Elaine Thompson-Herah made it a hat-trick of Tokyo 2020 golds, Marcell Jacobs celebrated a famous double and Shaunae Miller-Uibo defended an Olympic title she won in Rio five years ago.

After Jamaica had celebrated glory in the women's 4x100 metres relay for Thompson-Herah's third top-podium finish, Jacobs – a shock winner of the men's 100m title – was part of the Italian team who won the men's race.

Elsewhere, Faith Kipyegon romped to 1500m glory to end Sifan Hassan's chances of an unprecedented Games treble.

Here's a round-up from the penultimate night of athletics inside the Olympic Stadium.

THOMPSON-HERAH AND JACOBS CELEBRATING AGAIN

Thompson-Herah's dream Olympics continued with a third gold medal of Tokyo 2020 in the 4x100m.

Having already taken out the 100 and 200m in the individual races, Thompson-Herah combined with the legendary Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, Briana Williams and Shericka Jackson to take the gold in a blistering 41.02 - the second-fastest time ever run.

The United States took the silver ahead of Great Britain in third.

It was a far closer fight in the men's race, with Great Britain in pole position coming to the last changeover only for Filippo Tortu to run a blinding last leg that led Italy to victory by just 0.01s.

Andre De Grasse – the 200m champion here in Tokyo – was part of a Canadian team who earned bronze.

MILLER-UIBO DEFENDS IN DOMINANT FASHION

The 400m has proven a happy event for the Bahamas over the past two nights, with Miller-Uibo defending her title from Rio just a day after compatriot Steven Gardiner won the men's race.

Miller-Uibo was dominant, powering out of the final bend and storming to the line in an area-record time of 48.36s.

Marileidy Paulino of the Dominican Republic set a national record 49.20 to take silver ahead of American legend Allyson Felix – who now has 10 Olympic medals.

Liu Shiying of China was the victor in the women's javelin thanks to a throw of 66.34m – a good time to launch a season's best distance. Poland's Maria Andrejczyk was heavily fancied for gold but had to settle for silver ahead of Kelsey-Lee Barber from Australia.

HASSAN'S HISTORY HOPES ENDED BY BRILLIANT KIPYEGON

Hassan was aiming to become the first athlete to win a 1500m, 5000m and 10,000m treble at a single Games and had already won gold in the second of those distances.

But it was not to be in the 1500 with the Dutchwoman settling for bronze in a race won emphatically by Kenya's Kipyegon in an Olympic-record time of 3:53.11.

The two were the pacesetters for the majority of the race but Kipyegon made a break on the back straight, while Hassan was ultimately overtaken by Great Britain's Laura Muir and finished third.

The men's 5000m was won in convincing fashion by world-record holder Joshua Cheptegei in 12:58.15.

Italy doubled up in the 20km walk race, with Antonella Palmisano celebrating her birthday with gold a day after Massimo Stano took out the men's event over the same distance. Dawid Tomala of Poland was a surprise winner of the men's 50km, a distance he was walking competitively for only the third time.

Elaine Thompson-Herah is the best sprinter in women's history according to former 400m hurdles champion Edwin Moses.

The Jamaican sprinter became the first woman in history to complete the double-double by defending her Olympic 100 and 200 metre titles in Tokyo before adding her third gold of the Games in the women's 4x100m relay on Friday.

Thompson-Herah, 29, set a new national record with her earlier 200m success and recorded the second-fastest time in the history of the event.

Those achievements led Moses, a former American track star and two-time Olympic gold medallist, to the conclusion that Thompson-Herah is in a class of her own.

"She’s the best women's sprinter in history," Moses exclusively told Stats Perform. "She's proved that over and over.

"She came through at the right time, I think people were concerned about her and even when she ran against Dina Asher-Smith and didn't win, people were concerned but she was obviously in that final phase of training and she didn't want to show her cards. She did an outstanding job."

Thompson-Herah, fresh from her earlier 100m exploits, fell just 0.19 seconds short of Florence Griffith-Joyner's long-standing 200m world record that was set in 1988.

However, Moses explained there is a possibility that the five-time Olympic champion could complete the seemingly impossible and break Griffith-Joyner's records.

"It's possible. Obviously it's going to depend on the track," Moses continued. "If it's not the Tokyo track we don't know what she's capable of doing.

"She ran very, very fast there and those kinds of times are going to be much harder to run on normal tracks and aren't that Mondotrack that they had in Tokyo."

