Belarusian sprinter arrives at Polish Embassy in Tokyo after refusing to board flight home
Day 11 of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics is underway with Team USA’s duo of Alix and April through to the semi-finals of the women’s beach volleyball after they beat Germany.
A huge world record was set on the track in the men’s 400m hurdles by Norway’s Karsten Warholm, finishing in just 45.94 seconds. And Cuba have claimed first place in the men’s 1,000m canoe double in an Olympic record time of 3:24.995.
In the women’s long jump, Germany’s Malaika Mihambo won gold with a leap of 7.00m. Brittney Reese of the United States had to settle for silver, while Nigeria’s Ese Brume won bronze.
But the biggest event of the day is set to be the return of superstar gymnast Simone Biles, who will take part in the final of the beam.
The four-time Olympic champion has not competed since she pulled out of the women’s team final on Wednesday, citing her mental health and a case of the “twisties” preventing her from landing her routines safely.
The competition will begin on Tuesday morning at 9.50am GMT, which is 4.50am ET, and in the US it can be live streamed on the NBC Olympics website, Peacock, or the NBC Sports app.
NBC will also replay the event in their primetime coverage, which starts at 8pm ET on Tuesday.
Elsewhere, the Belarusian sprinter who refused to board a plane back to her home country has received a humanitarian visa from Poland after the diplomatic drama unfolded in Tokyo.
Kristina Timanovskaya, 24, was set to run in the 200m at the Olympics but said that she was being forced to go home after criticising team officials for entering her into the 4x400m relay behind her back.
But when she was taken to the airport by officials she approached Japanese police and said she wanted to apply for political asylum.
