Rio 2016: Allyson Felix hits golden high

USA’s Tori Bowie (from left), Tianna Bartoletta, English Gardner and Allyson Felix celebrate after winning the women’s 4x100m relay gold at the Olympic Stadium in Rio de Janeiro on Friday. (Photo: AP)

Allyson Felix became the first woman athlete with five gold medals as she powered the US sprint relay team to victory just a day after they had been brought back from the Olympic dead.

Felix, long jump gold medallist Tianna Bartoletta, English Gardner and Tori Bowie, who won 100m silver and 200m bronze in Rio, combined to clock the second fastest 4x100m relay time ever run, in 41.01 seconds.

Only the gold-medal winning US team at the 2012 London Games has gone faster.

Jamaica finished second in 41.36sec, handing double sprint gold medallist Elaine Thompson a third Olympic medal, with Britain taking bronze in a national record of 41.77.

“It felt like we were really strong tonight. The adversity yesterday made us even more determined and we kept fighting the whole way through,” said Felix after the triumph late Friday in the Rio Olympic stadium.

The US team were forced into a solo re-run of their qualifier on Thursday, having overturned a disqualification for a dropped baton exchange between Felix and Gardner.

Replays showed that Felix had been knocked off-balance by Brazilian runner Kauiza Venancio as she prepared to hand off and they got another chance.

“It was a crazy, freak accident what happened in the first round. We had to leave it with the authority,” she said.

Meanwhile, Chloe Esposito stormed through the closing running-shooting combined contest to win the women’s modern pentathlon gold, giving Australia their first medal in the five-discipline event.

Her final combined time of 12min, 10.19sec took her points total to an Olympic record of 1,372 and the gold.

Elodie Clouvel of France won silver with 1,356 points and bronze went to Nowacka with 1,349.

Nazarov wins Tajikistan’s 1st gold

Dilshod Nazarov handed Tajikistan their first ever Olympic gold medal when he won the men’s hammer.

Nazarov, world silver medallist in Beijing last year, heaved a best of 78.68 metres to finish ahead of Belarus’ convicted doping cheat Ivan Tsikhan (77.79m). Poland’s Wojciech Nowicki claimed bronze with a best of 77.73m.

Later, two-time former world champion Vivian Cheruiyot of Kenya rained on Ethiopian Almaz Ayana’s bid for an Olympic distance double, kicking with two laps to run to seal gold in the women’s 5000m.

Cheruiyot, who won silver in the London Games four years ago, timed a new Olympic record of 14min 26.18sec, with team-mate Hellen Obiri taking silver in 14:29.77. Ayana, who set an amazing world record to win the 10,000m earlier in the week, had to be happy with bronze. “Almaz is such a great athlete, we thought she would win again. I’m so happy.”

Elsewhere on Friday, Estelle Mossely celebrated her 24th birthday by beating China’s Yin Junhua to become the first Frenchwoman to win Olympic boxing gold.

Slovakia’s Matej Toth made a decisive break 2km from the line to add Olympic gold to his world title as he won the 50km race walk. Toth timed 3hr 40min 58sec, Tallent taking silver at 18sec. Japan’s Hirooki Arai was reinstated in third place after his disqualification was overturned.