Track cycling queen Laura Kenny scooped the fifth Olympic gold of her stellar career by teaming up with Katie Archibald to win the madison for Great Britain.

Kenny, who was an omnium and team pursuit champion at the 2012 and 2016 Games, became the first British woman to win gold medals at three Olympics.

Archibald was also a victorious British team pursuiter in Rio five years ago, and she and Kenny proved an irresistible partnership in Tokyo's inaugural women's Olympic madison.

They scored a staggering 78 points, with Denmark's Amalie Dideriksen and Julie Leth second on 35 points and the Russian Olympic Committee's Gulnaz Khatuntseva and Mariia Novolodskaia scoring 26 in taking bronze.

Kenny's win boosts her record tally of women's track cycling gold medals.

Of all competitors in track cycling, only her husband Jason Kenny and fellow Briton Chris Hoy have won more gold medals, with both having six to their name.

Among all female British Olympians, nobody has won more medals than Kenny, who also landed a team pursuit silver on Tuesday. The madison success meant she matched British equestrian star Charlotte Dujardin's haul of six medals (three gold, one silver, two bronze).

Kenny, 29, became a mother to son Albert in August 2017 and suspected at the time she had crossed the finish line in her cycling career.

She said after Friday's triumph: "When I fell pregnant, there was a moment two months into the pregnancy where I woke up and said to Jason, 'I can't do this, I'm not going to be able to carry on [with cycling], there's just no way'. And here we are."

Dutch rider Harrie Lavreysen prevailed in the men's sprint, becoming the first Olympian from the Netherlands to win two gold medals in track cycling, having landed a first in the team sprint earlier this week.

The latest triumph saw Lavreysen become the first Dutch winner of the sprint since Jacobus van Egmond in the 1932 Los Angeles Games.

He led a Dutch one-two, with silver going to Jeffrey Hoogland, while Britain's Jack Carlin took bronze.

Hoogland won the first heat of the final but Lavreysen came back to level in the next before taking gold, with both riders exhausted by the gruelling decisive third sprint.

Lavreysen said: "I was really thinking confident before the races like I was going to win this. I lost the first one, but I also made a mistake. So I thought, 'Okay, just refresh and go for the second one, I can still win this'. I got my head really clear and just focused on winning the race.

"It's such an amazing feeling. When I was on the track I really wanted to cheer and put my hands in the air, but I couldn't do it, I was in so much pain."

Carlin was satisfied with his third-placed finish, saying: "The Dutch team for the last five years have been dominant and both of those boys have unbelievable talent. It was always going to be hard against them."

Germany's Olympic cycling sports director Patrick Moster has been banned for the rest of the year after making racist slurs about time-trial riders from Eritrea and Algeria.

The UCI, cycling's world governing body, announced the punishment on Friday, in the wake of Germany's national federation (BDR) doling out its own punishment.

Moster has been stripped of his duties at international level and taken an enforced pay cut. The BDR described Moster's comments as "a massive violation" of the values of the federation and cycling as a whole.

Moster urged German rider Nikias Arndt to "get the camel drivers" during the July 28 time trial at Tokyo 2020.

He has since apologised but is paying the consequences now, with the UCI taking action over comments it labelled as "discriminatory and contrary to the basic rules of decency".

The UCI said in a statement: "Mr Moster has since acknowledged before the disciplinary commission that he had committed a breach of the UCI regulations and agreed to the imposition of a suspension until 31 December 2021, during which time Mr Moster may not participate in any capacity in any competition or activity authorised or organised by the UCI, a continental confederation or a member national federation.

"The UCI underlines that the sanction imposed by the UCI disciplinary commission is in addition to the measures taken by Mr Moster's national federation, the Bund Deutscher Radfahrer.

"The UCI condemns all forms of racist and discriminatory behaviour and strives to ensure integrity, diversity and equality in cycling."

Breanna Stewart said it would be an "insane" achievement for Sue Bird and Diana Taurasi to reach five Olympic gold medals after Team USA reached the Tokyo 2020 basketball final.

A comfortable 79-59 win over Serbia carried coach Dawn Staley's team through to Sunday's title match.

The USA will be chasing a seventh consecutive gold and a 55th successive Olympic game win, with Bird and Taurasi the longest serving players on the current roster.

Bird and Taurasi have been on the team since the Athens Games in 2004, with Stewart a relative newcomer after first being called up for Rio 2016.

