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Suni Lee wins individual gold; U.S. hauls in five swimming medals on Day 6 of Olympics
A huge Day 6 at the Olympics featured the United States adding to an impressive medal haul.
Team USA had 31 medals coming into Day 6 and finished with 38 (14 gold, 14 silver, 10 bronze), ahead of China (31, 15-7-9) and the Russian Olympic Committee (28, 8-11-9) in terms of total medals.
The Americans are one gold medal shy of tying for the lead in that department, trailing China and the host nation, Japan, both of whom boast 15 golds.
Sunisa Lee grabbed gold following an outstanding gymnastics program in the women's individual all-around, while a series of sensational performances in the pool resulted in five medals being won by the United States.
Elsewhere, Kayle Browning rallied in the women's trap final to claim a silver medal in the event.
Here are the in-depth takeaways from the biggest Day 6 stories.
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Sunisa Lee, Gymnastics
After the gold-medal favorite, Simone Biles, withdrew from the women's gymnastics individual all-around competition, the race for the top of the podium was wide open.
In the end, the gold remained in Team USA's hands, thanks to Sunisa Lee.
The 18-year-old put forth an epic program to lock down the gold medal, joining a list of five straight American women — Carly Patterson, Nastia Liukin, Gabby Douglas and Biles — to win the event.
She did so with a final score of 57.433, edging out Brazil's Rebeca Andrade (57.298) by just 0.135 of a point. Angelina Melnikova, who won the gold in the team event with the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC), finished third with a score of 57.199.
The first rotation put Lee on the vault, where she scored a solid, but not spectacular, 14.600, good for fifth overall by the time the competition was completed.
Her strongest event, the uneven bars, was where Lee blew the doors off of the competition. She registered a 15.300 in a flawless routine, best among the competition and 0.634 of a point better than Andrade and 0.4 of a point better than Melnikova.
The beam was next up for Lee, where she had a few dicey moments but managed to keep her composure.
She scored a 13.833 in the event, second only to the ROC's Vladislava Urazova, who wound up finishing just off the podium by the end of the competition.
The floor routine marked the final rotation for Lee, and the margins were razor-thin heading into the event.
Lee was in the lead with a score of 43.733 after three rotations, with second-placed Andrade at 43.632 (0.101 off the lead) and Melnikova (0.5 off the lead) also in the hunt.
All three were grouped in the same rotation, with Melnikova going first among the trio of women. She scored 13.966 in her floor exercise, a number that wound up ranked second among all competitors.
Lee followed, tallying a 13.700, which opened the door for Andrade to capture gold with her routine to follow. The Brazilian needed to score a 13.802 to leapfrog Lee, but wound up scoring 13.666 after a number of costly deductions. The judges penalized Andrade -0.4 of a point for a series of missteps, cinching up gold for the American.
Lee's family and friends in Minnesota were ecstatic at the result.
Elsewhere in the competition, Jade Carey, who was called up to replace Biles after Carey finishing qualifying in ninth place, finished in eighth place with a final score of 54.199.
Her vault was a bright spot. She scored a 15.200 in that event, good for second among all participants.
Check back for more updates from all of Team USA's medal-winning action from Day 6!
Caeleb Dressel, Swimming
Dressel's performance in the pool and his heartwarming response afterward summed up the spirit of the Olympic Games.
First, the 24-year-old crushed the men's 100-meter freestyle for the gold medal, coming off the block like a shot out of a cannon and never relinquishing the lead in the sprint to the finish.
He led by 0.10 of a second at the turn, flying off the wall for the final 50 meters of the race. Down the stretch, he held off the reigning Olympic gold-medalist, Australian Kyle Chalmers, and the ROC's Kliment Kolesnikov to secure his first individual gold medal.
With a time of 47.02, Dressel set the Olympic record for the event, breaking Australian Eamon Sullivan's time of 47.05, set in 2008 at the Games in Beijing.
Chalmers won the silver medal with a time of 47.08, while Kolesnikov took bronze at 47.44.
Dressel's emotional reaction afterward gave goosebumps all around.
And the chills only intensified when NBC connected Dressel with his family back in Orlando, Florida.
Bobby Finke, Swimming
If come-from-behind victories are your jam, look no further than the 21-year-old Finke in the men's 800-meter freestyle.
Finke hovered around fifth place for most of the swim, clocking 50-meter splits anywhere between 29.11 and 29.36 from 100 meters through 650 meters.
Then, he turned on the jets. He raced a 28.75 in the 700-meter split, and a 28.59 at the 750-meter mark to find himself in fourth. His closing 50 meters, and the final 25, in particular, were outstanding, as he chased down the pack to win the gold with a 26.39 final split.
His official time of 7:41.87 outpaced Gregorio Paltrinieri of Italy and Ukrainian Mykhailo Romanchuk by 0.24 and 0.46 of a second, respectively.
Claiming the gold meant history for Team USA, which had yet to be atop the podium in the men's 800-meter freestyle in the Olympics.
After the win, Finke revealed he realized he had a shot with about 40 meters of the 800-meter race left to go.
"I noticed like 10 meters off [the last wall] I was catching a little bit of ground," Finke, via Team USA. "That's the only motivation I needed to try and pass and get my hand on the wall."
Team USA, Swimming
As mentioned, it was a banner Day 6 for the U.S. at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre. Katie Ledecky anchored the women's 4x200-meter freestyle relay final, pushing the team with a blazing 1:53.76 in her leg, best among all competitors.
The U.S. team of Allison Schmitt, Paige Madden, Katie McLaughlin and Ledecky clocked in with a final time of 7:40.73, just 0.40 of a second behind the Chinese gold medalists (7:40.33).
The Australian team, considered gold-medal favorites coming into the relay, finished in third with a time of 7:41.29.
Amazingly, all three medal-winning teams outpaced the previous world record of 7:42.92, set during the London 2012 Olympics by Team USA.
The United States also snagged a pair of medals in the women's 200-meter butterfly, courtesy of Regan Smith and Hali Flickinger.
Neither American could chase down China's Zhang Yufei, who set an Olympic record with a time of 2:03.86. But Smith and Flickinger battled back and forth for silver and bronze, with Smith pulling ahead late to claim second place.
She clocked in at 2:05.30, while Flickinger picked up bronze with a time of 2:05.65.
