(7) Thursday, August 5 –
. Image of the day –
. Full report on Damian Warner’s outstanding win in the men’s decathlon
Canadian Damian Warner led from start to finish to win the men’s decathlon gold at the Tokyo Olympics with a new Games record score of 9,018 points.
Frenchman Kevin Mayer, who holds the world record in decathlon with 9,126 points, took his second successive Olympic silver medal after finishing on 8,726 points.
Australian 21-year-old Ash Moloney, the world Under-20 champion, won bronze with 8,649.
“That’s crazy,” an emotional Warner said, still looking relatively fresh after competing in hot an humid conditions over two days.
“When I was in grade six I wrote in a school project that I’d be in the Olympics one day, and who would have known that I would be an Olympic gold medallist.”
Warner arrived in Tokyo as the leading decathlete in the world in 2021 after scoring 8,995 points at a meet in May – the fifth highest total in history.
He finished in the top five at the past six outdoor global championships, picked up an Olympic bronze in 2016 as well as world silver in 2015 and world bronze in 2013 and 2019.
“In Rio 2016, when I finished third, while I was happy to be on the podium I was also disappointed that I didn’t get on top,” he said.
“So I used that experience from 2016 to accomplish the performance that I’ve had over the last two days.”
The 31-year-old could not have hoped for a better start to his Tokyo campaign in the all-round test, which covers 10 disciplines spread over two days to determine the best overall athlete at the Games.
The Canadian tied his own world record in the 100m and then bettered the Games mark in long jump on Wednesday to stay ahead of the field.
He returned on Thursday to set a Games record 13.46 seconds in the 110 metres hurdles to extend his advantage and threw his discus 48.67 metres.
Pole vault could have been his Achilles heel.
But Warner cleared to a personal best 4.90 to maintain his points cushion and in the evening he threw the javelin 63.44m – close to his best of 64.67.
He the ran the 1,500m – the final event in decathlon – in 4:31:08 to become only the fourth man to score 9,000 points, after Mayer, Ashton Eaton and Roman Sebrle.
Warner also became the oldest Olympic champion in the men’s decathlon, overtaking Norway’s Helge Lovland, who was 30 years and 102 days in 1920.
Mayer, who faced some back issues, was out of the medal positions for most of the two days, but a lifetime best of 73.09m in the javelin helped him climb up to second spot.
“There was a lot of doubt about whether I was going to be able to finish it, but for me to finish with a medal is amazing,” he said, adding that he will target a gold at his home Olympics in Paris in 2024.
“I really want to win there, to win decathlon gold medal in Paris would be amazing.”
. Damian Warner (Canada) wins gold in the men’s decathlon and sets a new OR
That was brilliant from Damian Warner. Not only has he won gold but he has also set a new Olympic record and broken the 9,000-point barrier! 9,018 points!
This gold medal has been some time coming after winning bronze at the Olympics in Rio in 2016, as well as bronze (2013), silver (2015), and bronze (2019) in the World Championships.
Medal winners:
1. Damian Warner, Canada (9018)
2. Kevin Mayer, France (8726)
3. Ashley Moloney, Australia (8649)
. Nafissatou retains her Olympic title in the women’s heptathlon
Thiam has won gold for Belgium (6791 points), with Anouk Vetter (6689) and Emma Oosterwegel (6590) – both from the Netherlands – reaching the podium..
For the record, here are the seven disciplines.
100m hurdles
High jump
Shot put
200 metres
Long jump
Javelin
800 metres
An exhausted, emotional and victorious Nafi Thiam has been describing how she feels after winning gold in the heptathlon.
“I’m still in shock. it’s been two difficult years with a lot of up and downs and physical problems and in my head I wasn’t always in the right place. I’m happy, it’s paid off in the end and now I want to enjoy my holidays I think I need some time off. I’m just exhausted. I don’t really have the words right now.“
. Gardiner of the Bahamas wins gold in the men’s 400 metres
Steven Gardiner, the reigning world champion, adds the Olympic 400m gold to his world title. Michael Norman made all the early running for the USA but faded on the run-in to finish fifth. His compatriot Michael Cherry ran a personal best in fourth place.
