Keely Hodgkinson, 19, smashes Kelly Holmes' British record to win stunning 800m silver

Keely Hodgkinson reacts after winning 800m silver behind America's Athing Mu
Keely Hodgkinson reacts after winning 800m silver behind America's Athing Mu
  • Keely Hodgkinson runs 1min 55.88secs to break Kelly Holmes' 26-year-old national record
  • Imperious American teenager Athing Mu leads from gun to tape to win 800m gold
  • Brits Jemma Reekie and Alex Bell finish fourth and seventh in personal best times
  • Elaine Thompson-Herah completes 100m/200m double for second Olympics in succession
  • Karsten Warholm obliterates world record in astonishing 400m hurdles final

Six months ago, shortly after breaking the world indoor under-20 800 metres record, Keely Hodgkinson was asked whether she fancied competing at the Olympics this summer.

“Yeah I suppose,” she said, without much conviction. “It would be silly not to try and qualify for the Olympics, but I really would like to win the European juniors.”

That she is now an Olympic 800m silver medalist and the fastest British woman in history - quicker than double Olympic champion Kelly Holmes - shows just how staggering her progress has been. No longer a name for the future, Hodgkinson is a star right now.

So quickly has the 19-year-old emerged that she does not even receive a penny in British Athletics funding, instead relying on a multi-millionaire philanthropist to pay for her to live as a professional athlete. That is guaranteed to change after becoming the first British track and field athlete to win a medal at these Tokyo Games. “I think so, we’ll see!” she said, laughing.

Her time of one minute 55.88 seconds improved on Holmes’s record that had stood since 1995 - seven years before Hodgkinson was even born. With fellow 19-year-old Athing Mu, of the United States, claiming gold, a new era has arrived for women’s 800m running.

“I am speechless right now,” said Hodgkinson. “Kelly is a massive legend of the sport. She seems so lovely and has been sending me messages the last few days being very supportive. Just words of wisdom and belief, that sort of thing.

“The whole thing is cloud nine, and there wasn’t one 19-year-old in the race, there were two. It is unbelievable.

“Hopefully we’ve got long careers ahead of us and probably more battles to come, which is great. Some people will say you're too young. Well, age is just a number.”

Keely Hodgkinson ran an incredible race to finish second
Keely Hodgkinson ran an incredible race to finish second Credit: REUTERS

For some time it looked like Britain might have two women on the podium. With the imperious Mu evoking memories of David Rudisha by dictating proceedings from gun to tape to win in an American record 1.55:21, there was a fierce scrap for minor medals behind her.

Rounding the bend for the home straight, it was Hodgkinson and British team-mate Jemma Reekie who emerged as the most likely contenders, pulling clear of the chasing pack. But as Hodgkinson held her speed, Reekie faded with each step and was narrowly run out of the medals, having to make do with a personal best of 1.56:90 for fourth as America’s Raevyn Rogers claimed bronze.

There was also a big personal best for Britain’s Alex Bell, who was only called up to the team as a late replacement when Laura Muir decided not to contest the event, and ran 1.57:66 for seventh.

Given her imperious performance, it is easy to forget just how new this all is to Hodgkinson, whose shoes - the latest super spikes, of course - were covered in good luck messages from her friends and family.

Team GB's Keely Hodgkinson's shoes covered with messages from her friends.
Team GB's Keely Hodgkinson's shoes covered with messages from her friends Credit: Paul Grover 

Had the Olympics taken place last summer as originally scheduled, she would have stood little chance of making the British team. Prior to this year she could count the number of foreign events she had competed at on one hand.

She has also spent the past year juggling her athletics with the start of a criminology and psychology degree at Leeds Beckett University, although she readily admits: “I don’t really enjoy education”.

When she speaks, she does so with the cheerful naivety of someone who has little concept of what she has accomplished at such a young age; someone for whom this is wonderfully unfamiliar.

One of her heroes growing up was Tom Daley, now a British team-mate at these Olympics. When she is not in halls at university she lives at home with her family, and was hilariously outed by one of her fellow athletes as having attempted to warm some milk by sticking it in the kettle the day before she competed in Tokyo.

