TOKYO, Aug. 4 (Xinhua) — US runner Sydney McLaughlin won the women’s 400m hurdles title with new world record here on Wednesday at the Tokyo Olympics.
McLaughlin finished the race in 51.46 seconds, 0.44 seconds faster than the previous world record set by herself on June 27.
McLaughlin’s compatriot Dalilah Muhammad won the silver with personal best of 51.58s, also bettering the previous world record of 51.90s. Femke Bol of the Netherlands took bronze in 52.03s.
TOKYO, Aug. 3 (Xinhua) — Jamaican sprinter Elaine Thompson-Herah won women’s 200 meters gold at Tokyo Olympics on Tuesday with a time of 21.53 seconds.
Christine Mboma of Namibia ranked second at 21.81 while Gabrielle Thomas of the United States took bronze in 21.87.
This was Thompson-Herah’s second gold medal at Tokyo Olympics. She also won the 100m title on Saturday.
TOKYO, Aug. 3 (Xinhua) — Norway’s Karsten Warholm won the men’s 400 meters hurdles title with a world-record-breaking performance, while Swedish pole vault star Duplantis bagged his first Olympic gold here on Tuesday at the Tokyo Olympics.
Coming into the race as the favorite after breaking the 29-year-old world record a month ago, Warholm crossed the finishing line first and reset his own world record to 45.94 seconds from 46.70.
“My biggest dream has become reality! Olympic champion and a World Record!” Warholm tweeted after his victory.
Rai Benjamin of the United States won the silver in 46.17 and Alison dos Santos of Brazil took bronze in 46.72.
Swedish vaulter Armand Duplantis won his first Olympic gold medal with absolute dominance but just fell short of breaking the world record.
The first failed attempt by Duplantis at the men’s pole vault final only came after he has clinched the gold medal at the height of 6.19 meters, one centimeter higher than the world record of 6.18m.
Duplantis successfully got over the bar in two of his three attempts but tripped the bar on the way down. But his best attempt of 6.02m had already secured his gold medal.
U.S. vaulter Christopher Nilsen took the silver medal with 5.97m and Thiago Brat brought Brazil a bronze with 5.87m.
In women’s hammer throw, Anita Wlodarczyk of Poland defended her title at Tokyo by throwing 78.48 meters.
“I was dreaming of becoming the queen of the hammer throw. I have been injured and came right back from it and won an Olympic medal,” said Wlodarczyk after winning her third Olympic gold.
Chinese thrower Wang Zheng bagged silver with 77.03m followed by Malwina Kopron of Poland with 75.49m for the bronze medal.
Wang refreshed her season best consecutively in the final, throwing furthest in her sixth attempt to secure a silver.
“I was in good form today,” said the 33-year-old Wang. “I have been through up-and-downs in my career, and I thought about retiring when I suffered setbacks at Rio 2016. However, I got over this and felt relieved after I did my last throw today.”
American runner Athing Mu won gold in women’s 800 meters with one minute and 55.21 seconds. Keely Hodgkinson of Britain claimed silver with 1:55.88. American Raevyn Rogers took bronze in 1:56.81, her new personal best.
Speaking of breaking world record in the future, Mu said, “I definitely think it is possible, especially with the athletes competing like Keely, she is amazing and only 19. I am sure in the next couple of years we are definitely going to push each other. That record is going to go down, just because we are good athletes.”
Wang Chunyu of China set her personal best with 1:57.00, finishing fifth in the final. She is the first Chinese to qualify for the Olympic women’s 800m final.
“1:57.00 was beyond my expectation, though I was a little bit sad that I didn’t make it to the podium,” said Wang. “It was like a dream that I reached into the final, I hope to go beyond myself in the future.”
Jamaican sprinter Elaine Thompson-Herah won women’s 200 meters gold with a time of 21.53 seconds. Christine Mboma of Namibia ranked second at 21.81 while Gabrielle Thomas of the United States took bronze in 21.87.
This was Thompson-Herah’s second gold medal at Tokyo Olympics. She also won the 100m title on Saturday.
“It feels amazing to win two golds again. I have had a rough week. I haven’t slept after the 100m final. I really had to pull it out to win the 200m. I was so happy,” said Thompson-Herah.
World champion Malaika Mihambo leaped out from behind in her last attempt to clinch gold at the women’s long jump. The final was mostly dominated by the competition between leading contender U.S. jumper Brittney Reese and Ese Brume of Nigeria. But Mihambo came up with a solid attempt of 7.00 meters in her last jump.
Both Reese and Brume had the last attempt but neither managed a better jump.
“It was really tough, it was kind of horrible. I had the position where you did all that you could and then you have to wait and see what the other girls are doing. It was really intense moments,” said Mihambo about her feeling when waiting for the results of the last attempts by Reese and Brume.
The two tied at 6.97m with their respective best record, but Reese won the silver with her second-best attempt and Brume took the bronze.
LAS VEGAS, Aug. 1 (Xinhua) — Miles Robinson scored in extra time as the United States won the Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football (Concacaf) Gold Cup for the seventh time on Sunday with a dramatic 1-0 defeat of Mexico in the final.
