World record holder Eliud Kipchoge vowed to enjoy the moment before setting his next goal after successfully defending his Olympic men's marathon title at Tokyo 2020 on Sunday.
The 36-year-old Kenyan won by over a minute in a time of two hours, eight minutes and 38 seconds, with Dutchman Abdi Nageeye and Belgium's Bashir Abdi taking silver and bronze respectively.
The triumph was a coronation for Kipchoge who won gold at Rio 2016, while he claimed bronze and silver Olympic medals in the 5,000m in Athens and Beijing respectively.
Kipchoge, who is widely regarded as the greatest marathon runner in the modern era, refused to look ahead after his latest win.
"I am a believer of the philosophy that you should only chase one rabbit," Kipchoge said. "If you chase two, then you cannot get all of them.
"For the last two years I have been focusing on the Tokyo Olympic Games 2020, so I will only plan the next thing when there is a big job ahead of me.
"What was in my bucket list was Tokyo 2020. So I will go back now, talk to my coach, and see what the opportunities are and then I will come back to you people. But, for now, I want to enjoy winning here in Tokyo."
Nageeye and Abdi claimed second and third with an enthralling final sprint, edging out Kenyan Lawrence Cherono for the medals. The Dutchman willed on training partner Abdi in the dying stages.
"I was just telling him to stay with us, stay with us the last one (kilometre)," Nageeye said. "I felt good as that is what I was doing. I wasn't volunteering, but I knew if he stayed until the end, the last 200 metres, close your eyes and just sprint."
KENNY CLAIMS HISTORIC SEVENTH OLYMPIC GOLD
British cyclist Jason Kenny secured his seventh career Olympic gold medal, winning the men's keirin final on the final day of the Games after a remarkable race where he stormed ahead unopposed.
Kenny claimed his historic gold by 0.763 seconds from Malaysia's Mohd Azizulhasni Awang who edged Harrie Lavreysen of the Netherlands on the line to claim silver and bronze respectively.
In a bizarre race, the 33-year-old Kenny pulled clear with two laps to go, with second-placed Matthew Glaetzer not following him, powering ahead and eventually crossing the line on his own.
"It was such a long way," Kenny said. "I felt like the last lap took me about half an hour. But I got there in the end. I still can’t believe I crossed the line on my own."
He first won gold in the team sprint at Beijing 2008, following with two triumphs at London 2012 and three at Rio 2016, including the keirin title which he successfully defended.
Kenny's gold medal means he is the most successful British athlete in Olympic history, pulling clear of cyclist Chris Hoy.
Jason's wife Laura Kenny was involved in a huge crash in the opening round of the women's omnium and missed out on the medals, with gold won by USA's Jennifer Valente. Japan's Yumi Kajihara won the host country's first medal in cycling at Tokyo 2020 with silver.
Canada's Kelsey Mitchell won the gold medal from Ukraine's Olena Starikova in the women's sprint, with Hong Kong's Lee Wai Sze taking bronze.
USA CONTINUE WOMEN'S BASKETBALL DYNASTY
The United States women's basketball team claimed their seventh consecutive gold medal with a 90-75 victory over hosts Japan.
Brittney Griner top-scored with 30 points for USA, along with five rebounds and two assists.
Team USA opened up a nine-point lead at the first change and they were never headed, with a strong display headed by Griner.
USA only hit four three-pointers for the game compared to Japan's eight, but the favourites played to their strengths with strong offensive and defensive contributions from A'ja Wilson and Breanna Stewart.
Wilson added 19 points, seven rebounds, five blocks and five assists, while Stewart was exceptional with 14 points, 14 rebounds, three blocks and five assists.
USA veteran Sue Bird signed off on her Olympic career with a fifth gold medal.
USA MOVE CLEAR WITH VOLLEYBALL TRIUMPH
The United States moved into the outright lead on the gold medal table after clinching their first-ever women's volleyball victory.
USA triumphed 3-0 over Brazil, winning 25-21 25-20 25-14 in a dominant final display.
The gold medal took USA's tally to 39 golds, moving ahead of China with 38 as the final day continued to unfold.
NBA: Brunson returns from injury to spark Knicks to 2-0 lead
Jalen Brunson shook off a right foot injury to score 24 of his 29 points in the second half, and the New York Knicks withstood an injury to OG Anunoby for a 130-121 win over the Indiana Pacers to take a 2-0 lead on Wednesday in the Eastern Conference semifinals.
Brunson was forced to exit in the first quarter with the injury but returned to warm up at halftime, sending the Madison Square Garden crowd into a frenzy.
He fell short of becoming the second player in NBA history to score 40 or more points in five straight playoff games, but still provided the spark to move the Knicks halfway to their first East finals appearance since 2000.
The series shifts to Indiana for Game 3 on Friday.
Anunoby scored a career playoff-high 28 points before leaving in the third quarter with a left hamstring injury. New York is already playing without three key players (Julius Randle, Mitchell Robinson and Bojan Bogdanovic) due to season-ending injuries.
Donte DiVincenzo also scored 28 points with six 3-pointers, Josh Hart had 19 points, 15 rebounds and seven assists and Isaiah Hartenstein added 14 points, 12 boards and eight assists for the Knicks, who hit nearly half of their 3-point attempts (14 for 30).
Tyrese Haliburton bounced back from a poor Game 1 with 34 points, nine assists and six rebounds for the Pacers, who hurt themselves by shooting 10 for 17 from the free throw line.
