Sailing double gold sparks potential medal rush for Team GB on Tuesday – Tokyo Warm-Up

ByMichael Hincks

Published 03/08/2021 at 14:39 GMT

There were two golds in the sailing and there could yet be more medals for Team GB on Tuesday. Elsewhere, there was a sensational 400m men’s hurdles final, and heartbreak for Adam Gemili. Still to come – the women’s 200m final and more track cycling! You want it? We have it. Stream every Olympic event live on discovery+.

TUESDAY’S BIG STORIES

Sailing golds!

Take a bow, Dylan Fletcher and Stuart Bithell – mainly for ensuring your bow just crossed the finish line in first to edge out New Zealand duo Peter Burling and Blair Tuke in the men’s Skiff 49er.

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The New Zealanders were looking to defend their gold from Rio 2016, but had to settle for silver as Team GB pair Fletcher and Bithell won a dramatic medal race by the narrowest of margins.

• High drama as Scott overcomes false start to claim gold in Finn class
• GB's Bithell and Fletcher win sailing gold after dramatic Medal Race finale

GB had Germany to thank too, as with the latter coming second in Tuesday’s final race it was enough to ensure New Zealand were bumped down to second place.

There was then a thrilling finish to the men’s Finn as well, with Giles Scott needing a top-five finish given Hungary’s Zsombor Berecz was comfortably leading the Medal Race and had a chance of nicking gold.

Scott was down in seventh with just minutes to go, but he pulled it back to finish the final race in fifth and just about keep his nose in front.

With GB going for gold in the boxing, diving and track cycling, it could well be medal rush on Tuesday, and with another silver in the sailing thanks to John Gimson and Anna Burnet in the mixed multihull - there could well be a handful.

A final for the ages

The man in third was two one-hundredths of a second off the previous world record, so what does that mean for first and second?!

It was a truly stunning 400m hurdles final, featuring six national records and a well and truly obliterated world record as Norway’s Karsten Warholm clocked 45.94 seconds to go some 0.76 seconds faster than his previous marker.

‘Simply stunning!’ - Warholm smashes own world record to win hurdles gold

USA’s Rai Benjamin clocked 46.17, more than half a second faster than the previous WR, while Brazilian bronze medallist Alison dos Santos also ran an incredible time that would have run every previous Olympic 400m hurdles final.

“Can you imagine running 46.17 and getting a silver?” Warholm told Eurosport afterwards. “He deserves a gold medal as well.”

‘Can you imagine running 46.17 and getting a silver?’– Warholm after extraordinary 400m hurdles race

Heartbreak for Gemili

What can you say. Hopefully Adam Gemili has the support inside that Olympic bubble because the GB sprinter has endured a day no athlete wants to experience.

Gemili admitted he felt a tweak in his hamstring in his final preparations before the 200m heat, but still he made his way to the blocks with heavy strapping to give qualifying a shot regardless.

‘He just fell out of the blocks!’ – Watch the heart-breaking moment Gemili pulled up injured

Sadly, unsurprisingly, he pulled up as soon as he pushed out of the blocks, and in tears he walked the rest of the way to clock a time just under two minutes. That shows the measure of the man, still determined to finish the race, but it was so difficult to watch as a visibly crestfallen athlete saw their medal hopes end before they even began.

Gemili had said he was feeling good in the weeks ahead of Tokyo, but ultimately he joins Dina Asher-Smith in suffering 200m heartache. A huge blow.

STILL TO COME

A big evening (if you’re in Tokyo) in the athletics, which culminates with the 200m women’s final as Elaine Thompson-Herah goes up against rival Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce once more at 1.50pm BST.

Fancy some track cycling? Course you do. Both Jason and Laura Kenny are in action for GB with the cycling under way from 7.30am and ending with the women’s team pursuit and men’s team sprints finals.

Jack Laugher is going for diving gold from 7am in the men’s 3m springboard.

You’ve got the final day of gymnastics and Simone Biles is back for the balance beam final from 9.50am. GB’s Joe Fraser goes in the parallel bars from 9am and then there’s the horizontal bar from 10.39am.

In the ring, Pat McCormack goes for boxing gold when taking on Cuba’s Roniel Iglesias in the welter final at 12.05pm.

HEROES AND MORE HEROES

LisaCarrington is a boss in the kayak and she picked up two golds when winning the single 200m before racing to glory with Caitlin Regal in the double 500m.

MalaikaMihambo is world and now Olympic champion in the women’s long jump, and a shout out to Ese Brume for taking bronze and winning Nigeria their first medal of these Games.

OLYMPIC SPIRIT

The new sports have captured the imagination of viewers the world over at these Games, and so the circles grows a little bigger this morning when sport climbing makes its debut.

Getting to show your sport off captures the very nature of Olympic spirit, and so very soon it will be time to marvel at the athleticism of these climbers. All three disciplines are fascinating, and while Speed will go down a storm for it’s quickfire races, make sure you check out bouldering and lead too as these superhumans take to the wall.

Introducing Sport Climbing to the Olympics

RETRO CORNER

Tuck into this video of the past five women’s 200m finals as you gear up for this afternoon’s race.

EUROSPORT IN TOKYO

Eurosport’s Greg Rutherford watched a little slice of history in the athletics and though admitting he was “lost for words” he thankfully managed to digest what he had just witnessed when Warholm obliterated the world record.

"An unbelievable 400m hurdles,” Rutherford said after the race. "We have just seen one of the greatest athletic performances in the history of this sport.

‘One of the greatest athletic performances!’ – Rutherford after Warholm obliterates own world record

"The man has just done sub-46 in the 400m hurdles. To put that into perspective he would have won the UK trials in 400m flat without the hurdles being there.

"I'm lost for words. He's already broken the world record once. To then do it again in the Olympic final, to that level I'm trying to process what I've just seen. Unbelievable.

"A great person, a great ambassador for the sport so to see that is wonderful."

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