Spain, Netherlands win first Paris Olympics sailing gold medals; US gets 1st sailing medal since Rio

MARSEILLE, France (AP) — In what sailors called the first “normal wind" day of the 2024 Olympics, Spain and the Netherlands won gold medals in the men's and women's skiffs on Friday, while the United States snagged its first Olympic sailing medal since Rio eight years ago.

Fickle winds forced medal races for the skiffs known as 49er and 49erFX — powerful, bird-like two-person boats — to be abandoned on Thursday in Marseille.

On Friday, the women's race started on time just after noon and had a wild finish for the Dutch team of Odile van Aanholt and Annette Duetz, who entered with the second-best score.

They thought they had cruised past the finish line but hadn’t realized the race committee had changed the course, and the line was on the other side of the committee boat. They quickly corrected course and crossed the right line, but lost time doing so. They looked puzzled and covered their faces for a few tense minutes before officials determined they had enough for gold anyway.

“When we crossed the finish line we thought we won gold, but we didn’t hear the horn,” said van Aanholt, 26. “It's been a week of very different winds. It showcases you can't be a one-start pony.”

Sweden got the silver and France took bronze.

In the men's race, Diego Botín and Florian Trittel won Spain's first Olympic sailing gold since London 2012 in their boat "Samatha," or “calm” in the Buddhist practice they follow.

"Maybe more the effort to be calm, rather than the calm, won," quipped Botín, 33, who competed in the same class in Rio and Tokyo. "It's an incredible sensation to have worked so many years for something and to have failed so often on the way ... it couldn't be better.”

“It was hard to even dream about it,” added Trittel, who sailed a different class in the Tokyo Olympics.

The United States men's skiff team, Ian Barrows of St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Hans Henken of San Francisco, was even more stunned by their surprise podium that stopped a drought for the Americans.

“It was just disbelief, honestly,” said Henken, 32.

“The whole fleet is so good that we knew we had a chance, but we knew things had to go our way,” said Barrows, 29.

The men’s silver went to New Zealand’s Isaac McHardie and William McKenzie.

“This is something we've worked really hard for for the last seven years,” McHardie said. “To come home with a silver for New Zealand is undescribable.”

It's been challenging for all teams to deal with 12 regattas since Sunday that were often delayed by the lack of wind, leaving sailors to broil in the water for new start times under a punishing sun.

Sweden's silver medal-winning team of Vilma Bobeck and Rebecca Netzler sang out “amazing” in unison as they walked the beach swathed in their flag, their faces bright red in the hazy heat. They later planned to party with the Dutch gold medalists to the tune of ABBA's “Dancing Queen” — the name of the Swedish team's boat.

The women's bronze went to Sarah Steyaert and Charline Picon of France — the “mama team,” as they call themselves since both have children, who cheered them on their fathers’ shoulders from the marina’s breakwater.

“When you do something with passion and determination, nothing is impossible,” Picon said of combining motherhood with Olympic glory.

The French team also got some more hardware on Friday — their longtime partners proposed marriage after the race, as they had promised they would if they won a medal.

“But mine said only gold or silver, so I wasn't sure,” joked Steyeart, turning the ring around her finger.

Medal races for windsurfing, scheduled for Friday, were pushed back to Saturday because of the variable winds. A windsurfing “marathon” Wednesday was abandoned more than an hour into it.

Also starting on Friday was a new sailing event, the mixed-gender dinghy called 470 — introduced this year to even out medal opportunities between men and women for the first time. And the men's and women's dinghies continued their races, too, making for quite a crowd in Marseille's beautiful, monument-fringed bay.

In sailing, points are accumulated over multiple regattas over multiple days, with the medal races usually counting for double points.

In windsurfing, where the rules are a bit different, two athletes have made it far enough into the rankings to be guaranteed a medal — Emma Wilson of Britain and Grae Morris of Austrialia. Everyone else is still in the cliffhanger.

The uncertainty makes the delays and abandoned races particularly painful, and the heat also takes a physical toll as athletes try to be switched on for the peak moment of their career — and relaxed enough not to waste physical and mental energy on what they can't control.

AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games

Fans watch the women's skiff race on a screen at the Olympic marina during the 2024 Summer Olympics, Friday, Aug. 2, 2024, in Marseille, France. (AP Photo/Daniel Cole)

Elia Colombo of Switzerland carries his windsurf board after the men's windsurfing medal race was postponed until Saturday due to lack of wind during the 2024 Summer Olympics, Friday, Aug. 2, 2024, in Marseille, France. (AP Photo/Daniel Cole)

Poland athletes pack up a windsurf board after the men's windsurfing medal race was postponed until Saturday due to lack of wind during the 2024 Summer Olympics, Friday, Aug. 2, 2024, in Marseille, France. (AP Photo/Daniel Cole)

Marta Maggetti of Italy carries her windsurf board after the women's windsurfing medal race was postponed until Saturday due to lack of wind during the 2024 Summer Olympics, Friday, Aug. 2, 2024, in Marseille, France. (AP Photo/Daniel Cole)

Ian Barrows and Hans Henken of the United States, left, and Florian Trittel Paul and Diego Botin Le Chever of Spain compete in a men's skiff race, at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Friday, Aug. 2, 2024, in Marseille, France. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

