PARIS, Aug. 6 (Xinhua) — The United States’ Gabrielle Thomas claimed the women’s 200m crown while Canada’s Camryn Rogers also won gold to usher in a new era for the women’s hammer throw at the Paris Olympics on Tuesday.
Thomas showed blistering speed after the bend to finish the 200m final in 21.83 seconds, 0.25 seconds ahead of Saint Lucia’s Julien Alfred, who took silver after her gold in the 100m on Saturday. Thomas’ compatriot Brittany Brown claimed bronze, 0.12 seconds further back.
It completed a steady rise to the top for 27-year-old Thomas, who had clinched bronze in this event at the Tokyo 2020 Games and silver at the 2023 world championships.
Rogers, 25, announced a changing of the guard as she secured hammer throw gold with a best effort of 76.97 meters.
The U.S.’s Annette Echikunwoke grabbed silver with 75.48 and China’s Zhao Jie took bronze with 74.27. Three-time defending champion Anita Wlodarczyk could only manage fourth, having dominated the event since the London 2012 Games.
The Pole was aiming to become only the third athlete in history – after Carl Lewis in long jump and Al Oerter in discus – to win the same individual athletics event at four consecutive Olympics.
There were three other gold medals decided in an enthralling night of athletics at the Stade de France on Tuesday.
The U.S.’s Cole Hocker produced a barnstorming finish to clinch the men’s 1,500m title, passing defending champion Jakob Ingebrigsten of Norway and Britain’s Josh Kerr in the final stretch to win in an Olympic record time of 3 minutes, 27.65 seconds.
Kerr took silver in 3:27.79 while the U.S.’s Yared Nuguse also ended strongly to take bronze in 3:27.80.
Hocker’s time beat the previous Olympic record of 3:28.32 set by Ingebrigsten at the Tokyo Games three years ago.
Greece’s Miltiadis Tentoglou successfully defended his Olympic title by winning the men’s long jump with a best leap of 8.48 meters, 0.12 ahead of Jamaica’s Wayne Pinnock, who took silver.
Italy’s Mattia Furlani took bronze with a jump of 8.34 meters.
Bahrain’s Winfred Yavi broke the Olympic record to seize gold in the women’s 3,000m steeplechase.
The 24-year-old completed the grueling event in 8 minutes, 52.76 seconds, eclipsing the previous Games record of 8:58.81 set by Russia’s Gulnara Samitova-Galkina at the Beijing 2008 Olympics.
Uganda’s Peruth Chemutai took silver in 8:53.34 and Kenya’s Faith Cherotich claimed bronze in 8:55.15.
