Paris 2024 Olympics - Athletics - Men's Discus Throw Final - Stade de France, Saint-Denis, France - August 07, 2024.Roje Stona of Jamaica celebrates after winning gold. - REUTERS
PARIS (dpa): American Quincy Hall denied Britain a first men's Olympic 400 metres gold in a century by four hundredths of a second, after Jamaican Roje Stona had stopped Mykolas Alekna from emulating his father's discus gold by three centimetres on Wednesday.
On another memorable night at the Stade de France, Moroccan Soufiane El Bakkali became the first man in 88 years to claim back-to-back steeplechase golds, and Australia's Nina Kennedy beat American Katie Moon for pole vault gold 12 months after they shared the world title.
Many hours earlier, Spain's Alvaro Martin and Maria Perez had won the inaugural race walk mixed team marathon at the foot of the Eiffel Tower.
In the 400m, Matthew Hudson-Smith seemed on course to give Britain a first gold since Eric Liddell's 1924 success which also came in Paris.
But world championship bronze medallist Hall had other ideas and produced a stunning comeback from far behind on the home straight, passing several runners before pipping the Briton at the line for victory in a personal best 43.40 seconds.
"I was just thinking, 'Get home, sir. Get home, sir,'" said Hall, adding that switching from the 400m hurdles to the flat race "changed my life."
Hudson-Smith lowered his European record by three-tenth to 43.44 seconds but it was only good enough for silver like at the worlds. The bronze went to Zambia's Muzala Samukonga in 43.74 as five men dipped below 44 seconds.
They included Grenada's Kirani James who had won gold in 2012, silver in 2016 and bronze at Tokyo 2020 before coming fifth.
"I thought I had it," Hudson-Smith admitted. I almost got it. But sometimes the journey’s better than the outcome and it’s been a hell of a journey, so I can’t complain. It’s just the start."
El Bakkali meanwhile confirmed his big race credentials when the 2022 and 2023 world champion stormed past American leader Kenneth Rooks to get gold like at Tokyo 2020 where he had ended Kenya's run of nine straight golds.
El Bakkali won in 8 minutes 6.05 seconds from Rooks, and the bronze like at the worlds went to Abraham Kibiwot of Kenya in a race where Ethiopian world record holder Lamecha Girma fell heavily over a hurdle on the last back straight.
The only previous back-to-back steeplechase gold medallist was Finland's Volmari Iso Hollo in 1932 and 1936.
World record holder Alekna seemed on course to emulate the 2000 and 2004 golds from his father, Virgilijus Alekna, with a big early attempt of 69.97m.
But Stona, who also does shot put and has attended a rookie camp of NFL team Green Bay Packers, took the lead in the fourth round with an Olympic record 70.00m to shock the opposition for his biggest career success.
"It's a very special night. It's everything I wanted, but for it to actually happen, it's a very good feeling.," said Stona, who improved his personal best by 95 centimetres en route to Jamaica's first gold.
Alekna missed a major event gold for the third time after silver and bronze at the last two worlds. The bronze went to Australia's Matthew Denny, who had come fourth at the last worlds and Olympics.
There was even bigger joy for Australia at almost the same time at the other end of the stadium when Kennedy topped the pole vault with 4.95m. She beat Tokyo gold medallist Moon, who got silver on countback over Canada's Alysha Newman, with both over 4.90m.
The pole vault was a long affair as 19 athletes instead of 12 had been advanced to the final. - dpa
American 100m champion Noah Lyles reached the 200m final but only with the third best time and beaten in his semi-final by Botswana's Letsile Tobogo who led the way with 19.96 seconds.
Top contenders Karsten Warholm of Norway, Rai Benjamin of the US and Alison dos Santos of Brazil reached the Olympic 400m hurdles final.
Jakob Ingebrigtsen made the 5,000m final the day after failing to medal in the 1,500m. The heats saw several falls and a cameraman caught crossing the track right as the athletes ran past.
High jump qualifying saw joint Tokyo champions Gianmarco Tamberi of Italy and Mutaz Essa Barshim advance amid big struggles. Tamberi had been in hospital on the weekend with a fever and spoke of of kidney stoes while Barshim laboured with a calf injury.
Thursday's five finals are the 200m with Lyles, the women's 400m showdown between American Sydney McLaughlin-Lavrone and Dutch Femke Bol, women's long jump, and men's 110m hurdles and javelin.
