Tokyo Olympics: What to look out for on Thursday

Thursday in Tokyo sees three of the United States' flagship teams in the limelight.

The USA's women's football team were stunned by Canada in the semi-finals to compound a disappointing tournament that also saw them well beaten by Sweden in the group stage.

Megan Rapinoe and her team-mates can salvage something from the Olympics in the bronze medal match against Australia.

The men's basketball team also have Australia for company in their semi-final, while the US baseball team are similarly still in contention for gold as they take on Korea Republic in the final four.

Here, Stats Perform looks at these and other potential highlights on day 13, where the men's 400 metres final is the showpiece event in the Olympic Stadium.

KING JAMES SET FOR SECOND REIGN?

Nine years on from his star-making 400m win at London 2012, Kirani James is back in the Olympic final.

The predicted dominance in the interim period did not transpire, not least because Grenada's first ever medallist at the Games suffered from the debilitating effects of auto-immune condition Graves' disease, with which he was diagnosed a year after taking silver behind Wayde van Niekerk in Rio.

Now 28, James has tweaked medication and his training workload to plot a path back to the top of the sport, qualifying fastest for a final that promises to be a blockbuster showdown with Van Niekerk and world champion Steven Gardiner.

In the decathlon, Canada's Damian Warner boasts a handy lead over Australia's Ashley Moloney at the halfway stage.

American Ryan Crouser is the favourite to add a second men's shot put gold to the world record he made his own in June. Crouser's throw of 23.37 metres in the US Team Trials in Eugene surpassed Randy Barnes' mark that had stood for 31 years.

He’s aiming to defend his men’s shot put Olympic crown at #Tokyo2020

In order to do that, Ryan Crouser, has a muscle gain diet of almost 6,000 calories per day!
 

USA OUT FOR REVENGE

The USA men's basketball team lost 91-83 to Australia in a pre-tournament exhibition game and have the chance to set the record straight in Thursday's semi-finals.

The Boomers demolished Argentina 97-59 in their quarter-final despite being behind after the first quarter.

Gregg Popovich's team showed signs of hitting their stride in a 95-81 win over Spain, where Brooklyn Nets forward Kevin Durant racked up 29 points.

France will take on Slovenia in the other semi-final after Dallas Mavericks star Luka Doncic excelled with 20 points, eight rebounds and 11 assists in his country's 94-70 win over Germany.