Here are the full results:
Steven Gardiner (Bahamas) 43.85
Anthony José Zambrano (Colombia) 44.08
Kirani James (Grenada) 44.19
Michael Cherry 44.21
Michael Norman 44.31
Christopher Taylor 44.79
Isaac Makwala 44.94
Liemarvin Bonevacia 45.07
Wayde van Niekerk, who set a world record of 43.03 in the 400m final in Rio five years ago, was not in the final. He has struggled with a series of injuries since tearing his anterior cruciate knee ligament in 2017. He finished fourth in his semi-final, which wasn’t enough to reach today’s final.
The two Americans – Michael Cherry and Michael Norman – finished just outside of the medals.
. Nageotte of the USA wins women’s pole vault
With two faults to her name from earlier rounds, Sidorova fails with her only attempt at 4.95m. She has to settle for silver, while American Katie Nageotte wins the gold medal. Bradshaw (GBR) takes the bronze.
. Dina Asher-Smith returned to competition and came through unscathed in the heats as Team GB set a new British record in the women’s 4x100m relay.
The sprint star – who had her Olympics wrecked by a hamstring injury – returned for the first time after failing to reach the 100m final and pulling out of the 200m.
Asher-Smith was untroubled as she ran the third leg with the team, also consisting of Asha Philip, Imani-Lara Lansiquot and Daryll Neita, impressively winning their heat in 41.55 seconds – a new British record.
The final is on Friday afternoon – Team GB won a bronze in the event at Rio 2016.
. Women’s pole vault
Holly Bradshaw (GBR) has got off to a decent start in the women’s pole vault, clearing 4m 50cm with her first effort, to soothe any early jitters. The reigning champion, Katerina Stefanidi from Greece, made an absolute dog’s breakfast of her first attempt, failing to reach the bar, let alone clear it.
. GBR qualify for the final in the men’s 4x100m relay
CJ Ujah, Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake, Richard Kilty and Zharnel Hughes finished in 38.02 seconds in the first heat, finishing second behind Jamaica.
Yet the big shock came in the second heat, as the USA team of Trayvon Bromell, Fred Kerley, Ronnie Baker and Cravon Gillespie finished sixth, done in by a series of bad exchanges that resulted in a time of 38.10 seconds.
The USA team featured two of the individual 100m finalists in Kerley and Baker, the world leader Bromell and Gillespie, who also ran the heats en route to their 2019 world championship-winning team.
But despite the depth of talent on show, a shocking second changeover saw them lose all momentum and Gillespie was unable to run them back into contention in a mass finish, with China the surprise heat winners in 37.92.
There has been some serious fallout from the USA men’s relay team’s failure, with none other than the great Carl Lewis letting rip on social media:
“The USA team did everything wrong in the men’s relay. The passing system is wrong, athletes running the wrong legs, and it was clear that there was no leadership. It was a total embarrassment, and completely unacceptable for a USA team to look worse than the AAU kids I saw.”
After dominating the event for decades, a succession of disqualifications contributed to the United States not managing gold since 2000.
This is the latest setback in what has been a considerably below-par performance in Tokyo for the male side of sprinting’s traditionally most powerful nation.
Men’s decathlon: not much change at the top following the conclusion of the eighth event – pole vault – earlier today, with world champion Kevin Mayer still out of the medal positions with just javelin and 1500m to go.
- Damian Warner (CAN) – 7490 points
- Ashley Moloney (AUS) – 7269 points
- Pierce Lepage (CAN) – 7175 points
- Kevin Mayer (FRA) – 7129 points
- Garrett Scantling (USA) – 7026 points
. Triple Jumper Hugues Fabrice Zango claims bronze as the African country Burkina Faso win their first ever Olympic medal
Burkina Faso’s Hugues Fabrice Zango made history as he claimed his country’s first ever Olympic medal in the men’s triple jump.
