The penultimate day of the Tokyo Olympics should be the most enjoyable for Russian fans.
Domestic athletes will take part in several competitions at once, where victory is almost guaranteed for them, or at least a medal is guaranteed.
The Russian national team is only a few steps away from showing their best result since the 2008 Beijing Games, or even surpassing it.
First of all, it is worth waiting for gold from synchronized swimmers.
Russian girls will show their free program in group competitions.
After the technical performance, they have a little more point advantage over the Chinese athletes and in no case should they miss it.
Since 2000, Russian women have not known defeat in this sport, and there is no reason for this wonderful streak to suddenly be interrupted.
Competitions among groups will be the final chord in the career of the great Svetlana Romashina.
If she wins, she will become a seven-time Olympic champion.
Only seven women in history have managed to win so many victories.
Three more Russians will be able to win their third gold in their careers, two will become two-time champions, and Polina Komar and Marina Golyadkina will have their first appearance on the podium.
There can also be no doubt that the winning streak in rhythmic gymnastics will continue.
Dina and Arina Averin confirmed this in the qualification of the individual all-around, where they won more than three points over their closest rival Lina Ashram from Israel.
The fans can only guess which of the twin sisters will take the first place, and which will take the second, and regret that they cannot share the first place.
The victory of freestyle wrestler Abdulrashid Sadulayev in the weight category up to 97 kg can be called almost guaranteed. He has already reached the final, where he only has to defeat the American Kyle Snyder. It was he who inflicted the only defeat on the 25-year-old Russian in the last eight years, but after that the native of Dagestan managed to take a confident revenge and answer with a victory on the carcass. One of the wrestlers will win the second gold in a row. Also, Gadzhimurad Rashidov, competing in weight up to 65 kg, will fight for the bronze medal.
While the synchronized swimming competitions are going on, the fans will have to worry about Maria Lasitskene at the same time. The three-time world champion in high jump will perform in the final and will try to bring the first gold in athletics in nine years. Even last year, her victory would not raise doubts, but in this she had to endure an injury that did not allow her to come to the main start as the leader of the season. Lasitskene shares the fourth line in the world top list and is still one of the contenders for gold, because anything can happen in the sector.
Oleg Krasilnikov and Vyacheslav Stoyanovsky can win gold on Saturday before anyone else.
As early as 5:30 Moscow time, they will start the final match of the beach volleyball tournament.
Their rivals will be the famous Norwegians Anders Mol and Christian Serum.
In 2019, both couples climbed the podium at the World Championship, and then the Russians were the first, and the Scandinavians - the third.
They played six matches among themselves and equally divided the victories and defeats, but the last meeting, which took place less than a month ago, remained with Krasilnikov and Stoyanovskiy.
The big day awaits the Russian men's classic volleyball team.
She will fight for the championship with the French team, for which this will be the first Olympic final in history.
But the Russians need to play better than in the group stage, when the French celebrated their victory 3-1.
The Russian women's water polo team could not make it to the final, but it will still try to take the bronze away from Tokyo.
In the match for the third place, the girls will face the Hungarian team.
They, too, have already checked each other and played a draw, which will no longer be possible.
Water jumper Alexander Bondar will try to challenge Chinese athletes in jumping from a 10-meter platform.
He is the bronze medalist of the World Championship in this discipline and has already taken third place in Tokyo, paired with Viktor Minibaev.
Perhaps the native of Lugansk will be able to wedge himself between his main competitors or even get around them, since in the preliminary competitions some of his jumps received higher marks than the Chinese.
In modern pentathlon, you can count on Alexander Lifanov.
In his competition, only a few fencing matches took place, as a result of which he shares first place with Joseph Chung from Great Britain.
His success will depend mainly on how he will manage to pass the most unpredictable discipline - show jumping.
The girls had six cases when the horse refused to complete the entire route, so it remains to be hoped that Lifanov will find mutual understanding with his assistant.
In rowing and canoeing, the last four sets of awards will be played.
The Russians have theoretical chances to prove themselves in three disciplines, but judging by the results in preliminary races, it will be difficult even to count on reaching the final.
The Russian cyclists are not scheduled to fight for medals on Saturday, but they will try to do so in order to take part in their drawing on the last day of the Olympics. Denis Dmitriev and Ivan Gladyshev will start in keirin and try to make it to the semifinals, where the 12 fastest athletes will pass. Anastasia Voinova continues to compete in the individual sprint and can also qualify for the semifinals, only there she will need to be among the four best racers.