"Sue and D, what they've done for USA basketball is extremely special," Stewart said.

"The fact that they're going for five straight golds is insane and I think for the rest of us as players, we want to make sure we put them in the best possible position to get that gold."

There could be a basketball double for the USA in Japan, with the men through to a title game against France on Saturday.

The women's team have surpassed the Olympic achievements of their male counterparts in this century.

The men managed only bronze in Athens but have won the three Olympic tournaments since, while the women last failed to gain gold in 1992 at Barcelona.

Bird, 40, and Taurasi, 39, might not have long left as active Olympians, but they are passing their knowledge on to the younger generation.

Yet for everyone representing the US, this is a stressful time, given that anything less than the gold medal would be written off by many as failure.

Stewart said: "I think that right now there's so much pressure that it's seven straight overall that you get lost in what's actually happening and enjoying being at the Olympics, being on the court and competing every single day.

"This is exactly where we want to be, so now everything is on the line. We're going to do what we can to make sure that we come home with a gold."

Julio Cesar La Cruz set his sights on winning a third Olympic boxing gold medal in Paris after landing heavyweight glory at Tokyo 2020 on Friday.

The powerful Cuban, who was shot in the hip during an attempted robbery in January 2014, added to the light heavyweight title he won in Rio five years ago

The 31-year-old now believes he can stay at the top until the 2024 Olympics.

La Cruz beat the Russian Olympic Committee's reigning world champion Muslim Gadzhimagomedov, who took silver, by unanimous verdict.

Two judges scored the gold medal bout 30-27 in favour of La Cruz and the other three settled on 29-28 decisions.

The success means Cuba have won three boxing golds in Tokyo, with La Cruz proud of his performance at the Kokugikan Arena.

"There was a lot of attention on the fight as he is the current world champion, but my team and trainers gave me a lot of confidence that I could win the fight, and they were right," La Cruz said. "They said that I had to believe in myself."

There appears to be no lack of self-belief with La Cruz, who added: "I've got two Games gold medals now but Paris is only three years away. I'll go to the next Olympics and try to win a third gold medal for my country."

Having won four world titles at light heavyweight, La Cruz is new to the higher weight category and seizing his opportunity to be a dual weight master.

After surviving the shooting seven years ago, La Cruz is keen to grasp every chance he gets to succeed.

"First of all when that happened it was tough," he said, "but I never lost hope.

"I had to heal for some time, but the Cuban doctors did a marvellous job and thanks to my hope and faith, my family and my mother, the Cuban people and Cuban doctors, the psychologists that helped me, I'm here today and was able to notch those two [gold medal] victories and I thought I deserved it."

The bullet that struck his hip remains in the family, La Cruz confirmed.

"My mother has it, as a token of remembrance of what happened there," he said.

USA STAR DAVIS PREDICTS 'EASY' FINAL

Cuban Andy Cruz awaits Keyshawn Davis in the lightweight final, which will take place on Sunday.

Ask American Davis how he sees that going and the 22-year-old professional boxer will fire back a confident answer, despite losing to Cruz in the World Championship final two years ago.

"I feel like that's going to be an easy fight, man," Davis said on Friday. "I feel like it's going to be easier for me. Like I said, I'm bigger, stronger, faster, smarter."

He made that declaration after beating Armenia's Hovhannes Bachkov in Friday's semi-final.

The United States remain without a men's Olympics boxing gold medal since the Athens 2004 Games.

Nelly Korda is attempting to banish thoughts of an Olympic gold medal even as she closes in on winning the women's golf tournament.

The 23-year-old American will carry a three-shot lead into the final round at Kasumigaseki Country Club after shooting a two-under 69 on Friday to reach 15 under par.

She had to scramble at times after a bright start and made 10 consecutive pars following a bogey six at the eighth hole, with Korda relieved to stay firmly in control through 54 holes.

Aditi Ashok of India sits second after a 68 moved her to 12 under, with third place at 10 under shared by New Zealand's Lydia Ko, Australia's Hannah Green, Emily Kristine Pedersen of Denmark and Japan's Mone Inami.

Asked what pleased her most about her round, Korda said: "Probably my fight. I didn't really have a good back nine. I was kind of spraying it all over the place.

"I made all pars and fought really hard to stay in it really, or ahead of it. If I was sloppy and didn't fight the way I did, I could definitely have shot a couple over par on the back nine easily. I had a couple of testy par putts but I never give up."