Robinson breached Mexico’s defense in the 117th minute when he met a curling 30-yard free-kick from Kellyn Acosta with a downward header that bounced past goalkeeper Alfredo Talavera.
“I don’t really know what happened,” Robinson told a television reporter after the match. “I’m having some crazy emotions. I’m just happy we got the win. I knew if I got a half-step I could finish one. I’m ready to celebrate.”
Mexico looked in command for most of the match, controlling 64 percent of total possession and having 22 shots on goal, eight more than the US.
But enlivened by boisterous support from their fans at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, the hosts raised their tempo in extra-time and were rewarded when Robinson caught the Mexican defense napping.
The 24-year-old Atlanta United defender has now scored three times in nine international appearances.
The result came less than two months after the U.S. won the inaugural edition of the CONCACAF National League by also beating Mexico in extra-time in the final at Denver’s Empower field.
TOKYO, Aug. 1 (Xinhua) — Xander Schauffele of the United States won men’s golf gold at Tokyo Olympics with 18-under-par 266 on Sunday after the four-round competition.
Slovakian golfer Rory Sabbatini grabbed the silver with a 17-under-par 267.
Seven golfers tied on the third with 15-under-par 269 and they are competing for the bronze in a play-off.
TOKYO, Aug. 1 (Xinhua) — Italy’s Marcell Lamont Jacobs clocked 9.80 seconds to win the men’s 100m gold medal at the Tokyo Olympic Games on Sunday.
Fred Kerley of the United States took silver in 9.84, and Canada’s Andre de Grasse had bronze in 9.89.
China’s Su Bingtian came sixth in 9.98, the best ever result for Asian sprinters.
TOKYO, July 31 (Xinhua) –– Nigerian sprinter Blessing Okagbare has been banned from the women’s 100m semifinal at the Tokyo Olympics after an out-of-competition doping test returned positive result.
The Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) said it has provisionally suspended Okagbare with immediate effect after a sample collected from the sprinter tested positive for human growth hormone.
The AIU collected the sample from Okagbare during an out-of-competition test on July 19 and was notified of the positive result by the WADA-accredited laboratory that analyzed the sample at mid-day Central European Time on Friday, said the independent body created by the World Athletics that manages all integrity issues, including doping for athletics.
Under doping regulations, Okagbare is allowed to request a test on her “B” sample to confirm the results.
Growth Hormone is a non-specified substance on the 2021 World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) Prohibited List and a provisional suspension is mandatory following an adverse analytical finding for such substance under the World Athletics Anti-Doping Rules, the AIU said in a statement.
AIU said the Okagbare was notified of the adverse analytical finding and of her provisional suspension Saturday morning in Tokyo, where she has qualified for the women’s 100m semifinals scheduled later in the evening after winning her 100m heat on Friday.
TOKYO, July 30 (Xinhua) — Ethiopia’s Selemon Barega clinched the first athletics gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics after winning the men’s 10,000m race at the Tokyo Olympic Stadium on Friday.
Barega crossed the finish line in 27 minutes and 43.22 seconds, just 0.41 seconds ahead of Uganda’s reigning world champion Joshua Cheptegei.
The bronze medal went to another Ugandan runner Jacob Kiplimo in 27:43.88.
TOKYO, July 30 (Xinhua) — Tatjana Schoenmaker shattered the world record to win women’s 200m breaststroke at the Tokyo Olympic Games on Friday.
Clocking two minutes and 18.95 seconds, the South African beat medal hopefuls of the United States Lily King and Annie Lazor for the victory, and bested the previous world record of 2:19.11 by 0.16 seconds.
This is the first Olympic gold for the 24-year-old, who won a silver in 100m breaststroke on Tuesday.
Two-time Olympic gold medalist King took the silver in 2:19.92 and her compatriot Lazor bagged the bronze 0.92 seconds behind.
TOKYO, July 29 (Xinhua) — US gymnast Sunisa Lee rallied to take the women’s all-around title at the Tokyo Olympics on Thursday.
The 18-year-old won gold with 57.433 points, followed by Brazil’s Rebeca Andrade in 57.298 points. The Russian Olympic Committee (ROC)’s Angelina Melnikova settled for bronze with 57.199 points.
Thanks to an excellent performance on the uneven bars, Lee was able to narrow her gap with Andrade and placed second in rotation two by a close margin of 0.066 points to the Brazilian gymnast.
Though she was unstable on the balance beam, Lee led the competition after rotation three, trailing by Andrade at 0.101 points. Her score of 13.700 in floor exercise held off a strong challenge from Andrade, as the latter scored 13.666 points but needed 13.802 for a gold.
Andrade led the first rotation with a 15.300 high on the vault despite a 0.1 penalty for stepping out of bounds, but lost her edge in uneven bars and balance beam after rotation three.
In the last rotation, Andrade stepped out of bounds in the floor exercise twice, leading to a 0.4 penalty which denied her the chance for a gold.
Melnikova was 0.099 points behind Andrade and took the bronze.
U.S. star gymnast Simone Biles announced her withdrawal from the all-around final on Wednesday, after she sat out the team final on Tuesday.
China’s Tang Xijing and Lu Yufei finished seventh and 18th respectively in the women’s all-around.
