Another superb day for Japan saw the host nation surge to the top of the medal table at the Tokyo Olympic Games on Monday.
Japan now have eight golds after winning Olympic titles in three different sports, the most unexpected of which came in table tennis.
The mixed doubles team of Jun Mizutani and Mima Ito came from two games down to eventually prevail after seven games against China's Xu Xin and Liu Shiwen.
China won all four table tennis titles at Rio 2016 and had been expected to dominate again, only to come unstuck as Japan won the first gold in this new event.
Further joy for Japan came as 13-year-old Momiji Nishiya triumphed in the women's street skateboarding while Shohei Ono was victorious in the men's 73kg category in judo.
Second behind Japan are the United States, who took two shooting golds on day three as well as the men's 4x100m freestyle title in the pool.
China did not add to their tally of six gold medals, one fewer than the USA, having come up short in another event where they had a team of heavy favourites.
Cao Yuan and Chen Aisen were edged out in the men's 10m synchronised platform, with British divers Tom Daley and Matty Lee winning gold.
That was one of three golds for Great Britain, who moved up to fifth in the medal table thanks also to Adam Peaty retaining his 100m breaststroke title and Tom Pidcock dominating in the men's cross-country mountain bike race.
The Russian Olympic Committee sits fourth after adding three golds, the headliner being victory in the men's artistic gymnastics team all-around final.
Meanwhile, Hidilyn Diaz made history for the Philippines, become the country's first Olympic gold medallist by prevailing in the women's 55kg weightlifting.
Tom Pidcock happy to ‘play down’ yellow jersey ambitions at Tour de France
Tom Pidcock is reluctant to call it a target but the opportunity to take the yellow jersey on the opening weekend of this year’s Tour de France has not escaped his notice.
The 23-year-old will race his second Tour this July, and said his goal is to do better than he did on debut last summer.
That might seem a lofty ambition given how Pidcock stormed to a stunning solo stage victory on the Alpe d’Huez, the descending skills with which he escaped his breakaway companions still talked of with awe.
But it would get even more attention if the Ineos Grenadiers rider enjoyed a spell in yellow, and a lumpy opening stage in the Basque Country offers a rider of Pidcock’s talents a chance.
“I think it is (an opportunity), yeah,” he told the PA news agency. “It’s a possibility and something that I am aware is a possibility. I think the first stage of the Tour is one that can be treated like a one-day classic, it’s going to be a super-hard day.”
When told that sounds non-committal, Pidcock quickly adds: “I’m just playing it down.”
Pidcock, who proved his one-day credentials at Strade Bianche in March, is far from alone in eyeing that opening stage, but he has other goals in July too.
He wants to show greater consistency in the general classification, and also to win a stage from the main bunch rather than a break.
“Last year I was going to the Tour two months after being ill in the spring and then getting Covid, it was not the perfect lead in,” he said. “I think this year I’m stronger and I can do better, basically.”
Pidcock is certainly riding high on the back of his recent spell on the mountain bike.
The Olympic champion took two victories from the World Cup round in Novo Mesto, first storming from last to first to win a short track race he only learned he was riding with a couple of hours’ notice, then recovering from a lap-five crash to win the cross-country race.
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It came after he finished second in Liege-Bastogne-Liege and third in the Amstel Gold Race at the end of April.
The run of form is affirmation for the work Pidcock did in the winter, when he chose not to defend his cyclo-cross world title but instead focus on conditioning.
Although a crash at Tirreno-Adriatico in late March punched a hole in some of his ambitions, the core fitness remains.
“Definitely I feel I’m a bit more robust and certainly at a higher level and I have been for longer and I think that’s partly from the extra time spent building a base preparing,” he said. “I think that’s only going to carry into the rest of the season.”
Throughout his young career to date, the Yorkshireman has juggled the demands of road, mountain bike and cross, but always knew there would come a time when something had to give. This season has shown how that might look.
“I think if I want to achieve the goals I do on the road, certainly there are going to have to be sacrifices in other disciplines,” he said. “But that doesn’t mean they don’t contribute and help with those ambitions.”
There are likely to be sacrifices too at August’s World Championships in Scotland, where the first combined multi-discipline championships is creating dilemmas for several athletes given the schedule clashes.
Pidcock plans to race his mountain bike, so is strongly leading towards skipping the road race which comes first and could come at a cost.
“I don’t want to do both and go home with nothing,” he said. “I’d want to ride the road race because it’s a home race and it will be a super nice experience and I think the worlds is a very special particular race where you never know what will happen.
“It wouldn’t be a bad thing to ride, I want to ride, but would it be the best thing? I don’t know.”
:: Tom Pidcock is a Red Bull athlete. Watch him appear in ‘Race Tapes‘, the new Red Bull series that delves into the lives of the world’s leading riders across all disciplines.
Adam Peaty says winning gold medals will not fix all his problems
Adam Peaty insisted adding more gold medals to his already bulging collection would not be the cure-all to his struggles.
