American Sunisa Lee took Olympic gymnastics all-around gold as defending champion Simone Biles watched from the stands after withdrawing to prioritise her mental health.
The 18-year-old Olympic debutant, who helped the USA win team silver on Tuesday, finished on 57.433.
Brazil’s Rebeca Andrade won silver and Russian Angelina Melnikova bronze. Jessica Gadirova’s 10th place was the best result ever by a British woman in the event.
Andrade’s score of 57.298 secured Brazil’s first ever women’s gymnastics medal at the Games, while Melnikova took bronze with 57.199.
……………………….
Novak Djokovic remains on course for a ‘Golden Slam’ after ruthlessly ending the dreams of home hope Kei Nishikori to cruise into the Olympic semi-finals.
The world number one, bidding to become the first man to win all four Grand Slam titles and an Olympic gold in the same year, breezed through 6-2 6-0.
He will face Germany’s Alexander Zverev in the semi-finals on Friday. Switzerland’s Belinda Bencic and the Czech Republic’s Marketa Vondrousova will meet in Saturday’s women’s final.
……………………….
American Caeleb Dressel set an Olympic record on his way to winning the men’s 100m freestyle gold medal as he seeks to become one of the most successful swimmers at an individual Games.
Dressel won in a time of 47.02 seconds to claim his second gold in Tokyo. China took gold in a thrilling women’s 4x200m freestyle in a world-record time of seven minutes 40.33 seconds.
Meanwhile, Great Britain’s Commonwealth champion James Wilby missed out on a medal in the men’s 200m breaststroke.
……………………….
After huge success at the World and European Championships in recent years, the mixed 4x100m medley relay made an exciting Olympic debut.
The hotly-anticipated event sees teams made up of two men and two women, with each swimming 100m in either backstroke, breaststroke, butterfly and freestyle.
The order of strokes must remain the same, but teams decide which athletes, male or female, swim in each.
Fresh from winning 100m breaststroke gold, Adam Peaty returned to the pool in Thursday’s heats as the world’s best male and female global stars went head-to-head for the first time in this event at an Olympics.
Team GB are among the favourites after claiming a stunning gold at the European Aquatics Championships in May.