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There are some things track fans are used to: No one is stopping Jamaican women at these Olympics and the tireless Sifan Hassan is a medal contender in every distance race she competes in.
Other things might take some getting used to: Italy is a sprinting power. He now holds the gold in the men’s 4×100-meter relay to accompany the shocking 100-meter gold medal won by Marcell Jacobs.
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The Italian relay team made Jacobs a two-time Olympic champion on Friday, as the country pulled off a stunner to match Jacobs’ solo triumph five nights earlier. Jacobs ran the second leg of Italy’s 37.5-second trip around the track, and Filippo Tortu edged Britain’s Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake to the line.
Tortu, who was slightly behind on the changeover, dove first for a 0.01 second win.
“There are four of us Ferraris,” said Tortu.
The triumph sparked a second bout of celebratory Italian sprinting on the track at the Olympic stadium – two more than expected at the opening of these Games.
Canada, with 200-meter champion Andre De Grasse, took bronze in 37.70. A Jamaican Olympic team without Usain Bolt came in fifth to end a three-game relay winning streak for the island nation. (One was stripped naked because of a doping case.)
Jamaica with Bolt was a virtual guarantee for gold. At those Olympics, a Jamaican women’s team with the world’s three fastest sprinters was the safest thing.
Tokyo double sprint champion Elaine Thompson-Herah raced in the second leg after a delicate, but legal, trade with Briana Williams. She passed the baton to Shelly-Ann Fraser Pryce, the 100 silver medalist. Fraser-Pryce joined No. 100 bronze medalist Shericka Jackson and Jackson brought the Jamaican women home with a national record of 41.02 seconds. It was the least surprising performance of the evening – but still impressive.
He also delivered a third gold of the games to Thompson-Herah, who won the 100, 200 and 4×100 relays Bolt-style.
“We got the national record, Elaine got her third gold, we all come home with a gold, so we are very grateful for the effort,” said Fraser-Pryce.
The United States took the silver in 41.45 as the American men were out of the stadium the day after a poor rally that didom them to a sixth place finish in their qualifying round.
Earlier, Hassan retained his own medal streak in the middle and long distance with a bronze in the 1,500 meters to round out his gold medal at the start of the week in the 5,000 meters. His mission is not yet complete. She will be aiming for a third medal in the 10,000 final on Saturday night. It will be his sixth race in eight days.
The Ethiopian-born runner, who represents the Netherlands, won each of her races in Tokyo before Friday by running behind or near the back of the peloton and releasing her speed on the last lap.
But she changed that tactic in the 1,500m final by pulling herself up right away and pushing the pace. She couldn’t hold it back. Faith Kipyegon from Kenya hid on Hassan’s shoulder on the last lap and made him move around the last corner. Hassan couldn’t answer.
Kipyegon left to retain her Olympic title and set a new Olympic record of 3 minutes, 54.11 seconds. Laura Muir of Great Britain also edged Hassan to win the silver medal.
“I think the body is very tired,” said Hassan, who again draped himself in a Dutch flag after his race. She has made it clear that her goal for the 10,000 is no longer gold, it’s just a medal.
“I (just) need this,” she said, raising her tan. “No gold.”
Likewise, Allyson Felix needed any colored medal to make history on Day 8 of the track and field competition in Tokyo. The 35-year-old American got it with a bronze medal in the 400 meters won by Shaunae Miller-Uibo of the Bahamas, who beat Marileidy Paulino of the Dominican Republic by 0.84 seconds.
Felix is now the most decorated female athlete in Olympic track history, with 10 medals. She won No.10 within three years of a difficult pregnancy that left her wondering if she would return to that point.
When it was over, she lay on her back on the track, her hands covering her face but with a furtive smile behind them.
“This one is very different, and it’s very special,” she said. “And it took a lot to get here.”
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Friday also:
– Joshua Cheptegei of Uganda made his decision to compete in the Olympics as a very profitable decision with a gold in the 5,000 meters and silver in the 10,000 meters. Cheptegei had said he was considering jumping Tokyo after injury and poor form.
– Liu Shiying of China won the women’s javelin with a throw of 66.34 meters.
– The 50-kilometer walkers got up at 5:30 a.m. in the northern city of Sapporo, and Dawid Tomala won gold in what could be the event’s last appearance at the Games. The 50 km walk was withdrawn from the Paris program in 2024. Antonella Palmisano won the 20 km walk women.
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