With the Tokyo Olympics officially concluded, a new clock starts, counting down the minutes until Paris 2024. That doesn’t mean we can’t look back at some of our favorite moments from the past few weeks.

This year’s Olympics had no shortage of memorable events, from Naomi Osaka lighting the cauldron on Day 1 to Canada winning their first gold medal in soccer on the final weekend. Here are five that stood out to us from the pool.

17-year-old Lydia Jacoby wins gold in the 100-meter breaststroke

Five years after Lilly King rose to stardom with her 100-meter breaststroke win in Rio, U.S. teammate Lydia Jacoby was relatively unknown heading into these Games. She was a surprise qualifier in Omaha, becoming the first Alaskan Olympian in swimming.

Then, in Tokyo, Jacoby shocked the world. King wasn’t considered a lock to defend her Olympic title in the 100m breaststroke. Most were looking to South African Tatjana Schoenmaker as her main competition after she’d won both the preliminary and semifinal rounds. In the final, Schoenmaker took the lead early and held onto it with 15 meters to go. Jacoby turned it on from there, using a late kick to overtake both King and Schoenmaker and win gold.

Bonus: Jacoby’s high school classmates and parents back in Alaska also had gold-medal reactions to her race.

Katie Ledecky anchors the U.S. to silver in the 4×200-meter freestyle relay

Ledecky had no shortage of memorable swims at these Olympics, but the most exciting may very well have been the one that earned her a silver medal in the 4×200-meter freestyle relay.

All three medal-winning teams finished under the world record in this race. China beat out both the United States and Australia, the gold-medal favorites, to claim gold. Meanwhile, Ledecky swam a 1:53.7 split as Team USA’s anchor — a time that would have won silver in the individual race — to overcome Australia and help the U.S. place second.

Bonus: Ledecky’s week was one for the history books. She became the first woman to win gold in the inaugural 1500-meter freestyle at the Olympics and she won her third-straight gold in the 800-meter freestyle.

Ariarne Titmus’ rise to mid-distance stardom

There were rumblings back in 2019 that Titmus could be the next star in mid-distance freestyle after she dethroned Ledecky in the 400-meter freestyle at the World Championships. Many had marked that win with an asterisk, however, because Ledecky had been dealing with an illness at the time.

This time, there was no asterisk. Titmus defeated Ledecky on the world’s biggest stage, swimming the second-fastest 400m freestyle (just behind Ledecky’s world record) and becoming the first swimmer to defeat the American in an individual Olympic event. Later on in the week, Titmus also won gold in the 200-meter freestyle, adding to her heroics in Tokyo.

Bonus: Titmus’ coach, Dean Boxall, had one of the greatest celebrations of the Games after she won gold.

Emma McKeon makes Olympic history

What an Olympics it was for Team Australia, with Emma McKeon’s performance standing out above the rest.

McKeon won four gold medals and three bronze medals in Tokyo, making her the first female swimmer to earn seven medals in a single Olympics. The feat also tied her with Soviet gymnast Maria Gorokhovskaya for the most medals earned by a woman at a single Olympics. McKeon is now the most decorated Australian Olympian of all time, having surpassed Ian Thorpe.

Her record-breaking moment came on the final day of competition, with McKeon winning gold in the 50-meter freestyle and then setting up Australia to win gold in the 4×100-meter medley relay.

ANOTHER OLYMPIC RECORD BROKEN 🤯

Emma McKeon won a gold medal in the women's 50m freestyle with a time of 23.81 ‼️

(via @NBCOlympics)pic.twitter.com/ciTcD09Pjf

— ESPN (@espn) August 1, 2021

Tatjana Schoenmaker breaks the Olympics’ first individual world record in swimming

After placing second in the 100-meter breaststroke, Schoenmaker was not done. The South African then dominated the 200-meter breaststroke, winning gold and breaking the world record with a time of 2:18.95. It was the first time a woman has ever gone under 2:19 in the event.

Not bad for someone who swam the same race in 2:27 five years ago and failed to qualify for Rio. Schoenmaker’s reaction was also one of the best of the Games. Her opponents, including Americans Annie Lazor and Lilly King, celebrated the achievement with her.

The 2025 New York City Marathon not only crowned its champion on Sunday, the race also saw a new course record as Kenya's Hellen Obiri crossed the Central Park finish line with a time of 2:19.51 — shattering fellow Kenyan Margaret Okayo's 2003 record by a full two minutes and 40 seconds.

Returning to the top of the New York marathon field after first winning the race in 2023, 2024 runner-up Obiri led a Kenyan contingent that swept the podium, as 2022 winner Sharon Lokedi trailed by a mere 16 seconds while 2024 champion Sheila Chepkirui claimed third with a time of 2:20:24 — all three blasting through the previous course record of 2:22.31.

"We had a very strong field," said Obiri following the race. "[I told myself] let me try to do my best, let me push."

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With her championship, Obiri claimed both the $100,000 winner's check as well as an additional $50,000 in prize money for breaking the course record.

Though the 2025 New York City Marathon marked the second straight year that Kenyan runners owned the podium, Fiona O'Keeffe also made history by setting a a new US course record with her fourth-place finish.