The three-time Olympic gold medallist withdrew from the British Swimming Championships last month after citing mental health issues and later admitted he had been on a “self-destructive spiral”.
Peaty has spoken previously about periods of depression and problems with alcohol, which he admits worsened last year as he struggled with injury, motivation and the breakdown of his relationship with the mother of his young son.
He remains hopeful of heading to the Paris Olympics next year as he looks for a third straight title in the men’s 100 metres breaststroke but was adamant that doing so would not be a silver bullet for him.
“A good friend of mine said a gold medal is the coldest thing you will ever wear,” Peaty told BBC Breakfast.
“It’s the coldest thing because you think it will fix all of your problems. It will not.
“I took a break because I was on this endless search of a gold medal or a world record and I looked into the future and I said ‘OK, if I do get that is my life fixed or any better?’ No.
“So take the time now to really think about who you are, what you want out of life and then get the gold medal.
“Hopefully when I get to the Olympics I will be in a very good mindset, very grateful and most importantly happy.”
Ja's gymnasts take positives from failed qualification bid at PanAm Champs in Colombia
Despite failing to secure qualification to the Pan American (PanAm) Games nor the World Championships, Jamaica's artistic gymnasts Tyesha Mattis and Kiara Richmon took heart from their respective performances at the just-concluded PanAm Gymnastics Championships in Medellin, Colombia.
Mattis, Richmon and newcomer Mya Absolam, all produced credible showings in a highly competitive environment at the three-day championships which ended on Sunday but were unable to break into a coveted top 12 position.
The England-born Mattis, who was Jamaica’s standout performer at last year’s event when she qualified for the World championships, expressed some disappointment that she wasn’t able to repeat the feat, as she was firmly set on getting to the PanAm Games in Chile and the World Championships in Belgium, later this year.
She placed 32nd overall with an all-around total of 44.500, after scoring 12.867 on vault, 10.533 on uneven bars, 10.733 on the balance beam and 10.367 for her floor routine.
"I was happy with parts of my performances, but I felt like I put a little bit too much pressure on myself to qualify and so I didn’t do as well as I would have liked to,” Mattis said shortly after competition.
However, the 24-year-old did find a few positive takeaways that she hopes to improve on ahead of next month’s Central American and Caribbean (CAC) Games in El Salvador, when she is next expected to parade her skills for the island.
“I managed to complete a 2 1/2 twist off beam again after not putting that out in competition for over four years, so I am super proud of myself in that regards as I am proving to myself that I can do more than I am limiting myself to,” she reasoned.
“I am more than capable, and I just need to trust that my body can do the work and again, not putting too much pressure on myself. I work so hard in the gym and when I really wanted to put out my best, I made a couple mistakes.
“But I have to remember I’m only human and I can learn from some of my mistakes and so I am really looking forward to a better performance out in El Salvador in a couple weeks. Looking forward to trying some different routines there and putting out more of my skills as I know I have so much more up my sleeve and the more I compete internationally, the more confident I feel,” Mattis added.
For Richmon, who placed 36th overall with an all-around score of 42.866, just being able to represent Jamaica at the event, represents a remarkable achievement and another significant milestone in her budding career.
Her total includes score of 11.100 on vault, 10.233 on the uneven bars, 10.400 on the balance beam and 11.133 for her floor routine.
“I feel like I did my best with my performance at the championships, especially being that I only had two weeks to prepare. So, I am definitely proud that I was able to hit all four apparatus and getting to be here with the team,” Richmon shared.
With this being her first elite outing since 2019, the 21-year-old Fisk University student is eagerly looking forward to continuing her journey, as her unwavering determination, relentless work ethic and immense potential positions her as one of country’s gymnast to watch.
“It felt amazing, and this performance will definitely serve as motivation for me going forward, I just need to just trust my training and do not over work myself. I also need to have more confidence and belief in myself and hopefully on my next competition I can produce a stronger performance with cleaner routines,” the US-born Richmon said.
Meanwhile, Absolam, another England-born gymnast, had an all-around total of 39.533, after scoring 10.333, 10.033, 8.600, 10.567, on vault, uneven bars, balance beam and floor, respectively. She placed 42nd overall.
On the male side, Canada-born Elel Wahrmann-Baker, was Jamaica’s top performer, placing 27th overall, with an all-around total of 72.301. Wahrmann-Baker had scores of 12.767 on floor, 13.067 on the pommel horse, 11.067 on rings, 13.100 on vault, 13.133 parallel bars and 10.167 on high bar.
Caleb Faulk placed 29th overall with scores of 12.300, 10.900, 12.400, 12.767, 11.9667 and 11.667 for an all-Around total of 72.001, while Matthew McClymont tallied 63.165 for 47th overall. His scores include 12.233, 9.133, 7.533, 12.733, 10.800 and 10.733.
Jamaica’s other representative Michael Reid only took on the pommel horse and parallel bars where he scored 11.933 and 12.467 for a total 24.400.
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