TOKYO, Japan — More than 600 athletes are representing the United States at the Tokyo Olympics and a number of them are from Indiana.
Here are the Hoosier athletes to watch on Saturday, July 31 (Note: All dates and times listed are in eastern time):
Zach Apple — Swimming
Indiana University graduate Zach Apple anchored Team USA's relay team in a historic race that closed out the swimming portion of the Tokyo Olympics and earned Apple, as well as the rest of his relay team, an Olympic gold medal.
Apple swam the freestyle anchor leg of the race as the Americans set a world record in the 4x100-meter medley relay with a time of 3 minutes, 26.78 seconds. That eclipses the mark of 3:27.28 they set at the 2009 Rome world championships in rubberized suits.
Caeleb Dressel, Ryan Murphy and Michael Andrew were also on the winning team. The team was the seventh seed heading into the final. But, that certainly didn't slow them down.
Their world record-beating time kept Team USA's winning streak in this event alive. This is the 15th straight Olympics that Team USA has taken gold in this event.
Mariel Zagunis — Fencing
University of Notre Dame graduate and five-time Olympian Mariel Zagunis is one of three Americans who competed Saturday in the women's sabre team fencing event.
The U.S. lost to France in the quarterfinals late Friday, but later beat China to reach the fifth-sixth place match against Japan. The U.S. lost to the Japanese, finishing sixth in the competition.
Fellow University of Notre Dame graduate Francesca Russo is the reserve member for the U.S. women's sabre team.
In the team competition, each team has three members and one in reserve, competing in a round-robin format. There are nine sets of three-minute rounds with a maximum of five points for each round. The first team to score 45 points, or the team with the highest score after all nine rounds, is the winner. The other team is eliminated.
Zagunis won gold medals in individual in 2004 (Athens) and 2008 (Beijing), as well as bronze medals in team in 2008 (Beijing) and 2016 (Rio).
She placed fifth in the individual in Tokyo, losing to Sofya Velikaya, of ROC, 15-8.
Lynna Irby — Track & Field
Merrillville native and Pike High School graduate Lynna Irby medaled in her first Olympics in the inaugural 4x400-meter mixed relay event.
The U.S. team of Elija Godwin, Irby, Taylor Manson and Bryce Deadmon won their first qualifying heat on Friday, but were disqualified immediately after the race because Irby was lined up outside the handoff area where she was allowed to take the baton from Godwin.
It appeared to bring a devastating end to the team's medal hunt.
However, they were reinstated after Olympic officials determined that a race official had placed Irby in the wrong spot - and so it wasn't her or the team's fault.
The U.S. team won bronze in a time of 3:10.22.
They were neck-and-neck for the silver medal with the Dominican Republic team down the stretch, but Dominican anchor Alexander Ogando just edged U.S. anchor Vernon Norwood by 0.1 seconds.
Poland won gold in 3:09.87, which was just more than a half-second off the world record set by the United States in 2019.
Nick Itkin and Gerek Meinhardt — Fencing
Nick Itkin, a current student at the University of Notre Dame, and Gerek Meinhardt, a four-time Olympian and University of Notre Dame graduate, are two of three Americans competing in the men's foil team fencing event.
The Round of 16 match started at 8 p.m. ET. Both Itkin and Meinhardt advanced in the quarterfinals and into the semifinals. The Team USA fencing team won the quarterfinal match against Germany 45-36, moving them onto the semifinal round. If they advance in the semifinals, the gold medal match is scheduled for Sunday, Aug. 1 at 6:50 a.m. ET.
The men's foil team fencing event will be available to stream on NBCOlympics.com and on the NBC Sports mobile app.
RELATED: Rules of the Game: Fencing
In the team competition, each team has three members and one in reserve, competing in a round-robin format. There are nine sets of three-minute rounds with a maximum of five points for each round. The first team to score 45 points, or the team with the highest score after all nine rounds, is the winner. The other team is eliminated.
Itkin placed 12th in the foil individual tournament in Tokyo, losing to Kirill Borodachev, of ROC, 15-13, while Meinhardt finished 17th, losing to Vladislav Mylnikov, of ROC, 15-11.
Meinhardt won a bronze medal at the 2016 Rio Games in the foil team event.
Lilly King — Swimming
Two-time Olympic gold medalist Lilly King, an Evansville native who graduated from IU, was scheduled to compete in the women's 4x100-meter medley swimming event.
The U.S. swam in Lane 5 in the finals at 10:15 p.m. ET. However, Lilly King didn't compete. Instead, Lydia Jacoby, Torri Huske, Regan Smith and Abbey Weitzeil swam in the finals.
The team won a silver medal, falling a little over a 10th of a second behind the Australian team, which took gold in the event.
The U.S. had the second-fastest time in the heats Friday morning with a time of 3:55.18 to advance to the finals, finishing 0.01 seconds behind Canada. King swam her lap in 1:05.51.
King won silver in the women's 200-meter breaststroke Thursday night. She won the bronze medal in the women's 100-meter breaststroke Monday night.
In 2016, King won gold medals at the Rio Olympics in the 100-meter breaststroke and 4x100-meter medley.
