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2024 Olympics Day 13 results: Team USA rallies to beat Serbia, Noah Lyles wins bronze despite COVID diagnosis

Noah Lyles won bronze in the men's 200 meter final, and then confirmed that he tested positive for COVID-19 in Paris

ryan young · yahoo sports staff
·7-min read

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While several Americans dominated on the track Thursday, Team USA barely survived a scare on the men's basketball court that nearly ended what has been a dominant run in the sport.

From several medal runs to a bronze medal world record and even a COVID-19 infection, here are the biggest stories from Thursday at the 2024 Paris Olympics.

It took a wild night from Stephen Curry and a 17-point comeback, but Team USA will have a shot at a fifth consecutive gold medal on Saturday.

The United States rallied to beat Nikola Jokić and Serbia 95-91 in a semifinal matchup on Thursday night in Paris. Curry dropped an Olympics career-high 36 points with nine 3-pointers in the win while LeBron James added a triple-double to lead Team USA out of a huge hole that nearly left the Americans stunned for the first time since the 2004 Games.

Jokić and Serbia will now take on Germany in the bronze medal game on Saturday while the United States will face Victor Wembanyama and France in a rematch of the Tokyo Olympics' gold medal game. Team USA beat France there, too, in what was its fourth straight gold medal.

Despite entering the race as the favorite, American Noah Lyles finished third in the men's 200-meter final Thursday. He then left the track in a wheelchair.

Lyles, it turns out, tested positive for COVID-19 earlier this week and has been isolating in a hotel near the Olympic Village.

Lyles, who won the men's 100-meter final in a wild finish earlier in the week, was attempting to go for the rare Olympic sprint double in the men’s 200-meter final. Lyles finished behind Botswana’s Letsile Tebogo and American Kenny Bednarek.

He said he “still wanted to run” in the final after making it through his semifinal heat on Wednesday. After Lyles finished in 19.70 seconds, he said he felt “lightheaded” and was dealing with chest pain and shortness of breath. He was eventually taken off the track in a wheelchair, but he said a few hours later that he was feeling a lot better.

“I was able to catch my breath and get my wits about me,” he said.

Then on Thursday night, Lyles revealed that he won’t compete in the men’s 4x100 meter relay final on Friday due to his diagnosis.

Lyles may have come away with only a bronze, but elsewhere at Stade de France, some of his USA teammates added to the country’s gold medal total with huge wins, highlighted by Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone’s incredible run to gold in the 400-meter hurdles. McLaughlin-Levrone set a world record at 50.37 seconds, with fellow American Anna Cockrell taking silver and the Netherlands’ Femke Bol taking bronze.

In the long jump, Tara Davis-Woodhall claimed her first Olympic medal — a gold — after a 7.10-meter jump. Germany’s Malaika Mihambo took silver, and Team USA’s Jasmine Moore bronze, impressively becoming just the second woman in Olympic history to medal in the triple and long jumps in the same Games.

And in the men’s 110-meter hurdles, Grant Holloway ran away with the gold after winning silver in Tokyo. Team USA’s Daniel Roberts took silver, and Jamaica’s Rasheed Broadbell bronze.

It took five sets and an incredible rally, but the U.S. women’s volleyball team is onto the gold medal match.

The United States beat Brazil 3-2 in a semifinal match in Paris in a thrilling battle that nearly slipped away for the Americans in the final few points. Brazil even got within two points in the final set before the U.S. scored three of the last four points to close out the match and secure its spot in the final.

The Americans, who beat Brazil to win gold at the Tokyo Olympics, will take on Italy in the final. The Italians swept Turkey 3-0 in their semifinal match.

While the volleyball team made it through, the women’s water polo team slipped in its semifinal match. Australia edged out the United States in a penalty shootout to grab a 14-13 win and advance to the gold medal game. That ended a dominant stretch for the Americans, who have won gold in the past three Games.

Australia and Spain will play Saturday in the gold medal match. Team USA and the Netherlands will play for the bronze medal.

Sam Watson broke his own world record while climbing up a near-50 foot wall, and he somehow didn’t win the gold medal.

The 18-year-old American lowered his world record time in the speed climbing bronze medal match on Thursday after barely missing out on a shot at gold. Watson climbed the wall in 4.74 seconds in his final run.

Though Watson set the world record in the quarterfinals, he finished 0.08 seconds behind China’s Peng Wu, who ended up finishing second behind Indonesia’s Veddriq Leonardo in the final.

So while Watson scaled the wall quicker than any human has, it still wasn’t enough to bring home the gold medal.

Rhythmic gymnastics got underway Thursday, which led to some incredible floor performances — including two from Germany’s Darja Varfolomeev and Ukraine’s Taisiia Onofriichuk that were set to classic Michael Jackson songs. Their routines were incredible. Just watch:

Varfolomeev finished the day second in qualifying, just behind Italy’s Sofie Raffaeli. Onofriichuk, 16, also advanced to the final after she finished fourth.

Katie Ledecky and Nick Mead will officially close out the Olympics for the United States.

Team USA announced on Thursday that Ledecky and Mead will carry the American flag at the Closing Ceremony.

Ledecky won four medals in the Games, which pushed her lifetime count to 14 and made her the most decorated female Olympic swimmer of all time.

Mead won gold in the coxless men’s four race earlier in Paris, which marked the first Team USA gold in the event in 64 years.

The Closing Ceremony will start at 3 p.m. ET on Sunday.