Gardiner wins men’s 400m Olympic gold

Steven Gardiner of Bahamas clinched gold in the men’s 400 metres, Canada’s Damian Warner established a new Olympic record in winning the decathlon, Belgium’s Nafissatou Thiam defended the heptathlon title and USA’s Katie Nageotte bagged the gold in the women’s pole vault at the Tokyo Olympics on Thursday.

Gardiner wins 400 metres gold

Reigning world champion Steven Gardiner added the Olympic title to his growing list of accolades as he won the men’s 400m gold medal in a time of 43.85 seconds.

The Bahamian who was out from the semi-finals in this event at the last Olympics only had a relay bronze from Rio. But he had gradually improved since the last Olympics to win silver and gold at the 2017 and 2019 World Championships respectively. An Olympic medal in an individual event was the only missing piece and in Tokyo Gardiner achieved it with a seasonal best feat.

The 25-year-old Gardiner had to work hard for his maiden Olympic title against a quality field that included former champion Kirani James and rising U.S. star Michael Norman.

Colombia’s Jose Zambrano finished second in 44.08 for the silver medal, with James winning the bronze in 44.19.

Warner shatters Olympic record

In the decathlon, Warner was placed fifth in the final event, the 1,500 metres, but his impressive long jump (8.24m), 100 metres and hurdles feats had collected him enough points to secure the gold with a new Olympic record of 9018 points. France’s Kevin Mayer (8726) and Australia’s Ashley Moloney (8649) followed him to the podium.

Katie Nageotte wins pole vault gold

After a first round that saw so many vaulters struggle to get depth in the pit and clear the initial 4.50 height, USA’s Katie Nageotte kept her cool after missing on her first two efforts to take home the Tokyo Olympic pole vault gold.

It took three attempts for Nageotte to clear the initial 4.50 height that saw nine of her competitors go out of the competition, before moving on to 4.80 and finally taking home the laurels when she was able to clear the bar when it was raised to 4.90.

None of the other three athletes who reached past the opening round were able to clear the 4.95 height that Nageotte eventually went over — and so the gold went to United States’ representative who even had a run left to challenge for the world record (though unsuccessfully).

Defending world champion Anzhelika Sidorova of the ROC team followed the American to the podium with the silver and Holly Bradshaw of Great Britain scooped the bronze.

Thiam defends heptathlon title

Belgium’s Nafi Thiam successfully defended her heptathlon title highlighting her class in the combined events over two days in Tokyo 2020.

The 26-year-old Thiam became only the second woman to win back-to-back titles in the event since U.S. legend Jackie Joyner-Kersee in Barcelona 1992.

Thiam amassed a total of 6,791 points over the seven events followed by a Dutch 2-3 on the podium with Anouk Vetter (6,689) and Emma Oosterwegel (6,590) winaning the silver and bronze medals.