Finishing the five-borough race in 2:22.49, O'Keeffe shaved nearly two minutes off the previous US record of 2:24:42 — set in 2021 by Tokyo Olympic bronze medalist Molly Seidel.

"I can't take too much credit for the time — that was all on the women ahead of me," O'Keeffe said, sharing the spotlight with the runners who pushed her on Sunday. "Grateful to be back in the marathon. Feels like coming home."

Europe's top soccer teams have started down their 2027 World Cup paths, with UEFA revealing the field of 2026 European Qualifiers in a Tuesday morning league-stage draw.

Reigning world champion and world No. 1 Spain headlines the results, with La Roja set to face 2023 World Cup runners-up — and newly minted back-to-back Euro champs — No. 4 England in Group A3, while Group A1 pits perennial titans No. 3 Sweden against rising stars No. 12 Italy.

Group A2 will see No. 6 France taking on the No. 11 Netherlands, with No. 5 Germany and No. 13 Norway headlining Group A4.

A total of 11 UEFA teams will clinch spots in the 2027 World Cup via the European Qualifiers, which kick off in March 2026, though one additional UEFA nation will earn the opportunity to try and punch a ticket to the Brazil-hosted tournament via an inter-continental playoff in February 2027.

Based on the 2025 Nations League results, UEFA teams fell into three leagues entering the 2026 qualifiers, with League A and B housing 16 squads each while League C holds 21.

The winners of League A's four groups will directly qualify for the World Cup, while the remaining League A teams along with top finishers from League B and C will move on to a series of playoffs to ultimately determine the seven other direct UEFA qualifiers, plus the inter-confederation play-off contender.

The 2026 UEFA World Cup Qualifiers League A Groups

• Group A1: No. 3 Sweden, No. 12 Italy, No. 14 Denmark, No. 35 Serbia

• Group A2: No. 6 France, No. 11 Netherlands, No. 26 Poland, No. 27 Republic of Ireland

• Group A3: No. 1 Spain, No. 4 England, No. 17 Iceland, No. 34 Ukraine

• Group A4: No. 5 Germany, No. 13 Norway, No. 19 Austria, No. 38 Slovenia

With the 64-team national tournament bracket dropping in less than four weeks, the No. 1 Nebraska Cornhuskers remain the only undefeated squad in the 2025 NCAA volleyball season after back-to-back weekend losses snapped the previously unbeaten No. 4 Texas Longhorns' winning streak.

Downed in consecutive Top-10 matchups, Texas first fell to No. 6 Texas A&M in a tense five-set thriller on Friday before No. 2 Kentucky quickly handled the Longhorns in a Sunday sweep.

"We got to make sure that we are dialed in from the very first point. I thought our team fought pretty hard, but we didn't execute the level that we can," said Texas head coach Jerritt Elliott.

The weekend's volatile Top 10 results ultimately cemented Nebraska's standing as the team to beat, with the Huskers earning a unanimous No. 1 vote in the AVCA rankings for the third time this season on Monday.

Nebraska's dominance drives even deeper than the team's current 22-0 season record, with the Huskers only dropping six sets all year as they ride a 13-game sweep streak into their last eight regular-season clashes.

"I wouldn't say there's anything super unique or new that we're doing," said first-year Nebraska head coach Dani Busboom Kelly. "Putting our players in challenging situations in practice against other players has been pretty important."

How to watch Nebraska and Texas volleyball this week

Top-ranked Nebraska will next face unranked Illinois at 8 PM ET on Thursday, airing live on FS1.

Meanwhile, No. 4 Texas will look to bounce back when the Longhorns take on recently unranked Florida at 7 PM ET on Friday, with live coverage on the SEC Network.

As Unrivaled 3×3 Basketball preps for its second season, the upstart league revealed newly designed jerseys for its expanded 2026 campaign on Monday — including branding for incoming teams Breeze BC and Hive BC.

In collaboration with sportswear giant Under Armour, the updated Unrivaled jerseys feature details like bottom hem stripes for untucked wearing, side-body detailing, and a first-ever championship patch for inaugural title-winners Rose BC.

All eight clubs will sport home and away sets, along with alternate uniforms and more elaborate spins for the popular midseason 1v1 tournament.

Unrivaled will also be revealing team rosters this week, with fans of particular teams bracing for change as the offseason league navigates both player pool adjustments and expansion.

Once again, the league's head coaches built team rosters via an internal draft, pulling from six player pods organized according to position.

Each of last year's four playoff teams — the Lunar Owls, Rose BC, the Laces, and Vinyl BC — were able to protect up to two returning players, with the two non-playoff teams (the Mist and Phantom BC) allowed to keep just one player each out of selection.

Expansion sides Breeze and Hive began the draft, choosing the first two players from the non-protected athletes available.

All eight team rosters for the 2026 Unrivaled season will drop in a live Bleacher Report YouTube broadcast at 7 PM ET on Wednesday.

How to buy the Unrivaled 2026 jerseys

Following Wednesday night's roster reveal, fans will be able to purchase a limited number of 2026 jerseys via the Unrivaled shop.