As for imagining a gold medal around her neck, Korda said it was only natural to let that thought cross her mind.

"I feel like everyone does it, but that's when you need to take a step back," she said. "There's still 18 more holes to go, there's still a lot that can happen.

"I try to remind myself even though I think about it – I quickly shake my head and I'm like, 'No, no, no, no, it's not there yet, we're not there, we still have a long way to go'."

The weather forecast for the weekend suggests it may be a struggle to fit in a fourth round, with storms expected to brush the east coast of Japan.

Therefore Korda will have already done enough if the tournament is reduced to a three-round event, but she is putting that thought to one side.

An early start has been scheduled for Saturday, with the first groups out at 06:30 local time. Korda, Ashok and Ko will be the last trio out starting from the first, weather permitting, at 08:18.

"My mindset is 72 holes, so I'm sticking to that and trying to give myself opportunities and make them," Korda said. "I'm trying to stay as present as possible and see how it goes.

"I've been really calm the last three days. I haven't really gotten nervous."

April Ross completed her set of Olympic medals as she teamed with Alix Klineman to defeat Australia's Taliqua Clancy and Mariafe Artacho to win another beach volleyball gold for the USA.

The American duo, dubbed the "A-Team", rolled to a 21-15 21-16 victory at sweltering Shiokaze Park for the USA's fourth gold in the event. Brazil, Australia and Germany are the only other countries to win, claiming one gold each. 

Ross, 39, became the oldest woman to medal in beach volleyball as she added to the silver medal she won with partner Jennifer Kessy at London 2012 and her bronze with Kerri Walsh Jennings at Rio 2016. 

She is the first person to win a beach volleyball medal with three different partners. Klineman, 31, moved from indoor volleyball to the beach in 2017 and began playing with Ross late that year, a partnership that culminated in gold in Tokyo. 

"I'm still trying to process it but I'm so in the present moment here with this team and this medal," Ross said. "I'm so proud of my other ones but just how this worked out, and the risks that Alix took to come out onto the beach and all her hard work … it doesn't happen without that.

"I can't fathom that it worked out the way it did. It's kind of a fairytale story like, 'Oh, I'm going at 39 to try and get my gold medal', and the fact that it actually happened feels so special and surreal. I'm just so proud of our team and so grateful for everyone who helps us get here.”

Switzerland's Joana Heidrich and Anouk Verge-Depre won bronze earlier Friday by defeating Latvia's Tina Graudina and Anastasija Kravcenoka 21-19 21-15. 

ANOTHER HOCKEY MEDAL FOR TEAM GB

While they were disappointed not to be able to defend their hockey gold from Rio, Great Britain's women will leave Tokyo with bronze after a second-half comeback to defeat India 4-3. 

Grace Balsdon's goal off a penalty corner in the 48th minute was the difference for Team GB, who took a 2-0 lead before falling behind 3-2 at the half. 

Hollie Pearne-Webb equalised five minutes into the third quarter, just the fourth goal of her career. 

"It probably sums up our whole cycle, that match," said Laura Unsworth. "We start well, and then we have a bit of a dip, then we come back well. That game was probably our cycle.

"But I think the resilience and the fight in our team came out, and we weren't going to walk off this pitch without giving our all and that's certainly what we did."

Unsworth, 33, was part of Britain's Rio team and the London 2012 squad that won bronze. 

"When I first started as a little girl I don't think I could have dreamed of that," Unsworth said. "I've got to thank all of my team-mates, every single one of them who has been a part of these medals.

"But wow, I think I can retire a very, very, very happy person."

POLAND'S TOMALA TAKES GOLD IN 'BORING' 50K WALK

Dawid Tomala revived Poland's 50km race walk tradition, taking the gold medal Friday by 36 seconds over Jonathan Hilbert of Germany while Evan Dunfee of Canada was 51 seconds back for the bronze. 

Tomala finished in three hours, 50 minutes, eight seconds to become his nation's second champion in the event after Robert Korzeniowski won gold in 1996, 2000 and 2004. 

"The first 30km was so easy for me," Tomala said. "It was easy like [a] slow training [session]. Everything was amazing, Too perfect. So I was thinking maybe we can do something. The 50km is so boring, I have to do something [and move ahead of the field]."

The 31-year-old Tomala usually competes in the 20km race walk and had finished only one other 50km race prior to Friday, placing fifth at Dudince, Slovakia in March. 