Tom Daley with his gold medal
Tom Daley was a hero of Keely Hodgkinson's growing up Credit: GETTY IMAGES ASIAPAC

Her coach, Trevor Painter, and his wife, world 800m bronze medalist Jenny Meadows, have become accustomed to discussing race plans with her while she fine-tunes her make-up.

She plans on having “one guilt-free night out” in a club near her home in Leigh to celebrate when she flies back.

In so many senses, she is just a spectacularly normal 19-year-old. And yet she really is not. So is she prepared for her life to change forever?

“I’m ready,” she said. “That’s what I’ve dreamed of. I want to do this. I want to be one of the best in the world. I’m going to do everything I can to be that.”

With kinesiology student Mu, whose parents emigrated from Sudan to America before she was born, things will never be the same either.

Only double Olympic champion Caster Semenya has run quicker than her winning time for the past decade. Semenya and her fellow medalists from Rio 2016 are all currently unable to compete over 800m due to controversial testosterone regulations and Mu says the next target is a world record that has stood since 1983.

“I definitely think it is possible, especially with athletes competing like Keely,” said Mu. “She is amazing and only 19. I’m sure in the next couple of years we are definitely going to push each other. That record is going to go down, just because we are good athletes.”

It seems Hodgkinson is destined never to win that European junior title.

Thompson-Herah wins 200m in second-fastest time ever as Mboma claims remarkable silver

By Thom Gibbs, in Tokyo

Just weeks after being forced to compete in the 200m, an event in which 18 year-old Christine Mboma had previously run only a handful of times, the little-known Namibian sprinter secured a record-breaking Olympic silver medal.

Mboma had originally been expected to feature at these Games as a 400m runner, a distance at which she and compatriot Beatrice Masilingi had excelled in a breakthrough season. But in the build-up to the Tokyo Games an investigation by World Athletics delivered the verdict that both Mboma and Masilingi are athletes with Difference of Sexual Development (DSD).

Therefore, according to global governing body rules, they are unable to compete at distances ranging from 400m to 1 mile without lowering their naturally-occurring testosterone levels. World Athletics’ rules have been a source of controversy with double Olympic champion over 800m, Caster Semenya, having sought to legally challenge the directive. 

After qualifying for the Olympic 200m final on Monday, the Namibian teenagers had pleaded for World Athletics to change their testosterone regulations, in an echo of the situation Semenya experienced as an 18-year-old when she first emerged on the global stage. “I would love to compete in the 400m as well,” said Masilingi, who finished sixth in the final with a personal best of 22.28secs. “It is very strange. I don’t really understand it.

“For me, it doesn’t make any sense at the moment. I hope there will be changes in the future.” Asked if she had a message for anyone who suggests DSD athletes should not be able to compete in an event without taking testosterone-lowering medication, Masilingi said: “I would say it’s really weird. I don’t understand why people come up with stuff like that. I just don’t get it. It’s very cruel of them.”

A statement from Namibia’s National Olympic Committee (NNOC-CGA) about their ban last month had said: "It is important to understand that both our athletes were not aware of this condition. Neither did any family member, their coach or the NNOC-CGA."

Mboma finished a distant second to Jamaica’s Elaine Thompson-Herah on Tuesday night but still managed to run quicker than the fastest woman in the world this year – Gabrielle Thomas of the United States, who took bronze – as well as Jamaica’s sprint icon Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce who finished outside the medals in fourth. Mboma’s time of 21.81seconds is a Namibian record, and makes her the fourth-fastest woman worldwide at this distance in 2021, also beating the personal best of Team GB’s injured hope for this race, Dina Asher-Smith.

Elaine Thompson-Herah wins the 200m ahead of Christine Mboma and Gabrielle Thomas
Elaine Thompson-Herah wins the 200m ahead of Christine Mboma and Gabrielle Thomas Credit: REUTERS

In Mboma’s three 200m appearances in Tokyo, she set a new world under-20 record each time. Before Monday’s heat and semi-finals she had run just four races recognised by World Athletics in her career.

Mboma had spoken earlier in the week about the thrill of competing against Fraser-Pryce, one of her heroes. She did not appear overawed in the biggest race of her career. Asked how it felt to finish ahead of one of the greatest female sprinters ever Mboma said, "I just saw some athletes and pushed past them. I don't know who they were."

"In the past, every time I ran against the best athletes I felt nervous. But I don't feel nervous now. "I just came here for experience, I didn't expect to win a medal," she told the BBC.

