Rylov's golden double, Prakaten's historic race and the first success of epee fencers: what to expect on the seventh day of the Tokyo Games

The first week of the Tokyo Olympics ends.

On the seventh day of competition, 20 sets of awards will be drawn.

Swimmers can bring the next medals of the Russian Olympic Committee national team.

Yevgenia Chikunova will try to impose the fight on the silver medalist of the Tokyo Games Tatyana Schunmaker from South Africa in the 200m breaststroke.

In the semifinals, the Russian woman lagged behind the titled rival by less than 1 second, therefore, in the decisive swim, she can definitely count on success.

In addition, American Lilly King and Annie Razor will be contenders for high places.

But the main intrigue of the day will be whether Evgeny Rylov will replenish his collection of awards with one more gold - at a distance of 200 m on the back.

American Ryan Murphy and Briton Luke Greenbank can prevent the reigning world champion from doing this.

The epee players will meet in a team tournament. Sergei Bida, Nikita Glazkov, Sergei Khodos and Pavel Sukhov will try to get the first medal in men's fencing at these Games, but they are unlikely to be able to rise above the third place. In addition, in the quarterfinals they will be opposed by the Italian national team, traditionally included in the list of favorites.

A successful series of domestic judokas may well continue on Friday. Moreover, this time Tamerlan Bashaev will enter the tatami in the rank of the main contender for gold. He is the first seeded, as well as the reigning vice-champion of the world, so one should expect from him only a victory in the 1/8 finals of the over 100 kg category over the less eminent Senegalese Mbanjik Ndiaye, whose achievements are limited to African tournaments. However, in the quarterfinals, the Russian may come across the most titled judoka in the history of world championships, Teddy Riner, so there is no need to talk about an easy path to awards.

The first medals will be awarded in boxing competitions. And all three Russians who have confidently passed the 1/8 finals have the right to claim the highest places. Moreover, not the most eminent rivals await them in the quarterfinals. Andrei Zamkova will fight with the representative of Georgia Eskerkhan Madiev (welterweight), Imam Khatayev - with the Spaniard Gazimagomed Jalibov (light heavyweight), and Muslim Gadzhimagomedov - with the German Ammar Abduljabbar (heavyweight).

Vitalina Batsarashkina, who brought Russia the first gold medal of the Tokyo Games, will have a chance to replenish her piggy bank with one more award of the highest dignity. On Friday, she will compete in the final of the pistol shooting from 25m. In qualifying, she showed the fourth result, making a good claim for the final victory. Note that in this type of program, domestic athletes won the last time in 1992, and climbed the podium in 1996.

Another historic achievement is to be expected from rowers.

Anna Prakaten 'showed the second time in the semifinals of the singles, losing 3.09 seconds to the leader, Emma Twig, and Alexander Vyazovkin became the fourth among men.

This result definitely inspires optimism, especially after the sensational performance of Vasilisa Stepanova and Elena Oryabinskaya.

The last Olympic success in this discipline dates back to 1980.

In rowing slalom in kayaks, Pavel Eigel should reach the final, but he will hardly have to count on more.

The best result for the Russian will be getting into the top ten. 

In archery, Ksenia Perovaya and Elena Osipova will compete for prizes.

In the 1/8 finals, they will be opposed by the former leader of the rating Deepika Kumari and the bronze medalist of the World Championship Briony Pitman.

But the main test awaits both in the next stage, where their rivals are likely to be the favorites of the competition from South Korea.

In BMX, domestic athletes also cannot yet claim medals.

Natalya Afremova became the only Russian woman who passed the sieve of the quarterfinals.

She showed one of the worst results among the qualified, so there is no talk of further success.

Qualifications in several sports will also take place on Friday.

Maria Polyakova will take part in the preliminary round of jumping from a three-meter springboard.

The Universiade bronze medalist in this discipline shouldn't have any problems to claim her place in the top 18.

In equestrian sports, triathlon starts, where the ROC team is represented by Andrei Mitin and Mikhail Nastenko.

Russians have never been successful at the Olympics in this sport, and now, unfortunately, this trend is unlikely to change.

Russian volleyball players continue to fight for the leadership in Group B. This time they will again face a difficult rival - the French national team, but the absolute result in previous matches - three wins out of three - inspires optimism.

In beach volleyball, the Russian duo Nadezhda Makroguzova and Svetlana Kholomina have already secured their way to the playoffs, having won two out of two wins.

Therefore, they will have to solve the last task at the group stage - to defeat the bronze medalists of the World Championship from Australia in the fight for first place.

And the water polo players will have to play with the leader of the group, the most dangerous US team.

At the moment, they have a victory and a defeat, so this match can significantly change the balance of power in the group.

In rugby sevens, the Russians will face the toughest possible opponent, the New Zealand national team, so their chances of success are minimal.

Andrei Kuzin's wards won one victory and suffered one defeat in the opening matches of the group stage, so another failure will almost negate their chances of qualifying from the group, but a lot will depend on how Great Britain and Kenya play their match.

In tennis, it's time for the semi-finals.

Karen Khachanov will fight Daniil Medvedev's offender Pablo Carreño-Busta.

The score of their personal meetings at the moment is not in favor of the Russians - 2: 3, however, the Spaniard specializes in dirt, which may be in the hands of his opponent.

Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and Andrei Rublev will compete for reaching the mixed finals with the first racket of the world Ashley Barty, who teamed up with the winner of one "major" in doubles, John Pearce.

And Elena Vesnina and Aslan Karatsev will have to meet with the leader of the men's rating - Novak Djokovic, who is paired with Nina Stoyanovich.

The priority for the Serb is to win a single Olympic tournament, but this duo should not be underestimated in any case.

Finally, on Friday, competitions start in the "queen of sports" - athletics.

So, the first medals will be played in the 10,000 m race for men, but the Russians are not declared in this discipline.

But the high jump finals should be expected from the silver and bronze medalists of the World Championships in Doha, Mikhail Akimenko and Ilya Ivanyuk.

The majority of Russians will join the fight in the following days.