Track cycling fans are looking for a new world record to be set in the team pursuit whilst on the athletics track will come the men's 400m, with Michael Norman, Matthew Hudson-Smith and Quincy Hall battling it out for gold.
Volleyball
Poland vs USA, men's semi-finals
16:00, South Paris Arena One
The US volleyball team got burned out at the last Games in Tokyo. After an unexpected loss to Argentina, the three-time Olympic champions (1984, 1988 and 2008) did not even qualify for the playoffs, so they are looking to make amends in Paris.
Coach John Speraw hasn't lost confidence, leaving seven players from the three-year-old Olympics in the lineup, and his team is indeed playing with a lot of confidence. The Americans made it through the regular group without a loss and even took out a pesky Brazil side in the quarter-finals.
But in the semi-finals, they will face one of the best teams in the world. Poland won the Nations League last year, beating their current opponents 3-1 in the final at home in Gdansk. The team, full of thirty-somethings looking to make their dream come true, may not have a frenetic crowd behind them this time, but they are driven by the desire to finally break the curse at the Olympics.
The three-time world champions (1974, 2014 and 2018) have finished in the quarter-finals of five consecutive Olympic tournaments. This time, they are already among the top four. And in the duel with the USA, they can again fight for Poland's participation in the final after 48 long years. In Montreal 1976, gold was celebrated.
The last match between the two countries shows that this time it could be drama until the last ball. Just before the start of the Paris Games, the semi-final rivals met in the preliminaries and Poland won 3-2 in sets.
Track cycling
Team pursuit, men
18:25, velodrome Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines
The traditional hit of track cycling will take place on Wednesday evening, and the 4km team pursuit has produced a world record at each of the six previous Olympics. It started in Sydney, when the German quartet pushed their time under four minutes for the first time (3:59.710).
But over the next two decades, they pushed the boundaries by almost 20 seconds! The world record is still held by the Italian cyclists who won gold in Tokyo three years ago with a time of 3:42.032!
After Tuesday's racing that mark has been sunk even further. Australia set a brand new world record at 3:40.730, sending themselves to the gold medal race, whilst sinking Italy into the bronze medal race.
They will face off against the old enemy Great Britain on Wednesday evening, after the quartet saw off Denmark, but they were two seconds slower than the Aussies, meaning they will need to provide a shock if they are to take home the gold they have won on many occasions before.
Athletics
400 metres, men
21:20 CET, Paris, Stade de France
Thanks to the iconic Michael Johnson or South African Wayde van Niekerk's world record of 43.03 seconds, the men's 400m is one of the traditional jewels of athletics at the Olympics.
Once again, the field of athletes promises a very even final and performances that could approach the historic best. Already in the heats, American Michael Norman clocked his fourth time of the season, 44.10, to remind us that he is the 2022 world champion. Otherwise, it was a battle between Matthew Hudson-Smith and Quincy Hall in recent weeks.
The American Hall managed to run a season's best of 43.80 at the Diamond League meeting in Monaco in early July. However, this exceptional performance was erased eight days later by his British rival in the final of the prestigious competition. As for Hudson-Smith, his personal best (43.74) also became the first ever 400 by a European to be run under 44 seconds.
The Tokyo gold medalist, Steven Gardiner of the Bahamas, was set to defend his crown, but he came to Paris, entered the heats, and unfortunately pulled out before the start due to injury.
