A national triple jump record of 17.98m helped Pedro Pablo Pichardo to win Portugal's first Olympic gold medal in any sport in Tokyo since Nelson Evora won the same title in Beijing in 2008.
The victory on Thursday (5) also achieved the country's highest ever medal tally of four across all events at a single Olympic Games - their fifth gold in history - with all of them coming in athletics.
Just like when he won the European Athletics Indoor Championships in Torun, Poland in March, every one of the 28-year-old's legal jumps at the Japan National Stadium were over 17 metres and better than those of his rivals.
He came in as the favourite, just ahead of Burkina Faso’s Hugues Fabrice Zango, who broke the world indoor record earlier this year. But when Pichardo floated rhythmically through the three phases and jumped out to 17.61m with both of his first two efforts, it was clear he was in great shape and capable of producing something special.
WIll Claye was hoping to keep the title in Team USA's hands, with the two-time champion Christian Taylor not competing due to injury. But Claye hasn't recently lived up to his 18-metre form of previous years but mustered a season's best of 17.44m to put him third after three rounds, with Zango jumping only three centimetres further than him in second place.
That left Pichardo with breathing space. Looking relaxed and focused, his eyes were fixed on the runway as he built up speed, leapt to 17.98m, and rolled into a stylish celebration in the sandpit. The only significant change came when Yaming Zhu of China grabbed the runner-up spot with a personal best, 41 centimetres behind the victor's mark which was the biggest at the Olympics since the 18.09m competition record was set by American Kenny Harrison 25 years ago.
As well as adding to compatriot Patricia Mamona's women's triple jump silver medal, Pichardo joined an illustrious list of Portuguese champions including the aforementioned Evora along with distance runners Carlos Lopes, Rosa Mota and Fernanda Ribeiro, who all won between 1984 and 1996.
Meanwhile, Nafi Thiam is on course to become the first person to win consecutive Olympic heptathlon titles since world record-holder Jackie Joyner-Kersee achieved the feat in 1992. With just the 800m finale remaining, the Belgian leads with 5912 points, 64 ahead of 2016 European champion Anouk Vetter.
Thiam, who took the European title away from Vetter at Berlin 2018, moved ahead in Tokyo thanks to a 54.68m season’s best in the javelin compared to the Dutchwoman’s 51.20m. The leader’s teammate Noor Vidts was in second overnight but slipped down to fifth behind Kendell Williams of the USA and the second Dutch athlete, Emma Oosterwegel. The latter threw a lifetime best of 54.60m to go within one point of bronze medal position-holder Williams, who is on 5642 points overall.
That followed a long jump competition where Thiam used all of her title-winning experience and world-class competition nous to leap to 6.60m in the third and last round, helping her pick up a crucial extra 43 points compared to Vetter's 6.47m.
Heading into two laps of running, Thiam’s personal and season’s bests of 2:15.24 and 2:18.80 are worth 34 and 48 points more than Vetter’s respective 2:17.71 and 2:22.33 times. Overhauling such a margin would surely require her to run faster than ever before in order to have a chance of gold.
World record-holder Kevin Mayer is fourth overall but looking likely to get a decathlon medal. Runaway leader Damian Warner of Canada has made the competition his own with an outstanding 13.46 Olympic decathlon best in the 110m hurdles adding to his same feat in the long jump and a world best in the 100m on the first day of the event.
He leads the standings with 7490 points, 361 ahead of Mayer who is 46 points off bronze and 150 off silver with the javelin and 1500m to come. The Frenchman has made inroads into third-placed Pierre Lepage’s advantage over him, after a 5.20m pole vault secured 972 points, compared to 5:00m (910 points) for the second of the two Canadians. He is also significantly better at the remaining events than Lepage and current silver medal spot-holder Australian record-holder Ashley Moloney.
A record-breaking shot put final saw a 23.30m Olympic record and the second best throw ever as Ryan Crouser successfully defended his title. Three men were over 22 metres for the first time at an Olympic Games, which ultimately meant that a 21.31m PB for Italy’s Zane Weir was only good enough for fifth.
European champion Pascal Martinot-Lagarde ended up in the same place as the top man from the continent in the 110m hurdles final in a time of 13.16, behind a surprise 13.04 victory for Jamaica's Hansle Parchment.
Full results are available here.