Afterwards she expressed her desire to focus on 200m for hereon in. "I believe I can do better," she said. "I'll just see what will happens in the future."

As it happened

                                                                                                    

Mu makes history with 800m triumph

Athing Mu's victory in the women's 800m was the United States' first gold medal in the event in more than half a century

Mu dominated the race, leading almost from the start and crossing the line clear of her rivals in a time of 1:55.21, to add gold to Madeline Manning's triumph in 1968.

Team GB's Keely Hodgkinson took silver and Mu's American team-mate Raevyn Rogers grabbed bronze.

Mu, whose parents moved to the US from Sudan two decades ago, said it was "awesome" that she won gold at such a young age and also set a new American national record.

"I wasn't really putting gold on that, but as it got closer to the final today, I was like, 'Yeah, we want gold'," she said.

"I wanted to go early from the front and not let anyone mess up my race plan. I just wanted to do my own thing." Reuters

Athing Mu dominated the women's 800m final and won gold for the United States Credit: REUTERS

Here's one from the Telegraph Sport archives

Which proved fairly prescient given today's remarkable result.

Congratulations also in order

For Jemma Reekie and Alex Bell who were fourth and seventh in the women's 800m final respectively - both setting new personal bests in the process.

Flying the flag

Keely Hodgkinson celebrates winning a silver medal in the women's 800m final Credit: AP

Here's how Keely Hodgkinson won silver

What a run.

Hodgkinson's chance to be James Bond for a day

Keely Hodgkinson is living proof that, when it comes to the Olympics, the system does not always work. She may have just won Olympic silver but she is not on British Athletics funding,

Instead, she has been backed by Barrie Wells, a millionaire businessman and philanthropist who has previously helped fund 18 athletes, including Jessica Ennis-Hill and Katarina Johnson-Thompson, to the London 2012 Olympics.

Wells had promised her the chance to drive an Aston Martin if she had made the final. What happens now she's won Olympic silver?!

Women's 200m final

  1. Elaine Thompson-Herah (JAM) 21.53 NR
  2. Christine Mboma (NAM) 21.81 PB
  3. Gabrielle Thomas (USA) 21.87

Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce faded late on to finish fourth.

Elaine Thompson-Herah celebrates her second gold medal of the Tokyo Olympics Credit: REUTERS

Women's 200m next up

Elaine Thompson-Herah and Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce are neck and neck in the last 100m.

And Thompson-Herah takes it in 21.53secs!!

The Jamaican superstar has won the 100m/200m double at back-to-back Olympics. Phenomenal.

A dispatch from Tokyo's Olympic Stadium

By Thom Gibbs

It's coming to the boil nicely at the Olympic Stadium, where the women's hammer competition has just been won by Anita Włodarczyk of Poland for the third Games in a row, the men's pole vault is reaching its conclusion, the women's 200m final is imminent and I need a shower, stat.

Yes, at the risk of making a repetitive point from those of us in Tokyo: it's hot. Whether it will be warm enough to melt the icy reaction that Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce gave Elaine Thompson-Herah after the Jamaican won the 100m final remains to be seen.

High hopes that ET-H can run the second-fastest 200m ever tonight. Less optimism about her breaking FloJo's world record from 1988.

Hodgkinson's meteoric rise

Neatly summed up by our very own Ben Bloom.

More reaction from Keely Hodgkinson

Who was talking to the BBC: "Kelly Holmes [whose British record Hodgkinson just broke] is a legend. I've looked up to her and spoken to her in the last couple of days, she's a lovely person.

"I just have no words. It means so much, and thank you to everyone that has sent messages over the past couple of days.

"If the Olympics had been last year I wouldn't have been here, but suddenly it's given me a year to grow and compete with these girls."

Women's 800m final result

  1. Athing Mu (USA) 1:55.21 NR
  2. Keely Hodgkinson (GBR) 1:55.88 NR
  3. Raevyn Rogers (USA) 1:56.81 PB

Six of the athletes in that final set personal bests - including all three Brits.

What it means to win Olympic silver

Credit: REUTERS
Credit: REUTERS
Credit: REUTERS

Keely Hodgkinson's interview after winning a stunning silver medal

I wanted to put it all out there - I think it's going to take a couple of days to sink in. I'm pretty speechless right now.
 