The 28-year-old, who also won bronze at the 2019 World Championships in Doha, jumped 17.47 metres to claim third spot on the podium.
Pedro Pichardo of Portugal won gold with a jump of 17.98 metres to claim his first Olympic title, while China’s Zhu Yaming took silver at Tokyo’s Olympic Stadium with 17.57.
. Hansle Parchment (Jamaica) wins gold in 100m hurdles over world record holder Grant Holloway
Holloway, the world champion, was in front through nine out of the 10 hurdles, but suddenly faded on the last.
Parchment flew past him to add an Olympic gold to the bronze medal he won at the 2012 London Games in a season’s best time of 13.04 seconds.
Holloway took silver in 13.09 and another Jamaican, Ronald Levy, had the bronze in 13.10 seconds.
Andrew Pozzi (GBR), who qualified as a fastest loser from his semi-final on Wednesday, struggled towards the end of his race. He said he was disappointed with his time of 13.30 seconds: ‘I came here wanting to win a medal, I wasn’t moving quite how I wanted.’
Men’s 4x100m relay heats: both of today’s heats have been decided. Here’s what happened
- Jamaica, who have such a proud history in this event as dual defending champions, won the opening heat from Team GB and Japan
- In the second heat, Team USA were fancied to qualify and be a medal chance but they crashed out to tire into sixth place. The heat went to China, with Canada running second off the back of a sizzling Andre de Grasse leg and Italy, with 100m gold medalist Lamont Jacobs running the second leg, finishing third in national record time
The top three in each heat qualify for the final, plus the two fastest losers.
Decathlon: The leader, Canada’s Damian Warner, steamed home in heat three of the 110m hurdles and increased his lead over the pack.
The standings are now:
1) Damian Warner (Canada) 5767 points
2) Ashley Moloney (Australia) 5605 points
3) Pierce Lepage (Canada) 5454 points
4) Kevin Mayer (France) 5327 points
5) Garrett Scantling (USA) 5309 points
The fast track may be helping those who do better in the sprints than the field events. But no matter, Warner is putting in a brilliant performance and will take some catching.
(6) Wednesday, August 4 –
. Image of the day –
The Olympics are an ideal place to showcase photographic techniques such as a slow shutter-speed or in-camera multiple exposures to give viewers a sense of motion and can produce an image that is far removed from what would be seen with the naked eye.
. Andrew Pozzi (GBR) made the Olympic 110m hurdles final for the first time in his career
The world 60m champion finished fourth in his semi-final in 13.32 seconds and had to wait to see if he would qualify as one of the fastest losers.
He reached the semi-finals in Rio five years ago and the 29-year-old admitted it was a nervous time to see if he made it through to Thursday’s final.
American favourite Grant Holloway qualified fastest, posting a time of 13.13 seconds ahead of tomorrow’s final.
. Standings at the end of day 1 in the decathlon
- Warner (Canada) 4722
- Moloney (Australia) 4641
- Lepage (Canada) 4369
- Bastien (France) 4369
- Mayer (France) 4340
- Scantling (USA) 4338
Niklas Kaul, Germany’s world champion, pulled up in the 400m discipline, which probably means the end of his Games.
. Korir extends Kenya’s dominance in men’s 800 metres
Kenya’s Emmanuel Korir has won the Olympic men’s 800 metres gold medal, extending the East African nation’s dominance of an event they have now won four times in a row.
His compatriot Ferguson Rotich took silver and Patryk Dobek of Poland claimed the bronze.
Kenya’s double Olympic gold medallist David Rudisha’s persistent injuries denied him the chance to defend his title, opening a path for a new champion to emerge and Korir powered his way to victory with a time of 1:45.06.
He spread his arms wide as he crossed the line as if to announce that he was ready to assume Rudisha’s mantle as king of the 800 metres.
“I don’t know what to say, just thanks to God,” he said. “This is a big thing for me after failing to qualify for the final in the 2017 and 2019 world championships. But today is my day.