"This was only the second 50km in my life and I win it," he said. "It is crazy, right?"

Tokyo 2020 organisers have put standby plans in place for the final weekend of the Olympic Games in case the approaching tropical storm forces a change to the schedule.

Strong winds and heavy rain are expected to either hit Japan's east coast directly or skirt close to making landfall.

It was already known that the final round of women's golf could be shifted from Saturday to Sunday, if conditions are unsuitable for play.

Now it has been confirmed that other alterations to the programme may be in the offing, with Games chiefs bracing themselves for all eventualities.

Masa Takaya, spokesperson for the organising committee, said: "At this point in time we just watch the situation closely."

Addressing media in a news conference, he said: "Of course the organising committee is making preparations for the unexpected, but I don't think it's appropriate for us to tell you all the state of preparation for unexpected situations that the organising comiitee is making, because it will only create speculation among yourselves.

"We are giving you possibly the warnings about the situation."

Takaya added: "According to the current strength of the storm, it is categorised as a tropical storm, not a typhoon.

"We just have to share the information, not overstating the strength of the typhoon too much."

Outdoor events over the closing weekend include the baseball and men's football gold medal games in nearby Yokohama, Saturday's final day of athletics in the Olympic Stadium, and the marathon events in Sapporo.

The International Olympic Committee has revoked the accreditations of two Belarus coaches as it continues to investigate the saga involving sprinter Krystsina Tsimanouskaya.

Tsimanouskaya refused to board a flight home from Japan earlier this week after allegedly being taken to the airport against her will, having publicly criticised her team's organisation on social media.

She competed in just one event, finishing fourth in a 100 metres heat, before being pulled out of the Games by Belarusian officials. Due to also compete in the 200m, she claimed a Belarusian coach entered her for the 4x400m relay despite her never racing in the event before.

The IOC announced Friday that it has established a disciplinary commission to "clarify the circumstances around the incident and the roles the coaches Mr Artur Shimak and Mr Yury Maisevich played." 

The governing body added that it had "cancelled and removed" the two coaches' accreditations as a provisional measure "in the interest of the wellbeing of the athletes of the NOC of Belarus who are still in Tokyo." 

The IOC said the coaches were asked to leave the Olympic Village on Thursday night and did so, adding that they "will be offered an opportunity to be heard." 

Tsimanouskaya flew to Warsaw on Wednesday after being granted a humanitarian visa by Poland. 

The Belarusian Sport Solidarity Foundation indicated the 24-year-old feared for her life upon returning to Minsk.

The country is under the authoritarian leadership of president Alexander Lukashenko, whose son Viktor heads the national Olympic committee (NOC). Both men were banned last December from attending Tokyo 2020.

The United States cut China's lead at the top of the medal table to five as they collected four golds on day 13 of the Games.

Coming into Thursday's events, China boasted a seven-gold buffer as leaders but that was reduced by the USA's Katie Nageotte in the women's pole vault and Ryan Crouser in the men's shot put – the latter of which became a back-to-back Olympic champion.

More golds followed for the USA, with Nevin Harrison winning the women's single canoe 200m sprint – her country's first medal in either canoe or kayak sprint since 1992 – and David Taylor succeeding in the men's 86kg freestyle wrestling in the last second.

After shooting a blank the previous day, China ensured a five-gold gap going into Friday as the women's table tennis team continued their dominance, overcoming Japan to secure their fourth gold in four consecutive Games.

The table-toppers have now won all four of the women's diving events in Tokyo, too, as 14-year-old Quan Hongchan set a world record in the 10m platform, making it a China one-two with fellow teenager Chen Yuxi.

Defending Olympic champion Risako Kawai, who is also a three-time world champion, triumphed once more in the women's 57kg wrestling freestyle, meaning early leaders Japan remain in third with a gold count of 22.

Australia suffered shoot-out heartbreak in the men's hockey final but climbed up to fourth with men's kayak double 1000m sprint success and their first-ever Olympic gold medal in skateboarding, courtesy of Keegan Palmer's park win.

Their 17 gold medals at the Games with three days to go equalled Australia's best-ever haul, matching the total they collected at Athens in 2004. 

The Russian Olympic Committee leaped up a spot to fifth as Zaur Uguev was crowned champion in the men's 57kg wrestling freestyle and Albert Batyrgaziev fought to gold in the men's featherweight boxing.