I want to thank my family who have made so many sacrifices and [her coaches] Trevor [Painter] and Jenny [Meadows]. Thank you to everyone who's supported me.

Jemma Reekie looked set to win bronze

But she was run down in the last 25m or so and finished fourth in a PB of 1:56.90. A stunning performance nevertheless.

Alex Bell also smashed her PB with 1:57.66 in seventh.

Silver for Keely Hodgkinson!!

Athing Mu wins in an astonishing 1min 55.21secs and Hodgkinson has run a British national record of 1:55.88 for second!!

At the bell

Mu, Goule, Alemu and Wang the first four with the three Brits lined up behind them. 57.8secs with 400m to go.

Here we go

The women's 800m final is under way - and Athing Mu has gone straight to the front.

Five-minute countdown until the women's 800m final

It's the first time ever that three British women have made an Olympic 800m final - and Keely Hodgkinson, Jemma Reekie and Alex Bell will all have eyes on a medal. 

American teenager Athing Mu has looked imperious so far and will be the one to beat.

'It is nothing more than showboating - and it can prove fatal'

By Ben Bloom, athletics correspondent in Tokyo

When will these athletes learn??? It will forever baffle all of us watching why so many favourites insist on easing up at the end of races to such an extent that they then put their qualification in jeopardy.

It is nothing more than showboating and it can prove fatal. Just ask Jamaica's 100m bronze medallist Shericka Jackson who slowed down so much at the end of her 200m heat yesterday that she was eliminated. Pure stupidity.

This time it was 200m world champion and gold-medal favourite Noah Lyles who made the same error when cruising in the lead of his semi-final. Rather than simply easing to victory, he arrogantly slowed down and was edged into third.

With only the first two guaranteed a spot in the final, that left him waiting on a fastest losers' spot. Fortunately for him he ran fast enough to get one.

Just run through the line for goodness' sake!

Noah Lyles created unnecessary stress for himself by easing down too much in his heat Credit: REUTERS

Gauntlet well and truly laid down

By Canada's Andre deGrasse, who blitzes the last 50m to win it in 19.73secs - a new national record!! He won bronze in the 100m but is going for gold in this event.

Kenny Bednarek also goes straight through from the third heat - and Noah Lyles has progressed as a fastest loser. 

Drama in the second 200m heat

With three men given the same time of 19.99secs. Canada's Aaron Brown and Liberia's Joseph Fahnbulleh go through by right.

Noah Lyles of the USA - who was perhaps the favourite for this event - doesn't qualifiy automatically after easing down too much in the last 20m or so. He should make it through as a fastest loser but will have a keen eye on the third and final heat.

Wow!

Seventeen-year-old Erriyon Knighton saunters home to win the first heat in 20.02. The American becomes the youngest-ever qualifier for an Olympic 200m final. Jamaica's Rasheed Dwyer progresses in second place.

Michael Johnson sounds suitably impressed by Knighton's performance: "He runs with the maturity of a 24- or 25-year-old, like he's been to the Olympics before - but he hasn't. He's just graduated from high school."

Next up on track

It's the men's 200m semi-finals. There are three semis with the fastest two finishers in each qualifying by right - and two fastest losers also making it through. Unfortunately there's no GB representation after Adam Gemili and Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake missed out earlier.

Coppell clears 5.80m in pole vault final

Superb stuff from Team GB's Harry Coppell who has set another season's best in the men's pole vault final. His second-time clearance at 5.80m leaves him in joint sixth place as it stands.

Harry Coppell has impressed in the men's pole vault final Credit: REUTERS

Mixed bag for Britons in men's 5,000m

Andy Butchart eases through to the final as one of the fastest losers in that much quicker second heat - finishing in 13mins 31.23secs. But it's bad news for his team-mate Marc Scott who misses out.

Andy Butchart is into Friday's 5,000m final Credit: GETTY IMAGES

The second heat of the men's 5,000m

Has passed the 3,000m mark at 8min 21.1secs- they're well ahead of the first heat at the same stage.

Britain's Andy Butchart is in the mix but it's all getting very messy. Nervy times for Marc Scott too. 