“It’s been my prayer to be an Olympian, and today I am,” he added.
Arriving in Japan boasting the second leading time of the year, Korir began the race fast, moving up to second behind Australia’s Peter Bol who set the early pace.
“There was nobody who wanted to take the pace, so I just said I was going to control it,” Korir said. “The Australian guy, Bol (Peter, who led off the last bend), he did something good for me.”
Korir accelerated with 200 metres left and surged to the line ahead of Rotich, who pushed hard in the last 50m to make it a Kenyan one-two as he clocked 1:45.23.
“My prediction was that we would get a one-two-three,” he said, referring to Michael Saruni, who failed to advance to the final.
Rotich said he was pleased with the result for Kenya.
“We have been able to bring a gold medal to our country. Today we brought a silver and a gold, so it’s a plus to our country and our lives,” he said.
As the race was coming to its last stretch, Rotich said that he realised he was not in a medal position.
“A thought came in my mind that ‘oh, you are late’. And I just came out very quickly and I moved forward,” he said.
Dobek’s bronze was Poland’s first Olympic medal in the 800m and first medal in an individual running event since 1980.
“This is a historic medal for Poland at the Olympic Games. I’m very excited,” Dobek said.
The Pole had only started running the 800m in 2021. “I am a new 800 runner. I switched from 400 hurdles. This was a good idea to switch the distance,” he added.
. Andre De Grasse (Canada) lands the men’s 200m gold and claims title previously held by Usain Bolt
Canada’s Andre De Grasse claimed victory in the 200 metres final at the Olympics.
The 26-year-old added the gold medal to the bronze he won in the 100m on Sunday after running 19.62 seconds.
World champion Noah Lyles was third behind USA team-mate Kenneth Bednarek.
Despite reacting quickest out the block, De Grasse struggled to make the most of his instant advantage as his American rivals soon stormed ahead.
But De Grasse overtook Lyles and Bednarek as they closed in on the line and held off the challenge of Bednarek to improve on the silver medal he won in Rio five years ago.
The USA’s Erriyon Knighton, a possible heir to Usain Bolt’s 200m throne at just 17, came fourth. He ran 19.84 seconds in the US trials to beat Bolt’s Under 20s record.
. Heptathlete Katarina Johnson-Thompson (GBR) exits heptathlon after injury in the 200m discipline
Team GB star Katarina Johnson-Thompson has suffered Olympic heartbreak after injuring her achilles in the 200m of the women’s heptathlon.
The Brit got her Olympic heptathlon campaign off to a flyer by winning the 100m hurdles with an impressive time of 13.27 seconds – the second fastest of her career.
She slipped down the order after the high jump and shot put events, sitting in fifth in the standings ahead of the 200m sprint.
However, the 28-year-old went down after completing the bend but refused treatment and completed the race but was disqualified because she left the lane.
The Liverpudlian had battled back from a ruptured Achilles suffered last December to make the Games and needed medical treatment during the high jump event.
Earlier in the day, Johnson-Thompson bowed out of the high jump event at the 1.86m mark. That was a disappointing outcome for the Brit, whose personal best is 12cm higher.
In the third event of the day, Johnson-Thompson threw a best of 13.31m to earn 748 points in the shot put.
. Laura Muir reaches final of the women’s 1500m
Laura Muir (GBR) safely navigated the semi-finals of the 1500m with a comfortable second place to keep alive her hopes of landing a first Olympic medal.
After finishing in the top five of her semi-final, the Scottish athlete easily secured her place in the final with a time of 4:00.73, only being pipped to victory by the Dutch star Sifan Hassan who has already taken a gold medal in the 5000m in Tokyo.
However it was disaster for Muir’s British team-mate Katie Snowden, who in placing ninth in the much quicker first semi-final saw her medal hopes come to a premature end.
Muir looked comfortable throughout and will take heart from running in strong competition with Hassan who is favourite to take the gold medal and only stole the lead deep into the final straight.
