Key events
Back to the high jump, Mahuchikh and Olyslagers have cleared 1.98m, the others not so much. Eleanor Patterson of Australia and Iryna Herashchenko of Ukraine take a bronze apiece, having not failed at any height till that 1.98m. Our leaders, though, have work to do.
Reekie is as upset as you’d think, telling BBC she’s in the best shape of her life; ach, that must ba s right sore yin. Shell go away, chat it through with her coach “and get myself together”.
Her emotions weren’t dissimilar to those of Dina Asher-Smith after her 100m semi. She felt good, the time asked of her was well within her ambit … but when she went to retrieve it, it wasn’t there. It’s impossible not to feel for her, even though, had she done the necessary, someone else would be suffering the exact same heartbreak.
Duguma’s winning time, by the way, is 1:57.47.
Lamote takes third and Whittaker fourth, both quicker than Gill, who goes out. She’ll be better for the experience, but, and will be back.
Reekie is finished! Duguma is going to win and Shafiqua Maloney of St Vincent powers through the final 20m to take second!
Reekie leads, but Renelle Lamote of France is getting all the encouragement, Duguma of Ethiopia taking over in the home straight as Reekie tires!
Our second women’s 800m is about to get going, Jemma Reekie – fourth in Tokyo and second-fastest in the world this year behind her teammate, Keely Hodgkinson – among them.
The final of the men’s 100m is 67 minutes away. Tension is building in my north-London box-room, never mind in Paris. There’s nothing like a sprint final – the looming, intimidating knowledge that it’s over as suddenly as it starts, people working four years for under 10 seconds of performance. That, my mates, is pressure.
Back to the high jump, Olyslagers clears 1.98m so, for now, she leads alone. But Mahuchikh looked ominously good in her opening jump.
Worknesh Mesele of Ethiopia takes second and also qualifies for the final automatically, with Daily Cooper Gaspar of Cuba third. Gill is fourth and I don’t think her time of 1:58.47 will be enough to get her into the final as a fastest loser, but you never know. Moraa, by the way, won in 1:57.86 but looks done-in at the end of it.
Mary Moraa of Kenya, leaning back in that idiosyncratic style of hers, cruises to the front and looks comfy enough. She’s going to win…
Off goes the first semi in the women’s 800m, 17-year-old Phoebe Gill of GB among then. Natoya Goule of Jamaica leads.
Let’s call in on the women’s high jump final, where six athletes have cleared 1.95m, Mahuchikh and Olyslagers among them.
Coming up next: the semi-finals of the women’s 800m.
So our 100m final is set! In it will be:
Kishane Thompson (Jamaica) 9.87
Oblique Sevilla (Jamaica) 9.81
Fred Kerley (USA) 9.84
Noah Lyles (USA) 9.83
Akani Simbine (South Africa) 9.87
Letsile Tebogo (Botswana) 9.91
Marcell Jacobs (Italy) 9.92
Kenny Bednarek (USA) 9.93
That time of 9.80s is the time Jacobs ran winning gold in Tokyo – talking of whom, Jacobs is through to the final as a fastest loser. Joining him in that regard is Kenny Bednarek, meaning Hughes is out.
Kishane Thompson of Jamaica wins the third semi of the men’s 100m in 9.80s
He eases up too, looking over, with Kerley finishing second.
Thompson gets away well and no one’s going to catch him!
Thompson is only 23, so has plenty of improving still to do, but then Oblique Sevilla is too and he just ran like a vet. Usain Bolt, we’ve been told really fancies Seville and thinks he can win this; let’s see how these lot do.
Going in the third and final semi, we’ve got Fred Kerley of USA, the world champ; Kishane Thompson of Jamaica, the fastest man in the world this year; Andre De Grasse of Canada, the defending 200m champ; and Zharnell Hughes of GB, who is capable of all sorts if he’s in nick.
Tom Lutz
3×3 basketball: The US men’s and women’s 5×5 basketball teams – loaded with NBA and WNBA stars – are laying waste to all before them. But Americans are beatable in basketball – and in the case of 3×3, very beatable. The men’s team just lost 21-6 to the Netherlands, ending their hopes of qualifying for the next round. That’s quite an achievement since six of the eight teams in the group stage qualify for the knockouts. The team wasn’t exactly filled with stars – mainly college stars or NBA journeyman. It will be interesting to see if they load up for a homes Games at LA 2028.
Jacobs’ time of 9.92s is equal with his fastest this season; he’s currently prowling about off-track waiting to see how the third semi goes and I reckon he’ll be feeling much better about all this.
Yup, Jacobs is third but his time is quicker than Hinchliffe’s and he’ll expect to make the final from here. Hinchliffe is definitely out, but has the defending champ found a bit of form at the right time?
Akani Simbine of RSA wins the second semi in 9.90s!
I think Tebogo of Botswana is second, with Jacobs third.
Akani Simbine of RSA is away well and Jacobs has work to do!
The second semi is coming up and it’s not as strong as the first. Marcell Jacobs, the defending champ, goes in lane eight and hasn’t really looked himself lately. I fancy Kenny Bednarek of USA…
Tom Lutz
3×3 basketball: The US men’s and women’s 5×5 basketball teams – loaded with NBA and WNBA stars – are laying waste to all before them. But Americans are beatable in basketball – and in the case of 3×3, very beatable. The men’s team just lost 21-6 to the Netherlands, ending their hopes of qualifying for the next round. That’s quite an achievement since six of the eight teams in the group stage qualify for the knockouts. The team wasn’t exactly filled with stars – mainly college stars or NBA journeyman. It will be interesting to see if they load up for a homes Games at LA 2028.
