Olympics track and field results: August 19
Recapping another busy day of track and field at the 2016 Rio Olympics, headlined by another gold for Usain Bolt.
The 2016 Rio Olympics track and field competition continued with seven more finals, including the men’s and women’s 4×100 and more drama in the field events.
In likely his last Olympic final ever, Usain Bolt won his ninth career gold in the finals of the men’s 4×100 relay to cap off the evening. Bolt ran away from the rest of the field after the competition was close through 300 meters, finishing in a time of 37.27 seconds. Former 100 meter world record holder Asafa Powell won his third gold after turning in a strong opening leg.
Japan’s Aska Cambridge held on in the final stretch to win silver in the biggest surprise of the night. The United States originally looked to have finished in a disappointing third, but was even more gutted after learning it were disqualified for a bad handoff from Mike Rodgers to Justin Gatlin. That allowed Canada to take bronze in a national record of 37.64 seconds, anchored by star Andre De Grasse in his third medal of the Games.
One day after going through a re-run just to qualify, Team USA won the women’s 4×100 meter relay final from lane one in 31.01 seconds. Tianna Bartoletta ran a terrific first leg and the U.S. had clean handoffs, giving anchor runner Tori Bowie a sizable enough lead to secure gold by .35 of a second.
Shelly-Ann Fraser-Price made up some ground on the last leg, but the deficit was too great as Jamaica had to settle for silver. Great Britain had a terrific run to earn bronze in a national record time of 41.77.
Kenya’s Vivian Cheruiyot won her first career gold and fourth medal overall in the finals of the women’s 5,000 meters, setting a new Olympic record in 14:26.17. That marked Kenya’s first title in the event, while teammate Hellen Onsando Obiri also taking silver on Friday night.
After setting a world record in the 10,000 meters to open the competition, Ethiopia’s Almaz Ayana built a large lead halfway through the race but eventually fell off and settled for bronze.
Greece’s Ekateríni Stefanídi and Team USA’s Sandi Morris were the only two athletes to clear 4.85 meters in the finals of the women’s pole vault, setting up a dramatic finish. While neither could clear 4.90, Stefanídi won based on clearing 4.70 on her first attempt, while Morris failed once. Morris looked to have cleared the final height, but barely clipped the bar with her thigh on the way down.
At just 19 years old, Eliza McCartney of New Zealand won bronze, clearing 4.80 meters. Defending Olympic champion Jenn Suhr of Team USA was suffering from an illness prior to the final and failed all three attempts at 4.70 meters.
Already in the lead, Dilshod Nazarov of Tajikistan unleashed a throw of 78.68 meters in the fifth round of the men’s hammer throw to win gold. Nazarov outpaced the field by almost a meter, with Belarus’ Ivan Tsikhan winning silver at 77.79 meters. Poland’s Wojciech Nowicki moved from seventh to third on his last throw, just .06 behind the Belorussian.
The morning opened with the finals of the men’s 50 kilometer race walk. Slovakia’s Matej Tóth passed defending gold medalist Jared Tallen of Australia with a furious charge in the last five kilometers to finish in a time of 3:40.58, nearly 20 seconds clear of the field.
Canada’s Evan Dunfee originally finished in fourth but one bronze after winning a protest against Japan’s Hirooki Arai, who bumped the Canadian late in the event.
The women’s 20 kilometer race walk followed, with China continuing to dominate the event. Liu Hong passed Mexico’s María Guadalupe González with around two kilometers to go and held on for gold by just two seconds, with teammate Lü Xiuzhi finishing in third.
Related Story: Olympics men's basketball results: Semifinals
Friday’s only qualification action came in the first round of the men’s and women’s 4×400 relay. As expected, the United States ran the fastest time in the women’s preliminaries ahead of Jamaica, with the order flipped in the men’s first round ahead of tomorrow’s final. Both Trinidad and Tobago and Great Briatin originally qualified in the men’s prelim but were disqualified, giving hosts Brazil a spot in the final.