Cory McGee of the United States suffered from a fall after a tangle with Winny Chebet of Kenya which ended her medal hopes after only recovering to 11th.
Australia’s Jessica Hull and Linden Hall both progressed in the respective semi-finals -with the former setting a continental record at 3:58.81.
Hassan progressed to the second of what she hopes will be three finals but the newly-crowned Olympic 5000m champion is likely to have to work much harder in the 1500m to beat defending champion Faith Kipyegon.
Hassan, world champion at 1500m and 10,000m, is hoping to add those Olympic titles to complete an unprecedented hat-trick.
Having been tripped in her 1500m heat on Monday she stayed well out of danger at the back of the second semi-final until the bell.
She then tore home past Muir on the straight – seemingly unconcerned about saving anything for the tests still to come – running hard through the line in a time of 4:00.23.
Their biggest rival in the final is likely to be Kipyegon. The Kenyan stretched the first semi-final to come home in a remarkable 3:56.80, a time better than the lifetime bests of all but four of the other 25 semi-finalists.
Ethiopia’s Freweyni Gebreezibeher and Gabriela Debues-Stafford of Canada look to be the only others with a realistic medal chance.
. Jessica Hull breaks the Australian 1500m record in semi-final
Hull (Australia) qualifies for the women’s 1500m final on the track in fourth position, and blows away the Australian national record in the process. A great tactical run. Faith Kipyegon blew everyone away down the home straight. There was a fall, as well, Cory Ann McGee of the USA got tripped up and hit the deck, running 11th out of 13. Here are the five qualifiers for the final from this semi-final.
Kenya – Faith KIPYEGON 3:56.80
Ethiopia -Freweyni GEBREEZIBEHER 3:57.54
Canada – Gabriela DEBUES-STAFFORD 3:58.28
Australia – Jessica HULL 3:58.81
Japan – Nozomi TANAKA 3:59.19
. Sydney McLaughlin of the USA wins gold and breaks the World Record in the women’s 400m hurdles
The USA’s Sydney McLaughlin broke her own world record to clinch the 400 metres hurdles gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics.
The 21-year-old clocked 51.46 seconds having previously set a world best of 51.90s to become the first woman to break the 51-second barrier in June.
McLaughlin revealed she had almost put herself in solitary confinement to give herself the best shot at gold, which paid off today.
Sydney appeared at Rio 2016 at the age of 17, but failed to qualify for the final.
She added: ‘It’s been a growing experience – 2016 wasn’t everything I wanted it to be, so just being able to put the pieces together, I am really grateful.
‘I made the mistake in 2016 of letting the atmosphere get to me. But this time I stayed in my bubble and did the same things I had been doing before.
Muhammad, the Rio gold medallist, ran a PB 51.58 and was excellent over the jumps, but could not match the flat speed of the winner. She wins silver. Young Dutch hurdler, Femke Bol, ran out of her skin to claim bronze in an AR 52.03 and will be one to watch in the future. Disappointment for USA’s Anna Cockrell, who was disqualified for lane violation.
But this was all about McLaughlin, who now adds an Olympic gold to her world title in the 4x400m relay. Could this be the beginning of the end for world champion Muhammad at the age of 31? Either way, this is a great rivalry.
Men’s decathlon – long jump: a new Olympic decathlon record has been set by Canadian Damian Warner, who jumped a mammoth 8.24m to rack up a very handy 1,123 points. Australians Ashley Moloney (7.64m) and Cedric Dubler (7.36m) also showed up prominently in Group B, where USA’s Garrett Scantling jumped 7.30m to finish in seventh.
In Group A, another Canadian, Pierce Lepage, was the leading jumper with an effort of 7.65m. The top seven in that group all recorded seasonal-best leaps.
In the shot put of the men’s decathlon – Canadian Damian Warner is showing the way at the completion of the shot put leg. Warner (2,966 points) leads the way from countryman Pierce Lepage (2,773) and Australian Ashley Moloney (2,741). Reigning world champion and world record holder, Kevin Mayer, is breathing down the necks of the leaders in fourth, just in front of USA’s Garrett Scantling. Australia’s Cedric Dubler has work to do way down in 17th place.