Great Britain, who now boast 16 medals after winning just the one event on Thursday, slipped back down to sixth position with Matthew Walls' omnium gold ending Team GB's frustrating unsuccessful spell in the cycling track events.

Nine-time Olympic gold medallist Carl Lewis did not hold back in his criticism of the United States' performance in the men's 4x100 metres relay at Tokyo 2020.

Team USA have not won the event in 21 years and though they entered Thursday's heat as one of the favourites, they failed to qualify for the final.

It is the first time Team USA have failed to reach the Olympic final since 2008, though they have hardly had much fortune in the event since their success in Sydney.

Indeed, they have only once made it to the finish line cleanly, without any mistakes, when they claimed silver at London 2012. That medal, however, was conceded in the wake of Tyson Gay's doping ban.

This time around, a team including three of the fastest men in the world over 100m in 2021, fared little better.

Trayvon Bromell, Fred Kerley, Ronnie Baker and Cravon Gillespie finished sixth in the heat with a time of 38.10 seconds.

"We just didn't get the job done today," Kerley said. "That's all."

Sprinting great Lewis, who won two golds in the 4x100m relay, hit out at what he labelled a "clown show".

"The USA team did everything wrong in the men’s relay," Lewis wrote on Twitter. "The passing system is wrong, athletes running the wrong legs, and it was clear that there was no leadership. It was a total embarrassment, and completely unacceptable for a USA team to look worse than the AAU kids I saw."

He then expanded on his criticism in an interview with USA Today.

"This was a football coach taking a team to the Super Bowl and losing 99-0 because they were completely ill-prepared," Lewis said.

"It's unacceptable. It's so disheartening to see this because it’s people's lives. We're just playing games with people's lives. That's why I’m so upset. It's totally avoidable.

"America is sitting there rooting for the United States and then they have this clown show. I can't take it anymore. It's just unacceptable. It is not hard to do the relay."

HISTORY MADE BY SPAIN

Sport climbing and karate were two of the sports introduced for the Tokyo Games, and the first medals in each were won by Spanish athletes.

At the age of 39 years and 323 days, Sandra Sanchez became Spain's oldest Olympic champion as she triumphed in the women's kata, breaking the record set by Joan Llaneras in the velodrome in 2008.

Sanchez also became the first Spanish woman to clinch gold in martial arts since judoka Isabel Fernandez did so in 2000.

Her triumph was followed up by golds for France's Steven da Costa and Bulgaria's Ivet Goranova in the men's and women's kumite respectively.

At the opposite end of the spectrum to Sanchez, 18-year-old Alberto Gines Lopez became the youngest male Spanish athlete to strike gold at the Games as he pipped Nathaniel Coleman and Jakob Schubert in the sport climbing men's combined final.

"I think it will help the sport to grow, and for it to get more support. We need good installations in order to help the sport, and I think this will bring more support to the sport," the teenager said, before revealing his plans of celebration: "I'm going to break my diet. And then call my family and friends."

FOURNIER PREPPED FOR 'THE MOST COMPLICATED MATCH'

Team USA and France will meet in the final of the men's basketball competition, as the two favourites go head-to-head for gold.

Luka Doncic's shooting was off as Slovenia fell to an agonising 90-89 defeat to France, who beat the USA in the pool stage.

The European Champions, who also defeated the USA in the 2019 FIBA World Cup, now face a rematch against a side that has scored over 90 points in the last four games.

Evan Fournier, whose 23 points was second behind only team-mate Nando de Colo, knows what is in store.

"It represents a real step towards a dream, and the dream is to win the Olympics against the United States," said Fournier, who has just swapped the Boston Celtics for the New York Knicks.

"We have to rest and not let our minds wander, and prepare as much as possible, because there's a team waiting for us. They've prepared for us for two years, apparently, and because we beat them in the pool it will be worse, so it will be the most complicated match of the competition for us without any doubt."

SHOOT-OUT GLORY FOR BELGIUM

Beaten finalists in 2016, Belgium claimed their first hockey gold, and only their second in an Olympic team sport, after their men beat Australia 3-2 in a shoot-out.

Goalkeeper Vincent Vanasch was the hero in dramatic circumstances.

He made two saves before then denying Jacob Whetton, only for Belgium's celebrations to be cut short by a referral. However, Vanasch stood firm for a second time.