Coppell sets season's best in men's pole vault final

Squeaky bum time for Scott

Who finishes sixth and will have to wait and see if he qualifies as a fastest loser. His time of 13mins 39.61secs is there to be shot at by the men in the second heat.

Some good news in the 110m hurdles though, with confirmation David King has joined Andrew Pozzi in the semi-finals.

Team GB's Marc Scott

Is on track in the first heat of the men's 5,000m. He's sitting in the middle of the pack at the moment as they go through 3,000m in 8mins 34secs.

The first five qualify automatically for Friday's final along with the five fastest losers. A second British athlete, Andy Butchart, will go in the second heat.

The Tokyo 2020 Olympics medal table - as it stands

Defending champions Brazil into Olympic football final

Brazil reached the final of the men's Olympic football competition on Tuesday, beating Mexico 4-1 on penalties after the game ended goalless after extra-time.

The defending champions went close to settling the match inside 90 minutes when Richarlison struck the post with a glancing header in the 82nd minute.

They had their keeper Santos to thank for a fine shootout save to keep out Eduardo Aguirre's spot-kick and after Mexico's Johan Vasquez hit the post, Brazil just needed to keep their cool.

Reiner's right-footed shot into the bottom corner ensured victory for the team captained by 38-year-old former Barcelona full-back Dani Alves.

Brazil will face the winners of Tuesday's other semi-final between Spain and Japan in Saitama. Reuters

The men's 110m hurdles heats are under way

Team GB's Andrew Pozzi qualified in fourth place from his heat in 13.50 secs. His compatriot David King was sixth in his heat in 13.55 secs and will have a nerve-wracking wait to see if he makes it through as a fastest loser.

Andrew Pozzi is through to the 110m hurdles semi-finals Credit: GETTY IMAGES

Ahead of this afternoon's women's 800m final

It's worth a read of this interview with Keely Hodgkinson by our athletics correspondent Ben Bloom. I think it's fair to say the 19-year-old British rising star doesn't lack confidence.

How resilience, hard work and sacrifice led KJT to gold

Katarina Johnson-Thompson goes into the Olympics off the back of a serious injury - but she has proved before that she is capable of bouncing back from setbacks.

At the 2019 World Championships, she won one of the greatest British world titles in recent memory, but still admits to having imposter syndrome.

Johnson-Thompson will be competing in the Tokyo 2020 women’s heptathlon from Wednesday.

Placeholder image for youtube video: onPPQ_Yu4II

49er gold rush

Simone Biles takes balance beam bronze

American gymnastics superstar Simone Biles won bronze during the balance beam final on Tuesday, a week after she took herself out of several competitions to focus on her mental health.

Biles earned her seventh career Olympic medal with a slightly watered-down version of her usual routine.

Biles, using a double-pike dismount - no twisting required - posted a score of 14.000. That saw her finish third behind the Chinese duo of gold medallist Guan Chenchen (14.633) and Tang Xijing (14.233). Reuters

Simone Biles is all smiles after her bronze medal-winning display Credit: GETTY IMAGES

Still to come

Three British women - Keely Hodgkinson, Jemma Reekie and Alex Bell - involved in the 800m final at 1.25pm.

Track cycling crash row erupts on day of velo-drama

By Tom Cary, senior sports correspondent in Tokyo

The Olympic velodrome descended into pandemonium on Tuesday as Denmark and Britain collided on track, with the Danes controversially advancing to the men’s team pursuit final.

The collision came just hours after British Cycling’s performance director Stephen Park said Denmark should have been disqualified for using illegal equipment in their qualifying round.

With Denmark turning the screw, Charlie Tanfield began to fall off the back of the GB team, who were by then down to three riders.

As the gap between Tanfield and his team-mates grew, the Danish riders caught up to the back of him and Frederik Madsen slammed right into the back of him.

Both riders went down with Madsen clearly very angry, swearing loudly and gesticulating. The Danish rider shouted "f--- them" at the British team. 

Denmark's Frederik Madsen had some choice words for Team GB rider Charlie Tanfield after their collision Credit: AP

'It’s the worst feeling in the world'

Britain’s sprinting woes continued at the Olympic Stadium on Tuesday morning when a tear-streaked Adam Gemili was only able to walk his 200 metres heat after injury.

With heavy strapping on his right hamstring, Gemili abruptly pulled up and came to a halt just two steps after coming out of the blocks before walking the remainder of the race as tears ran down his face.

