Athletics: Duplantis wins gold and breaks world record

Second gold medal for the Swedish pole vaulter, but adding the 6.25m pole vault. Kenya dominates the women's 5000m with Beatrice Cehebt winning gold, and the silver medal goes to the Netherlands' Sifan Hassan. Valarie Allman wins the women's discus. In the 800m, Great Britain's Keely Hodgkinson won without problems.

Mondo Duplantis had just six metres to jump with the pole vault to win her second consecutive gold medal at the Olympic Games. Every jump showed that she had plenty to spare. But not the rest. With the medal settled it remained to be seen whether the Swede could break the world record.

First, he set the bar at 6.10 and jumped again with ease. That was already an Olympic record. Then Duplantis, after talking to his coach, decided to raise the bar to 6.25m, with no more heights in between.

He needed time to rest. First, the women's 800m final. A good few minutes. Not only to breathe but also to cover up a wound she had on a finger on her hand that might bother her for the big attempt.

Duplantis jumping over 6.25m. GETTY IMAGES

He grabbed the pole vault, asked for encouragement from the crowd, looked towards his goal and ran down the aisle. The Olympic stadium was screaming, but his heart was also heavy with the possibility of seeing something historic. The bar was falling. But the jump was good. He reached the required height but didn't fall far enough not to drop the bar.

Minutes of rest again. The 100m medal ceremony was underway. Noah Lyles, Kishan Thompson and Fred Kerley were honoured. And again Duplantis. He took the pole vault, the crowd was pushing him as he ran. Pole vaulted into the pit, a tremendous leap, but the bar fell again.

There were no more tests and no more ceremonies. Duplantis went to talk to his coach and was shown the second jump. He could see what he had done wrong. He was able to lie down for a few minutes, relaxing his back, but keeping his muscles warm.

Again the pole vault, again the applause, again running down the corridor, the pole vault into the pit and another majestic jump and this time without touching the bar. World record. 6.25m. The Olympic Stadium went wild. Athletics can give many heroes in an Olympic Games. Duplantis is going to be, at least, one of the main ones. He has shown how to fly with the simple help of a pole vault. At Tokyo 2020 he achieved glory. In Paris, he has taken it even higher.

The other competitors were applauding all the time. Those who hadn't jumped for hours or those who had held out until they had tried the six metres. And the other two medallists had the luxury of sharing a walk with the big star. American Sam Hendricks took silver and Emmanouil Karalis of Greece took bronze.

Chebet surprises in the women's 5.000m

Another final that demanded a lot of attention. The participation of Sifan Hassan was a big attraction. The Dutch athlete has decided to participate in 5,000m, 10,000m and marathon in Paris. She will not achieve the triplet. The Kenyans were superior to her in the race. 

When the group began to thin out, with just over a kilometre to go, Hassan was in control from the back. The Ethiopians were no longer in charge. The Kenyans did. Beatrice Chebet and Faith Kipyegon went solo, with Hassan sprinting behind.

Beatrice Chebet of Team Kenya celebrates winning the gold medal. GETTY IMAGES

In the final stretch, Chebet managed to beat her compatriot. She had a small reserve of strength left and ran towards the finish line knowing that the gold medal awaited her there. The time was 14:28.56. After the race, there was unexpected news. Kipyegon missed out on the silver medal because she was disqualified. There had been a clash between her and Ethiopia's Gudaf Tsegay with several laps of the race still to go. The judges decided to disqualify only one of the two athletes.

The result of that decision was that Sifan Hassan, who came in third and very tired at the finish line, took the silver medal, clocking her best time of the year, 14:30.61. And Italy's Nadia Battocletti took bronze, after beating the third Kenyan and all the Ethiopians, who collapsed at the end of the race. With a time of 14:31.64, which is a new Italian record.

Sifan Hassan and Nadia Battocletti react after the women's 5000m final. GETTY IMAGES

Hodgkinson gives no chance in the 800m

Aside from Duplantis, it was the women's 800m race that was the last to go. There was plenty of competition for gold until Great Britain's Keely Hodgkinson took the lead and set a pace that no one could beat.

The race started fast. But everyone was holding the pace. They were close together in the pack. You could have thought there was going to be some kind of incident. We were coming from a disqualification in the 5,000m. But in this case, there were no problems.

Keely Hodgkinson crosses the finish line to win. GETTY IMAGES

You expected what Hodgkinson had in him. That he would show it. When he took the lead, it was final. And they were still in the first lap. Down the home straight she ran with a superiority as the others battled for silver. The Briton finished in 1:56.72. Silver went to Ethiopia's Tsige Duguma at 1:57.15, her personal best. Bronze went to Kenya's Mary Moraa, who made her presence felt throughout the race. She clocked 1:57.42.

Allman retains her gold medal from Tokyo 2020

The American athlete clearly dominated the women's discus final. She started with a nil throw, but in the second throw she reached 68.74m, a distance no other athlete came close to.

As if there could be any doubt as to who was the best of the 12 finalists, in the fourth throw, when there were only eight left to fight for the medals, she put the discus 69.50m away. It was Allman's second gold medal at the Games, and she celebrated by ringing loudly the bell that every athlete who wins a gold medal goes to.

There was a lot of excitement for silver, to the point that there was a tie. China's Feng Bin and Croatia's Sandra Elkasevic (better known by her birth name, Sandra Perkovic), both had a best throw of 67.51. The silver medal was decided by the second best throw of each, and that went to Bing, who threw 67.25. The Chinese athlete was much more consistent.

Elkasevic is a discus legend. She won gold at London 2012 and Rio 2016, but could only finish fourth in Tokyo. At the age of 34, she won a third Olympic medal. This year she was already European champion in Rome, which she has now achieved for the seventh time.