Malaika Mihambo put up a battling defence of her Olympic long jump title but the German had to give way to Tara Davis-Woodhall from the United States on Thursday (8) evening.
Davis-Woodhall was the only jumper to surpass the seven metre-line, taking the lead in the second round with 7.05m before embellishing her advantage with a fourth-round mark of 7.10m.
Mihambo, who only qualified by virtue of a third round jump in qualifying, responded to her American rival with 6.95m in the second round before improving marginally with 6.98m in the fifth round to move ahead of Olympic triple jump bronze medallist Jasmine Moore who led after the first round with 6.96m.
Mihambo famously won the Olympic title in Tokyo three years ago with her sixth round jump of 7.00m but the German - who has been weakened by a bout of coronavirus after winning gold at the European Athletics Championships in Rome with a world lead of 7.22m - couldn’t quite rouse herself to another final round flourish, running through on her last attempt.
This ensured gold would go to Davis-Woodhall while Moore won her second medal of the Olympics with bronze, becoming the first jumper since Russia’s Tatyana Lebedeva to win medals in both horizontal jumps at the same Olympic Games.
Fourth Olympic medal for Bol in the 400m hurdles
An anticipated head-to-head in the 400m hurdles between Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone and Femke Bol, who ran a turbo-charged 47.93 leg in the mixed 4x400m to anchor the Netherlands to gold, turned into a one-woman show as the American superstar took her world record into uncharted territory with a 50.37 clocking.
But the effects of a fast start in her endeavour for her second gold medal caught up with Bol who uncharacteristically faded over the last two hurdles and was even overhauled for silver by Anna Cockrell who ran a lifetime best of 51.87, a time which has only ever been bettered by McLaughlin-Levrone, Bol and Dalilah Muhammad.
Bol clung on for bronze in 52.15 and while the reigning world and European champion struggled to hold back the tears in the Stade de France which was awash with expectant Dutch fans who were clad in bright orange, this was still her third Olympic medal at the age of 24.
And a fourth could follow in the women’s 4x400m relay with the Dutch team - who are the reigning world and European champions both indoors and outdoors - highly favoured to add to their impressive medal haul.
Game on between Johnson-Thompson and Thiam
Reigning world champion Katarina Johnson-Thompson amassed a brilliant first day in the heptathlon and leads reigning two-time Olympic champion Nafissatou Thiam who is also performing above par.
Johnson-Thompson shrieked with delight after recording a lifetime best of 14.44m shot put while Thiam equalled hers with 15.54m to move into the lead as expected.
But Johnson-Thompson added further lustre to her first day with a 23.44 200m to prise back the lead from Thiam although the Belgian’s time of 24.46 was a big improvement on her season’s best of 24.81 from the European Athletics Championships in Rome where Thiam won gold for the third time with a world lead of 6848 points.
This leaves the heptathlon delicately balanced after four events. Johnson-Thompson leads with 4055 points ahead of Thiam (4007 points) with Anna Hall from the United States and two-time world indoor champion Noor Vidts third (3956 points) and fourth (3951 points) respectively.
Steven Mills for European Athletics