Sport

Olympics 2020 day three: Kristian Blummenfelt wins men’s triathlon ahead of Alex Yee, swimming, gymnastics and more – live!

Published




01:20

The men’s rugby sevens has started. And the hosts are pushing the reigning/only Olympic champions Fiji: it’s 19-19 with three minutes to go.




01:12

Kieran Pender

Ariarne Titmus is one of the names to watch in the pool

 Ariarne Titmus is one of the names to watch in the pool. Photograph: Al Bello/Getty Images

I’m at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre for what is arguably the biggest clash of the Olympic swim meet: American Katie Ledecky against Australia’s Ariarne Titmus in the women’s 400m freestyle.

Ledecky has long reigned supreme in the pool; she won an Olympic gold as a 15-year-old and then backed up in Rio to take four and a silver. But Ledecky’s title as queen of the pool is under threat from young Aussie Titmus – nicknamed the Terminator (because her first-name is shortened to “Arnie”). Titmus took down Ledecky in the 2019 world championships – the last time the duo have faced off.

The swimming world has been waiting for this Olympic match-up ever since. It is going to be fast and furious – tune in from 11.20am Tokyo time (although there’s also some cracking action beforehand).

Updated




01:05

GB’s Alex Yee has been speaking to the BBC after his silver medal in the men’s triathlon. He says his opponent was simply better on the day.

“It’s been a tough preparation phase for this Games. In training I went much harder than this race but unfortunately he was better on the day,” says Yee. “I am just over the moon. I was already deep in the well and dug that little bit in my soul. It wasn’t enough to catch Kristian Blummenfelt but it was enough to get silver.”

Alex Yee of Britain poses with his silver medal during medal ceremony.

 Alex Yee of Britain poses with his silver medal during medal ceremony. Photograph: Hannah McKay/Reuters

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01:01

Sean Ingle was at the men’s triathlon earlier to see GB’s Alex Yee fall just short of victory against Norway’s Kristian Blummenfelt. His report is here:




00:59

Sixteen-year-old Keet Oldenbeuving from the Netherlands is the early leader in the women’s street skateboarding. It’s still early days with the top eight from the three heats advancing to the final. We’re still in the first heat. Spain’s Andrea Benitez, Italy’s Asia Lanzi, Canada’s Annie Guglia and USA’s Mariah Duran are second, third fourth and fifth respectively.

Mariah Duran competes during the women’s skateboarding

 Mariah Duran competes during the women’s skateboarding. Photograph: Ben Curtis/AP




00:51

The ever excellent Barney Ronay was on hand to watch the taekwondo yesterday and writes that it perfectly illustrated the beauty and cruelty of the Olympics. Read more here:




00:44

More women’s surfing: Yolanda Hopkins of Portugal has beaten France’s Johanne Defay in round three and will advance to the quarter-finals.




00:32

An email from reader: “Is NBC’s coverage of the Olympics any good?” Ummmmm … define “good”. If you define it as “lots of human interest stories shown during primetime at the cost of actual live sport” then, yes, NBC’s coverage is good. But if you just want to see who won and what times they got AS THE EVENTS ACTUALLY HAPPEN, then: no.




00:25

Mike Hytner

The surfing competition at Tsurigasaki beach has produced a major shock after Australia’s Steph Gilmore, the seven-time world champion and current world No 5, was bundled out on Monday morning. Gilmore had looked in good nick when competition got under way on Sunday, but her medal hopes fell apart 24 hours later in her third round heat against South Africa’s Bianca Buitendag. Buitendag had single wave scores of 6.83 and 7.10 to move ahead of Gilmore, who could not respond in the 14 minutes remaining in the heat.

Gilmore’s exit leaves Australian hopes in the women’s competition with Sally Fitzgibbons, who faces Pauline Ado of France later on.

Steph Gilmore takes in her defeat in the surfing

 Steph Gilmore takes in her defeat in the surfing. Photograph: Ryan Pierse/Getty Images

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00:24

Other notable finishers in the triathlon: Jonny Brownlee came fifth, USA’s Kevin McDowell sixth and Australia’s highest-placed athlete, Jacob Birtwhistle, was back in 16th place.




