Monday was a banner day for Israel’s Anastasia Gorbenko in the swimming pool, as she qualified for the 100m Backstroke final as well as the 200m Individual Medley semifinal, with both events scheduled for Tuesday morning.
Gorbenko continued to turn heads as the 17-year-old became the first Israeli woman to advance to a swimming final as she punched her ticket to the 100m Backstroke final slated to take place early Tuesday morning at 4:51 a.m. Israel time. Gorbenko set a new Israeli record in the process of qualifying for the final with a time of 59:30s, which was good enough for fourth place in the first semifinal heat. Gorbenko is the first Israeli swimmer to advance to a final since Yakov Toumarkin did so back in 2012 at the London Olympics, where he ultimately placed seventh in the 200m Backstroke.
Later in the day, Gorbenko qualified for the Women’s 200m Individual Medley semifinals after finishing in seventh place with a time of 2:10:21m in the qualifying round. The semifinal will also take place on Tuesday, at 5:58 in the morning, just a little over an hour after she will be competing in the 100m Backstroke final.
Meanwhile, Andi Murez took part in the Women’s 200m Freestyle and finished in 19th place with a time of 1:58:97m, which was not good enough to move on.
Over on the judo mat, it was a disappointing day for the Sabras.
In Women’s -57kg, Timna Nelson-Levy lost in the repechage to Kaja Kajzer via Ippon to end the Tokyo Olympics empty-handed. Nelson-Levy won her round-of-16 bout against Marica Perisic, but then fell to Tsukasa Yoshida from Japan in the quarterfinal and then the Slovenian opponent in the repechage.
In men’s judo, Tohar Butbul in the -73kg category lost to Canadian Arthur Margelidon by Ippon in the repechage. Earlier in the day, Butbul did not have to face an opponent in the round-of-32 as both competitors, Fethi Nourine from Algeria and Mohamed Abdalrasool from Sudan, backed out of their match in order not to have to face the Israeli.
Brothers Shachar and Ran Sagiv had excellent performances in the Men’s Triathlon as they finished in 20th and 35th place, respectively.
One of the toughest disciplines in the Olympic Games, which combines swimming 1.5km, cycling 40km and running 10km, saw Shachar finish with an overall time of 1:47:10h just 2:06m off of the gold medalist Kristian Blummenfelt, while Ran ended the competition in 1:49:04h.
Katy Spychakov remained in fifth place overall in Windsurfer RS:X after completing Races 4, 5 and 6.
In Spychkov’s first race of the day, the Israeli medal hopeful finished in seventh place followed by 10th and then a third-place finish in her final race of the day. Spychakov will have an off day on Tuesday, but will then be back for two straight days of races on Wednesday and Thursday as she will look to improve her standing in order to find a way onto the podium.
In Men’s Windsurfing RS:X, Yoav Cohen maintained his fifth-place overall standing after finishing in seventh in both races 4 and 5 and eighth in race 6. After an off day on Tuesday, Cohen will continue with back-to-back days of competition on Wednesday and Thursday with the medal race slated for Saturday.
Shay Kakon ended races 3 and 4 in 38th and 18th place, respectively, in Women’s Laser Radial which was good enough to move up to 31st place overall. Kakon will continue competing throughout the week with more races to come.
Over in Badminton, Misha Zilberman fell in his second Group D match to Mark Cljouw from the Netherlands 2-1.
After taking the first set 21-17 and raising hopes, Zilberman lost the next two frames 21-9 and 21-10. Zilberman, who does not control his own destiny, will have to wait until Tuesday to find out if he will advance to the round-of-16 once the other competitors complete their matches.
In Cycling, Shlomi Haimy finished in 33rd place overall in the Men’s Cross-Country race.