Day 12 of the Tokyo Olympics bought high-flying action as skateboarding -- among other events -- took the spotlight. There were some familiar SoCal faces during those skate sessions -- and a familiar voice serving as a commentator. Here are the results from our five events to watch at the Tokyo Olympics Tuesday night into Wednesday morning, which is Aug. 4 in Tokyo and from 4 p.m. on Aug. 2 to 7 a.m. on Aug. 3 in San Diego time.
Don’t miss the most exciting moments of the Winter Olympics in Beijing! Sign up for our Olympics newsletter.
1) Skateboarding in Tokyo: SoCal Athletes Compete in Women's Park
If there's one event at the Tokyo Olympics that screams San Diego, it's skateboarding -- particularly park skateboarding.
Get San Diego local news, weather forecasts, sports and lifestyle stories to your inbox. Sign up for NBC San Diego newsletters.
Skateboarding may be one of the most exciting new sports at the Tokyo Olympics, and a true representation of the Southern California lifestyle. That becomes obvious when you look at the twelve-member team -- half of which have ties to San Diego County.
And of those, five will compete in the park skateboarding event, which starts on Tuesday evening with the women's competition followed by the men's competition on Wednesday.
The women's team is represented by three skaters from North County San Diego -- 22-year-old Jordyn Barratt, of Oceanside, and 17-year-olds Brighton Zeuner and Bryce Wettstein, both of Encinitas.
Zeuner, who also lives in Encinitas, became the youngest gold medalist at the X Games Minneapolis 2017 when she won Women’s Skateboard Park the day after her 13th birthday.
Local
Wettstein, who attended San Dieguito Academy, started skating at 5-years-old and has a "skate bowl" and a "vertical ramp" in her backyard to train. She doesn't have a true coach and choreographs many of her own routines herself.
Wettstein was the only local skater to advance to the women's final Tuesday. She finished in sixth place, matching her previous best set at the 2019 X Games.
Barratt’s best career finish was second place at the 2017 X Games and Zeuner's came with a pair of X Games wins in 2017 and 2018.
Learn more about the young and talented athletes here.
Japan's Sakura Yosozumi won the first-ever Olympic gold medal in the event. Ysozumi is 19, but she's a wily veteran compared to the other medalists. Her teammate Cocona Hiraki took silver at the tender age of 12, and Great Britain's Sky Brown, who turned 13 less than a month ago, took the bronze.
There were plenty of cheers from Carlsbad, where friends, family and fans watched the three locals compete at a watch party at the Gnarlywood video-production studio.
The men's park team, representing San Diego in Heimana Reynolds and Cory Juneau, will compete at the same times on Wednesday -- 5 p.m. PDT for the qualifiers and 8:30 p.m. for the finals.
2) USD Alum Aims For Women's Sport Climbing Qualification
Another sport making its debut at the Tokyo Olympics: sport climbing.
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.
Representing San Diego in the event is former University of San Diego student Brooke Raboutou, who moved back to Boulder, CO, after college to focus on training for Tokyo.
At 20-years-old, Raboutou is already considered a seasoned veteran because of her experience in scaling rocks and walls at a fast pace. Her family is also a big reason for her success; Raboutou's dad, Didier Raboutou, and mom, Robyn Erbesfield-Raboutou, are former rock climbing champions themselves.
On Wednesday morning, Raboutou successfully qualified for the finals with a stellar performance on the bouldering wall. She came in second in the field of 20 women on bouldering, was the 12th-fasted on the speed wall and climbed eighth-highest on the lead wall. Combined, she was fifth out of eight to move on to the final round, slated for 1:30 a.m. on Friday.
Kyra Condie, who has won three consecutive USA Climbing Bouldering Open National Championships, missed the finals despite placing top-11 in all three disciplines.
She made 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. She was told she would never climb again, instead, she ascended to Olympic athlete.
3) Sydney McLaughlin, Dalilah Muhammad battle for women’s 400m hurdles crown
One of the biggest showdowns of the entire Tokyo Games took place at the Olympic Stadium on Tuesday night.
American superstars Sydney McLaughlin and Dalilah Muhammad squared off in the women’s 400m hurdles final and took the top-two medal spots, with McLaughlin taking gold and beating her own world record. Muhammad won the event at the 2016 Rio Olympics, but settled for silver this year.
The two have not disappointed so far in Tokyo. McLaughlin posted the best semifinal time in the event on Tuesday with a 53.03 mark. Muhammad won her heat with the second-best overall time of 53:30.
Fellow American Anna Cockrell was disqualified from the women’s 400m hurdles final over a lane violation.
While the women’s 400m hurdles was the only final on Tuesday night, the track and field session also features men’s decathlon events, women’s heptathlon events, men’s javelin qualification, and men’s 110m hurdles semifinals. Get the results of every event on Day 12 here.
4) Men's Water Polo Quarterfinals Begin with USA-Spain
The U.S. men’s water polo team needed to turn the tide to keep its medal hopes alive, but sunk in its quarterfinals match against Spain.
Losers of three straight heading into the match, Team USA fell to the Spaniards 12-8.
The United States kept Spain at bay during the first half, but Alvaro Granados, the tournament's top scorer with a cumulative total of 17 goals so far -- dumped the Americans in the last two quarters.
Head coach Dejan Udovicic’s squad won its first two games in Tokyo, edging Japan 15-13 in the opener and cruising past South Africa 20-3. Those two wins gave the U.S. enough to advance, as the team followed it up with consecutive defeats against Italy, Hungary and Greece to finish out group play.
Alex Obert, Alex Bowen and Max Irving have been among the offensive contributors for the U.S.
Bowen, is a Santee native and Santana High School alum -- where his dad was his coach. It's his second Olympics and he brings hard shooting and powerful scoring to his team.
Team USA is led by Jesse Smith, a Coronado resident and five-time Olympian. In a true show of leadership, Smith gave up his spot at the Tokyo Olympics Opening Ceremony last week so that younger players on his team could experience the moment. You can read more about that here.
Smith was also recently on our Olympic Dreams: San Diego to Tokyo podcast, speaking to NBC 7's Steven Luke about training and veteran status at the Olympics. Listen to Smith's episode here.
5) Team USA tips off against Australia in women’s basketball quarterfinals
The U.S. women’s basketball has won 52 straight Olympic contests dating back to 1992. Now, the squad stands two more victories away from a seventh straight gold medal.
The Americans hopped all over Australia, which entered the Olympics with the second-best odds at winning the tournament, and cruised to a 79-55 victory.
Breanna Stewart paced USA with 23 points on 8-10 shooting and also snatched five rebounds, two blocks and a steal. Chelsea Gray had eight of the team's 24 assists.
Without Liz Cambage, Australia lost its first two games to Belgium and China before picking up a 27-point win over Puerto Rico to qualify for the quarterfinals. The U.S. didn't take this matchup lightly. Our ladies lost to Australia 70-67 in an exhibition on July 16.