00:20

Norway’s Kristian Blummenfelt wins men’s triathlon

The 27-year-old from Norway has done it! He outran Yee, who is a brilliant runner. GB’s Yee finishes second and New Zealand’s Wilde gets bronze. Blummenfelt wins by around 11 seconds. He kicked away from the pack in the final stages and Yee couldn’t respond. Blummenfelt is a notoriously fierce trainer – in a sports famed for its athletes’ dedication – and puts in up to eight hours a day. That training paid off today.

Updated




00:18

Blummenfelt has made a move! He’s surged ahead of Yee and Wilde! The 27-year-old is around five seconds ahead of the Briton and Yee can’t respond!




00:15

We’re on the last lap of the triathlon – around 1.5 miles to go. GB’s Alex Yee leads Norway’s Kristian Blummenfelt and New Zealand’s Hayden Wilde. Yee, remember, is a superb runner (well, they’re all superb runners, but he is superb among superb runners) and is comfortable favourite to win GB’s first gold of this year’s Games.




00:08

Men’s triathlon: Also in the leading pack of nine with Alex Yee are: USA’s Kevin McDowell, New Zealand’s Hayden Wilde; Norway’s Kristian Blummenfelt and Casper Stornes; Belgium’s Marten Van Riel; GB’s Jonathan Brownlee; Switzerland’s Max Studer and France’s Dorian Coninx. Coninx is falling off the pace though and the pack could drop him soon. Australia’s highest-placed athlete, Jacob Birtwhistle, is 27 seconds back in 16th place.




00:04

The men’s triathlon is in full swing and we’re on the final leg – and the athletes are on the run. Ominously for his competitors, Great Britain’s Alex Yee is at the front of a pack of nine leading the race – he is an incredibly good runner and it will be tough for anyone to beat him on foot. Because of the heat in Tokyo the athletes are allowed to hydrate as much as they want and they’re all taking advantage.




00:00

Preamble

Hello and welcome to another day of action in Tokyo. We’re all go in the men’s triathlon while round three of the women’s surfing and the debut of women’s skateboarding (there was a home win for Japan yesterday in the men’s competition) will start shortly.

Meanwhile, here is my colleague Martin Belam on what to look forward to today. All events are listed here in local Tokyo time. Add an hour for Sydney, subtract eight hours for York, 13 hours for New York and 17 hours for San Francisco.

  • 8.30am-12.25pm Skateboarding – it is the women’s street contest on Monday 🥇
  • 9.00am-7pm Rugby sevens – there are pool games throughout the day, starting with Rio gold medallists Fiji against the hosts. Team GB face Canada at 9.30am and Japan at 4.30pm. For Australia it is Argentina at 10.30am and Korea at 6pm.
  • 9.30am Archery – the men’s team competition starts with Team GB, and US and Australia all involved in the quarter-final eliminations round. The final shoudl be around 4.40pm 🥇
  • 10am-9.45pm Taekwondo – there’s more taekwondo throughout the day, with the women’s -67kg and men’s -80kg having their finals from 9.30pm
  • 10.30am-12.05pm Swimming – a huge early session in the pool. The women’s 100m butterfly final starts it off, with Sweden’s world and Olympic record holder Sarah Sjoestroem defending her title. At 11.12am Adam Peaty defends his 100m breaststroke title. Straight after that is the women’s 400m freestyle final, and the session finishes with the men’s 4x100m freestyle relay 🥇
  • 2pm Canoe slalom – the men’s semi-final and final should take a couple of hours to get through 🥇
  • 2.50pm-3.50pm Shooting – the skeet shooting concludes with both the women’s and men’s finals 🥇
  • 3pm Diving – Tom Daley is with Matty Lee in the men’s 10m synchro event 🥇
  • 3pm Mountain bike cycling – this leads off with the men’s cross-country. Tom Pidcock features for Team GB 🥇
  • 7pm Artistic gymnastics – Monday is the men’s team competition 🥇
source: theguardian.com