Quick Take

Aptos native Nikki Hiltz runs in the women's 1,500-meter final on Saturday and new Santa Cruz resident Kelsey Robinson Cook is headed to the gold-medal match with with the U.S. women's volleyball team Sunday. They're hoping to add to a local medal haul that includes a historic silver for mountain biker Haley Batten.

Two athletes with Santa Cruz County ties still have chances at Olympic medals with Team USA as the Paris Games head into their closing weekend.

Aptos native Nikki Hiltz, 29, will run in Saturday’s women’s 1,500-meter final. Hiltz, a nonbinary athlete who uses they/them pronouns, faces a 12-runner field that includes the world’s current top four, including world record-holder Faith Kipyegon of Kenya. Kipyegon’s record is 3 minutes, 49.04 seconds, set last month; Hiltz’s personal best is 3:55.33. The race is scheduled for 11:15 a.m. PT Saturday. 

Hiltz is the first openly nonbinary athlete to compete in an individual Olympic final, per Axios.

Kelsey Robinson Cook, a 32-year-old Illinois native who recently bought a home in Santa Cruz with husband and fellow volleyball player Brian Cook, has a chance at a second Olympic gold when the U.S. women’s team faces Italy. That finals match is slated for 4 a.m. PT Sunday, the last day of the Games. Robinson Cook brought home a gold from the 2021 Tokyo Olympics.

Santa Cruz climber Natalia Grossman, 23, missed out on the medal round in the women’s boulder and lead climbing event, finishing 11th in a 20-woman field in Thursday’s semifinal round. The top eight advanced to the final round.

Freestyle wrestler Dominique Parrish, 27, of Scotts Valley finished 0-2 in the 53-kilogram (about 117 pounds) competition at her first Olympics, and was pinned by Mongolia’s Khulan Batkhuyag in Thursday’s repechage – or second-chance – round. That came after Parrish, a gold medalist at the 2022 world championships, was upset – also via pin – by Akari Fujiama of Japan.

A pair of athletes with local ties won medals earlier in the Paris Games.

Haley Batten, a 25-year-old Utah native who lives in Santa Cruz, took silver in the cross-country mountain biking event last Sunday, the highest finish ever for an American in that race.

Aptos native Caspar Corbeau, a 23-year-old competing for the Netherlands, captured a bronze medal in the 200-meter breaststroke on July 31. 

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