Tokyo 2020 Olympics: 400m hurdles, gymnastics and cycling – as it happened (2024)

Women’s 200 metres: now for some speed.

Elaine Thompson-Herah beat Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce in the 100m on Saturday and is hoping to do the double again, having won both races in Rio in 2016. She is aiming to become the first woman in history to win the 100m and 200m in back-to-back Olympics. Thompson-Herah matched her personal best of 21.66 seconds in the semi-finals, so is on form. She’s the woman to beat.

Fraser-Pryce also won her semi-final with a time of 22.13. However, Shericka Jackson, their Jamaican teammate who won bronze in the 100m on Saturday, has not qualified for the final. She eased off in her heat and jogged to the finish line but totally mistimed it, finishing fourth and failing to qualify for the semi-finals. Such a basic error at this level.

Thompson-Herah and Fraser-Pryce are the favourites, but they are not the only contenders. Harvard graduate Gabby Thomas ran 21.61 – the second fastest time in history – at the US trials earlier this year. And it’s also worth looking out for Beatrice Masilingi and Christine Mboma, the two 18-year-olds from Namibia, as well as Shaunae Miller-Uibo of the Bahamas and Marie-Josee Ta Lou from Ivory Coast.

It should be a fun final. As Fraser-Pryce put it: “The ladies are bringing it this year. You have to be ready and prepared for anything.”

Here are the runners...

Mujinga Kambundji (Switzerland)
Gabrielle Thomas (USA)
Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce (Jamaica)
Christine Mboma (Namibia)
Marie-Josee Ta Lou (Ivory Coast)
Elaine Thompson-Herah (Jamaica)
Beatrice Masilingi (Namibia)
Shaunae Miller-Uibo (Bahamas)

Women’s 800 metres: here are the times. Look at the gap between third and fourth. I’m so disappointed for Jemma Reekie.

1) Athing Mu (USA) - 1:55.21
2) Keely Hodgkinson (GBR) - 1:55.88
3) Raevyn Rogers (USA) - 1:56.81
4) Jemma Reekie (GBR) - 1:56.90
5) Wang Chunyu (CHN) - 1:57.00
6) Habitam Alemu (ETH) - 1:57.56
7) Alex Bell (GBR) - 1:57.66
8) Natoya Goule (JAM) - 1:57.66

Pole vault: Meanwhile, in the men’s pole vault final Armand Duplantis has cleared 5.92m on his first try. Duplantis, Chris Nilsen and Thiago Braz are guaranteed medals.

Harry Coppell has missed out on a medal. And Renaud Lavillenie is also out of the competition.

Keely Hodgkinson, the 19-year-old silver medalist, says: “That was such a good race. It was so open. I wanted to leave it all out there and I did that. I am so happy. I want to thank my amazing team and family.” She’s in tears. “I don’t cry!” she says. This is fantastic. Hodgkinson has set a new British record and she cannot believe it. “Thank you, thank you,” she says, tears running down her face.

Jemma Reekie, who finished fourth, says: “I wanted to win but sometimes you have to learn, and Paris is not too far away. I obviously wanted to do better. But I think I’ll look back in a few years’ time and realise how well I have done.”

Alex Bell, who finished seventh, adds: “I was so focused on not finishing last!”

Women’s 800 metres: the top five finishers all ran personal bests. Jemma Reekie will be gutted – she looked destined for a medal right until the final stride.

Women’s 800m: Athing Mu takes an early lead and tries to win this race from the front. She’s first after a lap and extends her lead on the final straight.

Mu wins gold! Hodgkinson takes silver. And Team GB just miss out on bronze. Jemma Reekie was third on the final straight but she lost out at the line to the American Raevyn Rogers.

Women’s 800m: Athing Mu, the 19-year-old American who ran 1:58.07, in her semi-final is the clear favourite.

She has the quickest time this year – 1:56.07 – and is aiming to win the US’s first medal in the event since 1988 and their first gold since Madeline Manning won gold in Mexico City in 1968.

Here’s the full start list for the race:

Alexandra Bell (Great Britain)
Wang Chunyu (China)
Athing Mu (United States)
Keely Hodgkinson (Great Britain)
Natoya Goule (Jamaica)
Jemma Reekie (Great Britain)
Habitam Alemu (Ethiopia)
Raevyn Rogers (United States)

Women’s 800m: For the first time in history, three British runners are competing in the women’s 800 metres final.