To add insult to injury, he was given a time of one minute 58.58 seconds after crossing the finish line. He said: “The last run, literally the last run before I came into the call room, I felt it go. It’s my hamstring. I had to try but I’m in so much pain right now.”

Adam Gemili had a lonely walk to the finish line earlier Credit: GETTY IMAGES

China's Zou Jingyuan wins parallel bars gold - with Simone Biles set to return

Zou Jingyuan has won the gold medal in the men's parallel bars, while Germany's Lukas Dauser took silver and Turkey's Ferhat Arican finished with a bronze. Team GB's Joe Fraser finished down in eighth.

Next up  at the Ariake Gymnastics Centre is Simone Biles' return to action on the balance beam. Molly McElwee has all the latest.

How Team GB’s Olympic eventing team broke the elitist mould

When Britain last won eventing team gold at the Munich Olympics, the Queen’s son-in-law was among the upper-crust competitors leading the charge.

Almost 50 years later, those medals are around the necks of a son of a milkman and the daughter of a single mother who juggled multiple jobs to support her.

Our sports news correspondent Tom Morgan looks at how a team from humble beginnings defied the odds to win gold.

Tom McEwen, Laura Collett and Oliver Townend (from left to right) won gold in Tokyo Credit: AP

Over in the velodrome

Laura Kenny and Team GB  face world record holders Germany in the team pursuit final imminently.

Telegraph Sport's cycling guru John MacLeary is at the helm of a live blog dedicated to the velo-drama.

Britannia rules the waves

It was another medal-laden morning for Team GB's sailors in Enoshima Yacht Harbour, although not without a few nerves being shredded along the way.

Dylan Fletcher and Stu Bithell won the 49er class before Giles Scott recovered from a nightmare start to retain Finn class gold in the final moments of a dramatic race.

Those two golds were then also followed by silver for John Gimson and Anna Burnett just an hour later.

Our chief sports reporter Jeremy Wilson has pieced together a round-up of all the action.

World-record holder Warholm reignites super shoes controversy

Norwegian athletics superstar Karsten Warholm smashed the 400m hurdles world record overnight to win gold - ahead of the USA's Rai Benjamin who also shattered the previous WR but had to settle for silver.

After the mind-bogglingly quick race, Warholm admitted that controversial super spikes are having an impact on times - but called his nearest rival’s spikes "b-------".

Read all the latest in the staggering row about shoe technology here.

Placeholder image for youtube video: VXebNhGpPw4

'This is redemption' - reaction from Jack Laugher

The British diver says he "wanted to quit" the sport earlier this year as he had been struggling with his confidence.

Laugher says he "had a lot of bad days and sleepless nights...I hit rock bottom and feel like this is redemption - I feel like I'm back to normal again".

He references Simone Biles' struggles and says he worked closely with psychologists and "stripped everything back to basics" in order to get back on track.

Bronze medallist Jack Laugher poses during the 3m springboard final medal ceremony Credit: GETTY IMAGES

Jack Laugher started well - but Chinese pair proved too good

By Pippa Field in Tokyo

The Briton applied the pressure with his first three dives, all of which scored higher than his semi-final efforts to sit 14.95 points off gold.

However his fourth dive, a back 3½ somersaults tuck, scored 81.00 - nine points less than his semi-final effort - and left him looking at the minor medals, as Xie Siyi extended his lead with a reverse 3½ somersaults tuck.

Laugher would have also been aware of Woo Haram in fourth but a 68.40 on the South Korean's penultimate dive put the British diver in the driving seat for reaching the podium, albeit still with his hardest two dives to come.

An impressive 96.90 for his forward 4½ somersaults tuck propelled Laugher to within 2.05 points of Wang Zongyuan in silver with one round left, with Xie comfortably out clear for gold.

He then managed 87.75 with his forward 2½ somersaults 3 twists pike to finish on 518 points but Wang earned a mammoth 102.60 after nailing his final dive to take silver, 16.90 points clear of Laugher in bronze.

Xie was then crowned champion on 558.75. Heatly, meanwhile, marked his maiden Olympic Games by earning a ninth place finish with a score of 411.00.

What medals have Team GB won today?

I hear you ask. Thankfully we've got a handy little graphic which has the latest results.