Vilma Bobeck, right, and Rebecca Netzler of Sweden celebrate winning the silver medal in the women's skiff race at the Olympic marina during the 2024 Summer Olympics, Friday, Aug. 2, 2024, in Marseille, France. (AP Photo/Daniel Cole)

Florian Trittel Paul and Diego Botin Le Chever of Spain celebrate clinching the gold medal in the men's skiff race, at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Friday, Aug. 2, 2024, in Marseille, France. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

Ian Barrows and Hans Henken of the United States celebrate clinching the bronze medal in the men's skiff race, at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Friday, Aug. 2, 2024, in Marseille, France. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

Florian Trittel Paul and Diego Botin Le Chever of Spain celebrate clinching the gold medal in the men's skiff race, at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Friday, Aug. 2, 2024, in Marseille, France. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

Annette Duetz, right, and Odile Aanholt of the Netherlands celebrate winning the gold medal in the women's skiff race at the Olympic marina during the 2024 Summer Olympics, Friday, Aug. 2, 2024, in Marseille, France. (AP Photo/Daniel Cole)

Spectators watch a women's skiff race, at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Friday, Aug. 2, 2024, in Marseille, France. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

Boats start a women's skiff race, at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Friday, Aug. 2, 2024, in Marseille, France. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

PALM DESERT, Calif. (AP) — LeBron James and his son Bronny made NBA history Sunday night when they played together for the first time during the Los Angeles Lakers ' preseason game against Phoenix.

LeBron and Bronny are the first father and son to play in any NBA game at the same time, let alone on the same team. The James family's remarkable moment coincidentally happened on Bronny’s 20th birthday.

Bronny James entered the game as a substitute to begin the second quarter, joining his father on the court out of the timeout at Acrisure Arena in the Coachella Valley.

Things weren't immediately smooth for the James family: Bronny committed two turnovers and LeBron made another in their first two minutes together. Shortly after LeBron hit a 3-pointer moments later, LeBron got the ball to Bronny and set a screen for his son's 3-point attempt, but Bronny missed.

Bronny came off for a substitute 4:09 into the second quarter, and LeBron came off 25 seconds later at the next dead ball. LeBron had 19 points, five rebounds and four assists in 16 minutes during the first half, and he watched the Lakers' second half from the bench alongside Anthony Davis.

LeBron James is beginning his record-tying 22nd season in the NBA, while LeBron James Jr. — known to all as Bronny — was the Lakers’ second-round draft pick this summer. After recovering from cardiac arrest over a year ago, Bronny played just one season at Southern California before entering the draft and joining the Lakers.

Lakers coach JJ Redick said before the game that LeBron and Bronny would only play together “in the flow of the game," promising it wouldn't be “gimmicky.”

“I’m excited about it,” Redick added. "I’m very honored that I get to be part of history.”

Bronny played about nine minutes in the second half, but didn't take another shot in the Lakers' 118-114 loss to the Suns.

The 6-foot-2 Bronny is expected to spend much of the upcoming season working on his game with the South Bay Lakers of the G League, but he will almost certainly get to play alongside his 6-foot-9 father in a real game early in the regular season.

Redick said the Lakers already have discussed the logistics of the next historic moment, but he hasn’t predicted when it will happen.

Although LeBron will turn 40 in late December, the top scorer in NBA history has shown no sign of slowing down with age. He has spoken for years about his longtime dream of playing in the NBA with one of his sons, and the Lakers made it a reality when they grabbed Bronny with the 55th pick in the draft.

LeBron sat out of the Lakers’ preseason opener against Minnesota last Friday night, resting up after a full week of training camp following a busy summer. Bronny had two points on 1-for-6 shooting and three blocked shots while playing 16 minutes against the Timberwolves.

The Lakers have four more preseason games — all outside Los Angeles while their home arena is being renovated — before they begin the regular season at home against Minnesota on Oct. 22.

LeBron was early in his second NBA season with the Cleveland Cavaliers when he and his high school sweetheart, Savannah Brinson, became parents for the first time in 2004. They had two more children — son Bryce and daughter Zhuri.

LeBron and Bronny have been preparing for the chance to play together ever since LeBron returned from a summer vacation after winning a gold medal with the U.S. team at the Paris Olympics.

The father and son have scrimmaged together repeatedly during workouts at the Lakers’ training complex, both as teammates and opponents. Redick said they’ve even run pick-and-rolls together in preparation.

In the regular season, they’ll join a short list of fathers and sons who have shared a playing field in North American professional sports. Ken Griffey Sr. and Ken Griffey Jr. played together with the Seattle Mariners during parts of the 1990 and 1991 MLB seasons, while hockey great Gordie Howe played with his sons Marty and Mark for the WHA’s Houston Aeros and the NHL’s Hartford Whalers.

AP NBA: https://apnews.com/NBA

Phoenix Suns guard Tyus Jones (21) dribbles under pressure from Los Angeles Lakers guard Bronny James (9) during the first half of a preseason NBA basketball game Sunday, Oct. 6, 2024, in Palm Desert, Calif. (AP Photo/William Liang)

Los Angeles Lakers guard Bronny James (9), right, steps onto the court with Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James (23) during the first half of a preseason NBA basketball game Sunday, Oct. 6, 2024, in Palm Desert, Calif. (AP Photo/William Liang)