RIO DE JANEIRO — Ashleigh Johnson made nine saves, Kiley Neushul scored three goals on four shots and the United States routed Italy 12-5 on Friday for its second straight Olympic gold medal in women’s water polo.
Makenzie Fischer and Rachel Fattal each had two goals for the Americans, who stretched their winning streak to 22 games with their sixth victory in Rio de Janeiro, by a combined score of 73-32.
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Neushul and the tournament MVP, Maggie Steffens, each gave Coach Adam Krikorian a big hug as they left in the final minute, and Neushul patted him on the head. When the final seconds ticked off, Krikorian walked over to congratulate Italy Coach Fabio Conti, then was tackled into the pool by a couple of his jubilant players.
The Americans held the lead after 23 of their 24 quarters in the Olympics and trailed for a total of only 44 seconds, in the first quarter of Wednesday’s semifinal against Hungary.
WOMEN’S SOCCER: Germany defeated Sweden 2-1 to win the gold medal for the first time. Canada beat Brazil 2-1 for the bronze.
Germany opened the scoring with a goal by Dzsenifer Marozsan in the 48th minute and added to the lead with an own goal by Swedish defender Linda Sembrant in the 62nd. Sweden pulled one back with Stina Blackstenius in the 67th but was not able to get the equalizer despite some good late chances.
TRACK AND FIELD: The U.S. retained the title in the women’s 400-meter relay and helped Allyson Felix win her record fifth Olympic gold medal.
The Americans, who needed to set a qualifying time in a solo rerun hours after dropping the baton in the preliminaries and getting a second chance on protest, won the final in 41.01 seconds.
• Ekaterini Stefanidi of Greece won the women’s pole vault with a mark of 15-103/4.
Sandy Morris of the United States, silver medalist at the world indoors, took silver on a countback at the same mark, and Eliza McCartney won the bronze in a New Zealand national record 15-83/4.
• Vivian Cheruiyot of Kenya won the women’s 5,000 meters, overtaking Almaz Ayana of Ethiopia and setting an Olympic record of 14 minutes, 26.17 seconds.
Cheruiyot, 32, added the Olympic title to two world championships in the 5,000 meters and one in the 10,000. She took silver in the 5,000 at the London Games four years ago.
• Dilshod Nazarov of Tajikistan won the men’s hammer, beating veteran Ivan Tsikhan of Belarus for gold.
Nazarov threw 258-13/4 meters on his penultimate attempt while Tsikhan, 40, had 255-21/2. Wojciech Nowicki of Poland took bronze with 255-01/4.
WOMEN’S FIELD HOCKEY: Britain stunned the top-ranked Netherlands in a shootout to win its first-ever gold medal.
The score was 3-3 after regulation, during which the Netherlands outshot Britain, 17-7.
WOMEN’S GOLF: Inbee Park of South Korea kept her composure in strong winds and made two late birdies to regain the lead, posting a 1-under 70 for a two-shot lead over Lydia Ko of New Zealand and Gerina Piller of the U.S. going into the final round.
MEN’S VOLLEYBALL: The Italians ended the gold-medal aspirations for the U.S. in a second straight Olympics.
Italy won 30-28, 26-28, 9-25, 25-22, 15-9 in the semifinals.
BMX CYCLING: Connor Fields of the U.S. won with a time of 34.622 seconds, beating Jelle van Gorkom of the Netherlands by .684 seconds – the first time the U.S. has won since the American-born sport became a medal event in 2008.
On the women’s side, Mariana Pajon of Colombia successfully defended her gold medal. She raced to the front early and completed the nearly quarter mile-long course filled with bumps and twists in 34.093 seconds, .342 seconds faster than silver medalist Alise Post of the U.S.
WOMEN’S BOXING: Middleweight Claressa Shields of the U.S. is one win away from her second gold medal, and is making it look easy.
Shields won a unanimous decision over Dariga Shakimova of Kazakhstan, dominating the scorecards while punching circles around another overmatched opponent.
TAEKWONDO: Cheick Sallah Sisse of the Ivory Coast won the gold medal in the 80-kilogram division, defeating Lutalo Muhammad of Britain by surging ahead in the last second of the match to win, 8-6.
Although Muhammad was leading most of the fight, Sisse landed a back kick just as the match ended to put him ahead.
• Oh Hye-Ri of South Korea won the women’s 67-kilogram gold medal, proving again that the country that created the martial art can still dominate.
MEN’S HANDBALL: Denmark will face France in the final after beating Poland 29-28 in extra time.
France beat pion Germany 29-28 in the first semifinal and can become the first men’s team to win three straight gold medals.
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