Well done Jack Laugher

A model of consistency. Medal ceremony coming up.

James Heatly

Finished in ninth place on his Olympic debut - that should stand the 24-year-old in good stead ahead of the Paris Games in three years' time.

Jack Laugher completes the set

He's now won gold, silver and bronze Olympic medals across the last two Games.

The camera pans to him and he says: "I love you mum, I love you dad." Lovely stuff.

The Chinese pair were just a little too good today.

Wow!

Wang Zongyuan's forward 4.5 somersaults gets him a massive 102.60 - meaning  Jack Laugher will have to settle for bronze.

Then Xie Siyi smashes his final dive with the same score of 102.60 to secure the gold medal and a Chinese one-two.

Here comes Jack Laugher

His final dive has a 3.9 degree of difficulty - it's a forward 2.5 somersaults with three twists.

Laugher secures a score of 87.75 and has guaranteed a bronze medal. Wang Zongyuan next and the Chinese diver needs 86 points or more for silver.

Lovely scenes here

Everyone in the arena stands to applaud Japan's Ken Tarauchi after his final dive. Amazingly this is his sixth Olympic Games - his first was way back in 1996 in Atlanta. He has said he will be retiring after this event and well and truly deserves that applause.

With one round to go

Jack Laugher is very much in contention for silver - but to have any chance of gold he will need to nail his final dive and require a serious slip-up from China's Xie Siyi who is well clear at the moment.

  1. Xie Siyi 456.15
  2. Wang Zongyuan 432.30
  3. Jack Laugher 430.25

James Heatly continues to climb the leaderboard, he's up to seventh now.

Here we go

Heatly and Laugher both have the same dives in this penultimate round - a forward 4.5 somersaults in tuck.

And they have both absolutely smashed it!!

Heatly rewarded with his best score of the final (85.50) and Laugher a huge 96.90 - that puts the pressure on the Chinese pair who are up next.

Scores on the doors

After round four:

  1. Xie Siyi 361.50
  2. Wang Zongyuan 340.50
  3. Jack Laugher 333.35
  4. Woo Haram 331.55

Xie Siyi has nailed down his hold on the top spot after a stunning score of 94.50 for his reverse 3.5 somersaults in tuck in the last round. James Heatly remains in ninth place.

Heatly and Laugher's round four dives

James Heatly going for a reverse 3.5 somersaults in tuck. But he kicks out of the tuck position a little entry and doesn't quite nail his entry - it's a disappointing score of 57.75 for the 24-year-old Briton.

Jack Laugher up next, looking to maintain the gap over Woo Haram in fourth place. The Briton's back 3.5 somersaults in tuck is a tidy effort, not quite as good as the same dive in the semi-final but he'll take this score of 81.00 and run with it.

Laugher will be in the top three with two rounds to go - and his difficulty ramps up with his last two dives.

The top three as it stands

  1. Xie Siyi 267.30
  2. Wang Zongyuan 256.50
  3. Jack Laugher 252.35

South Korea's Woo Haram is up to fourth place and closing in on Laugher with a total score of 249.30. Team GB's James Heatly has dragged himself up to ninth with three dives remaining.

Here come the Brits

James Heatly with a reverse one-and-a-half somersaults with 3.5 twists. And that appears to be his best dive of the final so far - and he is rewarded with his highest score of 73.50.

Jack Laugher impressive again with his inward 3.5 somersaults in the tuck position. He retains his spot in the medals thanks to a tidy score of  81.60.

Team GB's Jack Laugher in action in the 3m springboard final Credit: AFP

In case you missed it

Overnight, Karsten Warholm obliterated the 400m hurdles world record to win gold. And you have to feel for the silver medallist Rai Benjamin, who also smashed the previous WR but had to settle for silver behind athletics' Superman.

Read our athletics correspondent Ben Bloom's report of an astonishing performance.

The standings after round two

  1.  Xie Siyi 180.90
  2. Jack Laugher 170.75
  3. Wang Zongyuan 170.70

Team GB's Jack Laugher has nipped ahead of Wang Zongyuan into second, by a mere half point. Laugher's team-mate James Heatly is in 11th as it stands.

Heatly and Laugher back out for round two

James Heatly going for an inward 3.5 somersaults in tuck - and it's a marked improvement from his dive in the first round. He scores 71.40.

