Christian Taylor became the first man in 40 years to successfully defend the Olympic Triple Jump title on the fifth day of Athletics action, as he edged out fellow American Will Claye to take the gold medal, in what was the same result as London 2012.
In what was a fairly undramatic competition, both Taylor, and Claye set their best marks in the first round and were not threatened, with bronze medalist Dong Bin the only jumper to come that close to them in the standings.
As well as his winning leap of 17.86 meters, Taylor also recorded two jumps of 17.77m, though was never close to the world record of Jonathan Edwards, which many expected him to break at Rio 2016.
Opening rounds
Taylor, who was arguably the favorite coming in, set out a huge challenge to the rest of the field in the opening round, leaping to 17.86m. Whilst Claye didn’t quite take the lead, his opening jump of 17.76m, a new personal best, saw him comfortably into the silver medal position, with Dong Bin, also with a new personal best, in third place after the second round.
With the exception of the jumps by the two Americans, there was very little of note to take place in the opening three rounds, with Bin safely in third place ahead of Jhon Murillo and 2008 champion Nelson Evora.
At the halfway stage, Karol Hoffmann, Xu Xiaolong, Benjamin Compaore and Alberto Alvarez were all eliminated from the competition.
Closing stages: Taylor not threatened
Very little changed in the fourth and fifth rounds at the top, with neither Claye or Taylor improving on their first round jumps.
Bin, sitting in third place, had injured his ankle and didn’t jump in the final three rounds, though it did not matter as no one came near his best leap of 17.58m, meaning he secured the bronze medal for China.
This left an interesting showdown between the two American stars, and when Claye landed a long jump on his final attempt there was a universal gasp around the stadium. However, with a jump of 17.55m, Taylor had secured a second Olympic title.
Taylor, who had revealed his sights were set on the world record of 18.29m, went for his final jump but fouled, meaning it was his opening jump which secured him the gold medal.
Cao Shao came in fourth place, with Murillo in fifth, Evora in sixth, Troy Doris in seventh and Lazaro Martinez in eight.
