016 Rio Games. On Tuesday morning many of the world’s fastest women will once again compete for a chance at Olympic glory.
The other day 11 track and field finals include: Women’s long jump, men’s 400m hurdles, women’s hammer throw, and the women’s 800m.
There will be final competitions in men’s pole vault and women’s hammer throw.
We will also see American track star Noah Lyles make his Tokyo Olympic Debut. Lyles is a favorite to medal in the 200m.
Watch on NBC in prime time, view on Peacock at 3 a.m. Tuesday, or stream live.