Jack Laugher follows immediately with a reverse 3.5 somersaults in tuck. And he looks like he's pretty much nailed this again! The judges agree, handing him a whopping 85.75.

Here's how the two Brits qualified earlier on

Reminder: Jack Laugher was third in the semi-final and James Heatly fourth.

Jack Laugher in third place after round one

  1.  Xie Siyi 91.80
  2. Wang Zongyuan 86.70
  3. Jack Laugher 85.00

James Heatly is back in 12th place currently - but plenty of time to claw his way up the leaderboard.

Brits get the 3m springboard final under way

But it's a bit of a mixed bag...

James Heatly's first dive is a back two-and-a-half somersaults in pike. But he doesn't quite nail the entry into the water and will be disappointed with a score of 58.50.

His team-mate Jack Laugher is next up and absolutely nails his forward 2.5 with two twists in pike... and scores an impressive 85.00, one of the highest marks of this first round so far.

Breaking - another British gold in sailing

Giles Scott has defended his Olympic title in the Finn class from Rio in dramatic fashion!! My colleague Greg Wilcox has all the latest in his sailing live blog.

Pump up the volume

By Pippa Field, in Tokyo

Into the final countdown to the men's 3m springboard final and safe to say the DJ is doing his best to pump an atmosphere into the spectator-less Tokyo Aquatics Centre. We've even had an accompanying light show as well.

The 12 divers will be out shortly, including Britain's Jack Laugher and James Heatly. You would have to say the battle for gold should be between the Chinese pair of Xie Siyi and Wang Zongyuan, who combined to such good effect to win the synchro event last Wednesday.

They both finished the semi-final over 25 points clear of nearest challenger Laugher in third, with Heatly fourth. But of course this is diving, and one dropped dive can throw everything out.

How Britain would love to add to their solitary medal so far in Tokyo, courtesy of Tom Daley and Matty Lee's gold.

Good morning

And welcome to Telegraph Sport's Olympics blog for Tuesday, August 3. We'll be focusing on the 3m individual springboard final from 7am - with Team GB pair Jack Laugher and James Heatly both in the hunt for medals.

Later on we will have live coverage of athletics, including the women's 800m final (1.25pm) which has three Britons going for glory, and then the women's 200m final slightly later on (1.50pm) - as well as everything else you could possibly need to know.

Laugher will need to be at best to topple Chinese pair

Chinese divers continued to lead the way in the semi-finals for the men's 3m springboard diving, after Xie Siyi and Wang Zongyuan produced a series of impressive dives to claim the top two spots.

Xie and Wang, who won the gold medal in the synchronised 3m springboard as team-mates last week, were in the top two for the entire competition, and finished with 543.45 and 540.50 points respectively ahead of today's final.

One of them could become the first male diver in 20 years to win both individual and synchronised 3m springboard at the same Olympics after their compatriot Xiong Ni accomplished such a feat at the 2000 Sydney Olympics Games.

Jack Laugher and James Heatly of Britain came third and fourth, while 40-year-old Japanese Ken Terauchi, the diving event's oldest contender, also qualified in the top 12, finishing seventh.

Laugher became Britain’s first ever Olympic diving champion alongside Chris Mears at Rio 2016 - but only narrowly avoided finishing last with new partner Daniel Goodfellow in Tokyo in the 3m synchronised event last week.

 “[It] was just a bad day and everybody has them,” Laugher said after that disappointment.  “Sometimes you can’t put your finger on it.

“We woke up feeling good. We felt a little bit nervous but no more than a normal competition. Springboard diving is a bit of a b---- really. It really does just go south very quickly and there is very little you can do about it.”

Laugher also won Olympic silver in the 3m individual springboard in 2016 - and said he still feels “pretty good” about his prospects of making the podium again.

Colombia, which has never won an Olympic medal in diving, exited the competition after Daniel Restrepo Garcia and Sebastian Morales Mendoza didn't make the cut.

The pressure is on for Mexico's Rommel Pacheco Marrufo after his team-mate Osmar Olvera Ibarra didn't qualify for the finals -- their country has previously excelled at Olympic diving, its most medal-producing sport in history. The 35-year-old has said in the past that he plans to retire after Tokyo. Reuters

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