Keely Hodgkinson won her semi-final with a time of 1:59.12; Jemma Reekie came second in her semi-final with a time of 1:59.77; and Alexandra Bell’s time of 1:58.83 – the fastest of the three – guaranteed her place in the final.

They are 250/1 to win gold, silver and bronze in any order if any of you fancy losing some money.

When asked about their achievement earlier in the week, Hodgkinson said: “I’m happy – I’m really happy, happy for the girls as well. Three out of three, definitely history being made here right now, so a big thumbs up from me. I don’t think about expectations – we’re just here representing our country and have fun and do ourselves proud out there. I just wanted to secure my place on the biggest stage in the world and it’s going to be the biggest race of all three of our careers and we really want to do our families proud and people that support us back home proud.”

Men’s 200 metres: We are in for a treat in the final

Erriyon Knighton. Remember the name. The 17-year-old won his 200 metres semi-final with ease. He spent the last third of the race looking around to see how his competitors were faring. That was very impressive indeed. He doesn’t turn 18 until January.

Aaron Brown won the second of the three semi-finals and Andre De Grasse won the third, putting in a sensation run to finish with a time of 19.73 – even though he eased off towards the end.

A lot of the eight men who have qualified for the final can go much faster. Here are the eight who made it through:

Andre De Grasse (19.73)
Kenneth Bednarek (19.83)
Aaron Brown (19.99)
Joe Fahnbulleh (19.99)
Noah Lyles (19.99)
Erriyon Knighton (20.02)
Jereem Richards (20.10)
Rasheed Dwyer (20.13)

Thanks Geoff and hello all. Drop me an email at Paul.Campbell@theguardian.com or send me a tweet.

• Great Britain dethroned in the women’s team pursuit
• Crashes and world records aplenty at the velodrome
• Gold for China on the parallel bars and beam...
• ...where Simone Biles came back into competition and won bronze
  
• GB’s Max Laugher got bronze off the 3-metre board
  
• GB’s Galal Yafai goes into a gold-medal boxing bout
• The Australian men into the hockey gold match
• Brazil into the men’s football final
  
• More gold for Japan on the men’s horizontal bar

That’s me done. Paul Campbell is next in the relay. Head for home.

200 metres: Huge run for Andre de Grasse! He clocks 19.73 in getting the 200 done, with a great surge of speed down the straight. Still had a bit in the tank. Kenneth Bednarek of the USA comes second. And I think that Jereem Richards of Trinidad & Tobago will sneak into the final with his 20.10 in third spot.

Pole vault: Lavillenie does come back and try to jump. Tries to clear 5.87. Doesn’t get it and looks in great discomfort and distress.

200 metres: The second men’s semi, a faster time than the first, and a very close finish between three on the line, I think it was Canada’s Aaron Brown with a late surge, longer strides, and a real push for the tape. He gets in first, Joseph Fahnbulleh for Liberia second, and Noah Lyles for the USA third, all in 19.99 with only milliseconds separating them.

Pole vault: Obiena gets to re-take his jump, but hits the bar. He’s out. Sasma of Turkey strikes out as well, with Oleg Zernikel of Germany. Lavillenie, the Frenchman, is still eligible, but I think he’s pulled out with his bad ankle. He was icing it before. Assuming which, there are seven jumpers left in the final, three with a perfect record so far.

Duplantis, Karalis, Lightfoot, Lisek, Nilsen, Thiago, and GB’s Harry Coppell.

They beat Germany 3-1, holding that lead. Lachlan Sharp was the final scorer. They’ll play Belgium on Thursday!

200 metres: The first men’s semi, and... Erriyon Knighton wins in 20.02. The 17 year old was checking on his opposition the whole way to the line, looking sideways repeatedly. Indicating he has faster times in him. Qualifies ahead of Rasheed Dwyer of Jamaica. Divine Oduduru runs third in 20.16, but only the top two go through automatically.

Water polo: The Australian women’s team goes down to Russia... 8 to 9! Engineered a comeback, but couldn’t quite get there in the quarters.

Pole vault: Another couple bite the dust, three failed jumps. Bo Kanda Lita Baehre of Germany, and Ernest John Obiena of Philippines is protesting after he pulled out of jumping and ran under the bar - he said that the clock for his jump started while the bar was being moved. There’s a long discussion.