(5) Tuesday, August 3 –
Pole vault: Harry Coppell (GBR) has been talking about finishing seventh in the pole vault final and his experience in Tokyo.
‘It has just been amazing, I am still in a little bit of disbelief that I was in an Olympic final. But I went out and I jumped as well as I could. I am a little bit gutted to not get the PB because that would have put me in the fight for a medal but I am just so happy. It has been brilliant.‘
Mondo Duplantis (Sweden) tried to break his own world record of 6.18m. He had two attempts at 6.19m. It looked as if he had done it first time round but he clipped the bar. He didn’t come close in his second attempt. On the final attempt, he brushed the bar with his leg and his bid for a new world record was over. He will go higher in the future but, for now, he has an Olympic gold medal to enjoy.
Here are the results from the pole vault final (in metres):
1. Armand Duplantis 6.02
2. Chris Nilsen 5.97
3. Thiago Braz 5.87
4. Emmanouil Karalis 5.80
5. KC Lightfoot 5.80
6. Piotr Lisek 5.80
7. Harry Coppell 5.80
8. Renaud Lavillenie 5.70
9. Oleg Zernikel 5.70
10. Ersu Sasma 5.70
11. Bo Kanda Lita Baehre 5.70
13. Menno Vloon 5.55
. The designer behind the Olympic Stadium running track in Tokyo says it is helping athletes to break records. New rubber granules are creating “pockets of air” and a “trampoline effect”
Andrea Vallauri, the designer behind the rapid track that has seen a series of extraordinary times at the Olympics, says the surface is generating ‘one or two per cent’ improvements in performances.
In the latest blistering run at the Olympic Stadium, Norway’s Karsten Warholm smashed his own 400m hurdles world record by more than 0.7seconds.
That in turn followed Olympic records by the Puerto Rican Jasmine Camacho-Quinn in the 100m hurdles and Elaine Thompson-Herah on her way to 100m gold.
While the performances have been spectacular, they have raised questions about the technologies in the spikes and the running track.
In terms of the latter, which has been supplied by Mondo, Kyron McMaster, who finished fourth in the 400m hurdles, described it as like ‘running on air’.
One of the team behind the track’s creation, Andrea Vallauri, said: ‘What you are seeing is evolution. Clearly every time there is an Olympic Games we try to improve the formulation of the material, and Tokyo has been no different.
‘We have tried to improve by adding an extra compound. The track is very thin – 14mm. But we have added these rubber granules. How best to describe it: in the lower layer of the track is this hexagonal design that creates these small pockets of air.’
‘They not only provide shock absorption but give some energy return; at the same time a trampoline effect. We have improved this combination and this is why we are seeing the track has improved performance.’
‘In lab testing we can see the improvement. It is difficult to say exactly but maybe a one or two per cent advantage.
‘It is all prefabricated so every lane is the same, and the run-ups for the long and triple jumps also. The production is the same as a Formula One tyre.’
. Elaine Thompson-Herah (Jamaica) wins gold in women’s 200 metres
That’s two golds in Rio and two more in Tokyo for Thompson-Herah.
She claimed the Olympic 200m title with a national record time of 21.53seconds to pick up her second gold medal of the Tokyo Games.
Here’s the full result.
1. Elaine Thompson-Herah 21.53
2. Christine Mboma 21.81
3. Gabrielle Thomas 21.87
4. Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce 21.94
5. Marie Josée Ta Lou 22.27
6. Beatrice Masilingi 22.28
7. Mujinga Kambundji 22.30
8. Shaunae Miller-Uibo 24.00
Teenage sprinter Christine Mboma from Namibia claimed the silver medal with a time of 21.81, with Team USA’s Gabrielle Thomas 0.06 seconds behind the 18-year-old to get the bronze.
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