Beau Dure
Through a few days of the Olympics, the narrative was that the USA were underachieving, especially in the pool. Gold medal favourites took silver and bronze. Medal contenders took fourth and fifth.
They still finished behind their Tokyo gold-medal haul of 11 and well behind their Phelps-driven 16 golds each in Rio and London. They lost the men’s 4x100m medley relay for the first time.
But with Bobby Finke defending his 1500m freestyle, the USA pulled even with Australia with seven gold medals. Then the US women emphatically struck the decisive blow in the rivalry for this year, setting a world record in the 4x100m medley relay.
It’s a second gold medal for Regan Smith and Gretchen Walsh after the mixed medley relay, and it’s a solid career capper for Lilly King, the 2016 100m breaststroke gold medalist. The final word, appropriately, went to Torri Huske, who leaves Paris with three gold medals and two silvers. By the time she entered the pool in the relay, she was racing only against the clock.
The bar, though, has been raised. Leon Marchand is the toast of Paris with four gold medals. Canada’s Summer McIntosh took the first three of what may be an armful of gold medals in her career. Both swimmers, incidentally, train in the United States.
Seville’s time is rounded up to 9.81, a personal best, and actually I did Lyles a disservice: his time of 9.83 is only 0.02 off his PB and his start wasn’t bad … problem being he still lost, comfortably. Louie Hinchliffe was third, Emmanuel Esema of Comoros fourth, Shaun Maswanganyi of RSA fourth, Favour Ashe of Nigeria sixth.
That was a tremendous run from Seville, and I don’t think Lyles can beat him if he runs like that in the final. He’s under so much pressure because he knows he has to start perhaps better than ever before – and watching the replay we see Sevilla looking over to his left, letting his man know they both know he’s got him beat.
Seville wins in 9.80s, Lyles in second!
Hinchliffe is third and will have to wait.
And they’re away, Seville looking great and Lyles comes with him…
They take their marks…
Lyles looks a nervous and I’m not surprised. He talks a lot – brilliantly so, he’s great and exactly what athletics needs – but it doesn’t, in mine, come with the certainty he hopes it does, quite the reverse. If he starts well he can win any 100m race, but if he doesn’t, by the time his 200m speed kicks in, it might well be too late.
Hinchliffe, of course, is coached by Carl Lewis. I daresay him deeming you worth his time is a decent boost.
We’re now watching VT of Louie Hinchliffe’s parents – his dad’s from Rotherham, his mum the Philippines and what a thing that is to celebrate on a dark day like this one. He’s out on the track now, ready for the first semi, in which he’ll face Noah Lyles, whom he beat yesterday, and Oblique Seville – among others.
Our women high-jump finalists are coming out, while on BBC they’re looking forward to the men’s 100m. I may or may not have just called down the stairs to advise my wife she might like Michael Johnson’s mustard-coloured rollneck. Her husband may or may not refuse to countenance such garments, and may or may not be less able to elevate them than this fairly reasonable figure of a man.
So our 400m semi-finalists are set, Matthew Hudson-Smith of GB the fastest qualifier in 44.78. He’s also the fastest man in the world this year, but will know that the real work starts now.
Charlie Dobson of GB has just own heat six of the men’s 400m in 44.96; Alexander Doom, of Inspector Gadget Belgium is second, and Jevaughan Powell of Jamaica third.
A primer for what should be a jazzer of a competition.
Our women high jumpers are out, Nicola Olyslagers of Australia – the second favourite for the title behind the new world record-holder, Yaroslava Mahuchikh – sits, writing in her journal. How can she even hold a pen?
That swimming arena, though. And that crowd. Andy Jamieson noted the other day that he’s been to 11 Olympics – what a flex! – and never experienced an atmosphere remotely comparable.
Quincy Hall isn’t too fussed what others are doing – “We ready!” he enthuses. He’ll be there or thereabouts.
I guess it seems unlikely that James can win gold at 31, but we know for sure the competition won’t get big on him so you never know.
Kirani James, the men’s 400m gold medalist in London, cruises past the leader in the home straight to win heat five. Canada’s Christopher Morales-Williams is second and Aruna Darshana of Sri Lanka is fourth.
USA win gold in the women’s 4x100m medley, in a new world-record time of 3:49.63!
Australia take silver, China bronze, and that was awesome – actually, genuinely, awesome, not just quite good – so exactly the closer the meet deserved. It’s been an absolute banger.
USA are battling the clock now, the third butterfly leg almost over and the lead enormous, the world-record line well behind Maggie Mac Neil.
USA lead through the breaststroke, from Australia, from Canada – but the lead is a significant one.
The women’s 4x100m medley is away, USA’s frankly ridiculous team looking impregnable.
Quincy – what is it about that name and the 400m? – Hall wins heat four ahead of Samuel Ogazi of Nigeria and Reece Holder of Australia. Hall is now the biggest threat to Hudson-Smith.
Steven Gardiner, defending 400m champion, is out injured
Oh man, that is brutal. The great Shelly-Ann yesterday and now this today. He’s struggled with injury a lot so it’s not a massive shock, but still unpleasant to see – especially the visual finality of an empty lane, when you know the pain, love and tears that have been spent in the pursuit of filling it. Godspeed, old mate.