It doesn’t slow down, does it? Three heats, imminent.

“I can understand your problem understanding the bouldering,” writes Jerry Spring, “but as a climber I can promise you it was a great bouldering round. The four boulders were very contrasting – requiring different kinds of strengths, flexibility, dynamism, problem solving, etc. It’s set up a great lead round – some top names are at serious risk of failing to qualify now, especially because in lead you get no second chance – one slip, one misreading of the route and that’s it… I can’t wait!”

The no second chance thing is exciting. Moreso than a false start in the sprints, anyway.

5000 metres: Marc Scott, David McNeill and others will miss out. The second heat is the much faster heat, and all of the top ten finishers are faster than the second five from the first heat.

Spain - Mohamed KATIR 13:30.10
USA - Paul CHELIMO 13:30.15
Canada - Justyn KNIGHT 13:30.22
Uganda - Jacob KIPLIMO 13:30.40
Uganda - Joshua CHEPTEGEI 13:30.61
Ethiopia - Milkesa MENGESHA 13:31.13
Great Britain - Andrew BUTCHART 13:31.23
USA - Grant FISHER 13:31.80
France - Jimmy GRESSIER 13:33.47
Guatemala - Luis GRIJALVA 13:34.11

Pole vault: Over 5:80 at a first attempt for Armand Duplantis, Emmanouil Karalias (Greece), KC Lightfoot (USA) and Piotr Lisek (Poland).

Over on a second attempt for Christopher Nilsen (USA) and Thiago Braz.

Men’s 5000 metres: We’ve had the first heat of tw, while we’ve been at the pole vault. The top five from each heat qualify, plus the five other fastest across the two heats. The GB and Australian candidates are in that latter group. Here’s the top ten.

Kenya - Nicholas Kipkorir KIMELI 13:38.87
Canada - Mohammed AHMED 13:38.96
USA - William KINCAID 13:39.04
Uganda - Oscar CHELIMO 13:39.07
Burundi - Birhanu BALEW 13:39.42

Great Britain - Marc SCOTT 13:39.61
France - Hugo HAY 13:39.95
Australia - David McNEILL 13:39.97
Ethiopia - Getnet WALE 13:41.13
Kenya - Daniel Simiu EBENYO 13:41.64

Water polo: It’s the women’s quarter final over in the polo pool, too. Not far into the third quarter, and Russia lead Australia 6-4.

Hockey: Australia still leading Germany 2-1 in the final quarter of the semi. Tight game.

Sport climbing: The fellow we mentioned earlier, Bassa Mawem, won the speed climbing part earlier. What happens next is they do bouldering, which as far as I could tell consisted of hanging upside down off rocks trying to get onto the next rock. It looked extremely difficult and not very dramatic, in contrast to the speed climbing which looked extremely both. Basically trying to hang onto an almost vertical surface with your fingertips and one toe, that was the bouldering, and you get points for which rocks you touch.

Bassa Mawem bombed out in the bouldering, but his brother Mickael Mawem did really well, so France keeps the lead. At this point they combine the two results, and give everyone a standing, and then do another event called Lead which is basically climbing a wall with really small holds instead of really big ones. And it’s not about how fast you go, but how high you get.

The Japanese candidate Tomoa Narasaki is the double threat, he came second in both of the first two disciplines. One to go. He can dance, but can he Lead?

Pole vault: Great Britain’s Harry Coppell and Turkey’s Sasma Ursu both get over the 5.70 jump on a second attempt. Piotr Lisek opts to pass after one fail.

So it’s onto third attempts, and Menno Vloom hits the bar, Netherlands now out of this competition. Bo Kanda Baehre gets over for Germany.

Pole vault: Five jumpers clear 5.70 on their first attempt in the pole, and Thiago Braz from Braz(il) gets it on his second. Armand Duplantis, the Swedish fave, doesn’t bother and conserves his strength. He’ll jump when it’s worth his while.

Boxing: Kári Tulinius emails in. “Hello Geoff, Finland’s Mira Potkonen will become the oldest boxer ever to win a medal at the Olympics, after beating Turkey’s Esta Yildiz in the Women’s Lightweight category. At forty, she’s over the age limit, but got special dispensation because of the year’s delay. She was already somewhat unexpectedly a bronze medalist at Rio 2016, making this achievement even more astounding. And she has a real chance of getting through to the final, too.”

Never too old to throw a few haymakers.