SAINT-DENIS, France — Incoming Texas A&M diver Else Praasterink made her way through both the prelims and semifinals to cap off her Monday by advancing to Tuesday’s 10-meter platform final at the Olympics.
Her final score of 292.80 points was good enough for 12th.
In the same event, women’s 10 platform synchroized champions Quan Hongchan and Chen Yuxi, of China, breezed to the finals.
Quan finished with 421.25, while Chen placed second with 382.15.
Praasterink was the only Aggie in action Monday in Paris but it was a busy weekend for the Aggies at the Olympics.
Former Texas A&M All-American Fred Kerley finished in third place in the 100 on Sunday in one of the closest sprint finishes in Olympic history. It was Kerley’s second Olympic medal as he earned silver at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
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Team USA’s Noah Lyles won Olympic gold by .005 seconds with a time of 9.784 seconds. He had to wait approximately 30 seconds after the finish to find out if he’d beaten Jamaica’s Kishane Thompson after the photo finish.
On the tennis court Saturday, Former A&M standout Austin Krajicek settled for a silver medal as he and teammates Rajeev Ram, fell to Australia’s Matt Ebden and John Peers, 6-7 (6), 7-6 (1), 10-8 in a match tiebreaker in the men’s doubles final.
Krajicek was competing in his second Olympics as he reached the doubles semifinals of the Tokyo Games, with partner Tennys Sandgren, where they lost to eventual gold medalist, Mate Pavic and Nikola Mektic. The pair then lost in the bronze medal match to the New Zealand pair of Marcus Daniell and Michael Venus.
Former A&M standout Lindon Victor, competing for Grenada, continued the medal finishes on Saturday. He placed third in the decathlon and became the country’s second athlete to ever win an Olympic medal.
Victor ended with 8,711 points to claim bronze. Norway’s Markus Rooth won with 8,796 points, becoming the country’s first to win the event since 1920. Germany’s Leo Neugebauer, who set the collegiate record at the University of Texas, claimed silver with 8,748 points.
Victor won the discus with a throw of 176 feet, 10 inches, setting an Olympic record in the event. He was fourth in the shot put, high jump, javelin and the 1,500; sixth in the pole vault and 100; and ninth in the long jump.
The 31-year-old was competing in his third straight Olympic Games. He was 16th at the 2016 Rio Olympics with 7,998 points and was seventh in the Tokyo Games with 8,414 points.
Friday saw Shamier Little and Bryce Deadmon help Team USA set a world record in the prelims of the 4×400 mixed relay, but on Saturday they had to settle for silver medals in the finals.
Deadmon earned his third Olympic medal.
It marks his third Olympic medal as he won gold in the 4×400 relay and bronze in the 4×400 mixed relay at the 2020 Olympics, while this was Little’s first time at the Olympic Games.
Sunday also saw Aggie Beryl Gastaldello swim the anchor leg for France’s 4×100 relay team that finished sixth (3:56.29) in the final swimming event of the Paris Games.
Team USA won in a world-record 3:49.63. Australia was second in 3:53.11 and China took bronze in 3:53.23.
Texas A&M women’s basketball coach Joni Taylor, an assistant for the USA Women’s National Team, helped defeated Germany, 87-68 on Sunday to end group play at 3-0. Team USA will play in the quarterfinals against Nigeria at 2:30 p.m. Wednesday on Peacock.
Former A&M standout Jacob Wooten completed his Olympics run with a 22nd-place finish in the men’s pole vault, clearing 18 feet, 4.5 inches on Saturday.
Kurtis Mathews will kick off Tuesday’s events with the men’s 3 springboard prelims at 3 a.m. on E!. Praasterink will conclude the Aggie competition on Tuesday with her finals at 8 a.m. on Peacock.