Nuggets centre Jokic wins third NBA MVP Award
Denver Nuggets centre Nikola Jokic has added to his legacy by winning a third NBA MVP Award.
The NBA announced the Serbian superstar beat out the Oklahoma City Thunder's Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and the Dallas Mavericks' Luka Doncic for the Michael Jordan trophy on Thursday.
Jokic won back-to-back awards in 2020-21 and 2021-22, and with this year's trophy, he becomes the ninth player to win three or more MVPs, joining Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (six), Jordan and Bill Russell (five), Wilt Chamberlain and LeBron James (four), and Moses Malone, Larry Bird and Magic Johnson (three).
Jokic won the 2023-24 award in a runaway, capturing 79 first-place votes. Gilgeous-Alexander received 15 first-place votes, Doncic had four and the Milwaukee Bucks' Giannis Antetokounmpo had one.
Jokic led the Nuggets to the franchise's first NBA title last season and the second seed in the Western Conference play-offs in 2023-24 after averaging 26.4 points, 12.4 rebounds and 9.0 assists.
He was the only player in the NBA to rank in the top 10 in scoring, rebounding and assists, and his 25 triple-doubles were one fewer than the Sacramento Kings' Domantas Sabonis for the most in the league.
Naggo Head top INSPORTS/Devon Biscuits Primary Schools Central Championships
Naggo Head Primary dethroned Spanish Town as champions of the INSPORTS/Devon Biscuits Primary Schools Central Championship, as they easily romped the event at GC Foster College, on Wednesday.
They amassed an impressive 313 points to pocket the $350,000 winning prize, while Spanish Town (236.5 points) had to settle for second position at the $250,000 runner-up prize, while third-placed Greater Portmore (229 points) received $200,000. The surprise package St John’s Primary (155 points) and Southborough (100 points) completed the top five.
The fourth to 10th-placed teams received $100,000 each for their efforts.
It was another day of record-breaking feats, with Nichkolet Brown of St John’s taking down the first of the day in the Girls’ Long Jump Open with a record leap of 4.57m. She won ahead of Shamielia Anderson (4.35m) of Friendship Primary.
Keneisha Robinson of Naggo Head captured the Girls’ 70m Hurdles in 12.16, with her teammate Shenell Coleman (12.92) finishing third. Afharia Anderson of Spanish Town was second in 23.23.
Donte Barrett and Kaydon Henry secured another 15 points for Naggo Head in the Boys’ 70m Hurdles. Barrett won in a new record 10.77, lowering his own mark of 11.36 set on Tuesday, while Greater Portmore's Dwayne Oakley (11.39) and Henry (11.57) were second and third respectively.
In arguably the race of the championship, Spanish Town’s Katalia Sterling outlasted favourite Waivany Walker of Naggo Head in the Girls’ Class one 400m, winning in a record 1:01.04, just ahead of Walker (1:01.11), who established the previous record on Tuesday.
The outstanding Robinson of Naggo Head returned to claim her second gold capturing the Class Two 300m in a record 43.55.
St John’s Primary controlled the Boys’ Class One 400m and Class Two 300m, which were won by Iandre Brown (58.93) and D’Andre Gobern (43.79).
The sprints turned up some impressive displays, but none more than Kashmer Gunther of Southborough Primary, who stopped the clock at 12.08 in the Boys’ Class One 100m. He erased Jevaney Findley’s 12.13 set last year. Renardo McCalla of Naggo Head took the Class Two event in 12.95, the same time as second-placed Jaden Reid of Southborough.
In the girls’ section, Shamara Chin of Greater Portmore took the Class One 100m with a record run of 12.93, while Allia Royal of Davis Primary captured the Class Two in Na13.91.
There were record runs in the Class Four 60m sprints as Azaria Williams of Naggo Head won in 9.15, ahead of Jada-Kaye Brown (9.45) of Greater Portmore. Vaughn Chambers of Crescent Primary won the boys’ equivalent in a record 8.76, just ahead of Jamair Dixon (8.77) of Kensington Primary.
Perez Pearson of St John’s leapt 5.15m to better his previous record of 4.91m in the Boys’ Long Jump Open. Jaydon Allen (4.97m) of Greater Portmore and Friendship’s Damarion Crooks (4.93) were second and third, respectively.
Pearson returned to anchor his team to Medley relay victory in a record 1:54.32. They won ahead of Kensington (2:00.45) and Naggo Head (2:02.77).
In the Girls Medley Open, Kensington won in 2:00.69, ahead of St John’s (2:06.31) and Naggo Head (2:06.35).
Naggo Head topped the Girls’ 4x200m relay in a record 1:49.12, erasing the old mark of 1:52.31 held by Greater Portmore. Spanish Town (1:52.66) and Greater Portmore (1:54.44) were the runners-up.
Southborough closed the day’s proceeding in style. They won the Boy’ 4x200m relay in 1:46.55, ahead of Naggo Head (1:48.18) and St John’s (1:50.92).
Naggo Head and Eastern Champions Lysson of St Thomas lead the top eight teams into the Grand finale set for May 20-22 to decide the all-island champion.
The Western Championship starts on Thursday.
Top 10 -Naggo Head (313), Greater Portmore (236.5), Spanish Town (229), St John’s Primary (155), Southborough (100), Davis Primary (95), St Catherine (76), Kensington (69), Ascot (56), Homestead (48.5)
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