Noah Lyles Goes for First Gold to Headline Sunday’s Packed Olympic Slate

The American sprinter seeks to earn the title of world’s fastest man in the 100-meter dash. Plus, tennis and men’s golf comes to a close.

Lyles, a bronze medalist in the 200 in Tokyo, seeks his first Olympic gold in Paris. / James Lang-USA TODAY Sports

Day 9 of the Olympics is here, and it’s another big one. Here’s my daily guide to help you know what events to watch. It should do the trick whether you’re planning to spend a full Sunday in front of the TV or just picking and choosing spots.

You can also subscribe to Sports Illustrated’s Daily Rings, my daily podcast where Dan Gartland and I are recapping the Games every night. New episodes have been published every night before NBC’s prime-time coverage is even over.

Here’s what I’ll be watching Sunday, August 4.

This is not a comprehensive list; visit Olympics.com for a full schedule. All events will stream live on Peacock. I’ll also be tweeting out a schedule of medal events, Team USA games and other favorites each day.

My Day 9 Olympics viewing guide! Hopefully this time with no typos, but no promises. Fun Sunday on tap #Paris2024 pic.twitter.com/5G2UxDMYRQ

— Mitch Goldich 🐙 (@mitchgoldich) August 4, 2024

Track and field

It’s time for the men’s 100 meters. Team USA’s Noah Lyles is the reigning world champ, though Jamaica’s Kishane Thompson is the betting favorite. No American man has won this event since 2004—of course a guy by the name of Usain Bolt was in the way for a while.

The race starts at 3:50 p.m. ET, and don’t tune in late because it’ll be over in less than 10 seconds. The other gold medals that’ll be awarded during the afternoon track and field session are the men’s hammer throw and women’s high jump.

Golf

Sunday is the final round of the men’s golf tournament, and we’ve got a great leaderboard. American Xander Schauffele is tied with Spain’s John Rahm for first place at 14-under. Then Great Britain’s Tommy Fleetwood is one shot behind. They’ll make up the final group. American and world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler is in a group four shots off the lead.

Golf begins at 3 a.m. ET, but the leaders won’t go off until 6:39 a.m. and should hit the back nine in the nine o’clock hour.

Tennis

It’s the last day of tennis, and we’ve got three Olympic matches left. We’ll see bronze and gold matches to wrap up women’s doubles, with a dream matchup in between them. 

The men’s singles tournament has come down to Novak Djokovic vs. Carlos Alcaraz, the top two seeds in the tournament. Djokovic has an all-time record 24 Grand Slam singles titles; he’s won everything there is to win except an Olympic gold. Alcaraz has won four Grand Slams and is viewed as the next man up.

Alcaraz and Djokovic will meet in a high-stakes final for the second time in less than a month on Sunday. / Susan Mullane-USA TODAY Sports

Tennis starts at 6 a.m. and they’ll be the second match on the court, followed by the women’s doubles gold match.

Lightning round

The final day of indoor swimming (we still have marathon swimming to come) has four medal events beginning at 12:30 p.m. ET: the women’s 50-meter freestyle, the men’s 1500-meter free, and both the men’s and women’s 4X100 medley relays.

In cycling, the men’s road race was a fun watch Saturday morning and the women’s event goes off Sunday at 8 a.m. ET.

Beach volleyball has reached the round of 16. Team USA’s Sara Hughes and Kelly Cheng will face a team from Italy at 4 p.m. ET. (The Nuss/Kloth team will have its round of 16 game the next day.)

If you read my post yesterday, you know how excited I am for kayak cross: Heats continue on Sunday, now with four kayaks in the water at once instead of three. Team USA’s Evy Leibfarth will be in the fifth heat of the session at 10:45 a.m. ET.

Team USA archer Brady Ellison already won his fourth Olympic medal this week in the mixed team event. He has an early-morning quarterfinal in the individual competition, hoping to advance all the way to the medal matches just after 8:30 a.m. ET.

The U.S. women’s basketball team continues group play against Germany at 11:15 a.m. ET.

The men’s singles table tennis medals will be awarded Sunday morning. Defending Olympic silver medalist Fan Zhendong will go for gold and fan-favorite 17-year-old Felix LeBrun will compete for bronze. Action starts at 7:30 a.m. ET.

Finally, listeners of my podcast know I’ll be glued to the Croatia vs. Spain men’s handball game at 3 p.m. ET. Only one will advance out of group play.