The shoot-out drama followed a 1-1 draw, with Tom Wickham having cancelled out Florent van Aubel's opener.

"What a feeling. You become Olympic champion, but twice [because of the referral] It's unusual," Vanasch said. "We had to calm down and go again. We knew that.

"I'm like a musician, it's a rehearsal and then you come to the concert and it comes naturally. That's how I come on the pitch. I'm composed, but also I trust myself, I trust my reflexes."

Australia have now won seven men's hockey medals across the last eight Games, while Belgium won their first gold in a team event since the 1920 Antwerp Olympics, when their men's football team triumphed.

Luka Doncic explained an uncharacteristic poor shooting performance was the reason for his assist-heavy approach in Slovenia's Olympic semi-final defeat to France, despite appearing to sustain a wrist injury in the fourth quarter.

Slovenia – featuring at their first Games – agonisingly went down 90-89 to France following Nicolas Batum's block in the final three seconds of the game.

The European champions ran Les Bleus close even as Doncic attempted only two shots in the fourth quarter.

The Dallas Mavericks superstar looked to have taken a knock when he collided with a court-side screen early in the fourth but did not indicate any issue as he discussed his late preference for passes.

"My shots weren't falling today, so I was trying to find open team-mates," Doncic said.

Asked specifically about the final play when Batum blocked Klemen Prepelic's lay-up from a Doncic pass, he added: "I think Batum was helping so I had to pass.

"I think [Prepelic] was open and it was a great drive, but Batum had an amazing block. I think it was a good choice.

"Not always you can make a smart choice but I trust them, they trust me and I thought that was a good choice."

Doncic shot five-for-18 from the field and two-for-nine from three-point range but still tallied 16 points, 10 rebounds and 18 assists.

He became only the third player in Olympic history to record a triple-double, following in the footsteps of Alexander Belov and LeBron James.

But having been beaten for the first time in Slovenia colours, falling to 17-1 after success at EuroBasket 2017 and the Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Kaunas, Doncic was not interested in individual achievements.

"We lost the game so I don't care about my performance," he said.

Doncic leads the Games in points (121) and assists (50) but has also drawn the most fouls (39) and played the most minutes (160) in a gruelling campaign.

Opponent Evan Fournier felt the point forward, who led the NBA in usage rate last season (36 per cent), tired under close scrutiny from the French defenders.

"It was the objective to target him all through the match, several of us in relay," New York Knicks signing Fournier said.

"Tim [Luwawu-Cabarrot] did an excellent job, Nico did an excellent job, and I think, as strong as he is, in a 40-minute match you still get tired physically.

"He wasn't taking three-point shots and I think if he'd been fresher he would have done."

Doncic said of the attention: "I'm used to every defense now."

Batum embraced the 22-year-old at the end of the game, with the duo facing off in yet another crunch contest after a seven-game playoff series between the Mavs and the Los Angeles Clippers.

Doncic was on the losing side on that occasion, too, but averaged 35.7 points per game, and he said of the post-game exchange with Batum: "It was a good message. He's a class act. He told me he hates playing against me, in a good way."

An exhausted Luka Doncic fell agonisingly short of carrying Slovenia into the gold medal game at the Tokyo Olympics as they went down 90-89 in their semi-final against France.

Dallas Mavericks superstar Doncic has been the dominant player at the Games and was at the centre of the action again on Thursday.

Despite uncharacteristically slack two-for-nine shooting from deep – hindered by an apparent injury – Doncic put up 16 points, 10 rebounds and 18 assists for a heroic triple-double.

It was the third in Olympic history and first since LeBron James' against Australia at London 2012.

The 22-year-old played a game-high 36 minutes and took numerous hits, but it was Nicolas Batum's clutch block on Klemen Prepelic that decided the contest in France's favour.

Les Bleus will now face the United States, who they have beaten in consecutive tournament games, while Doncic must turn his focus to the bronze medal match against Australia after falling to 17-1 in international play.

Slovenia – making their Olympics debut this year – led 44-42 at halftime before a tough third quarter in which they struggled to get stops and were outscored 29-21.

Doncic then sustained a knock to his wrist in a collision with a court-side screen early in the fourth and seemed reluctant to shoot thereafter.

With their primary scorer pulling the strings but relying on his team-mates to make shots, Slovenia still took the game down to the closing seconds.

After Doncic's 10th rebound ensured his first triple of the Olympics, Prepelic went through for a lay-up inside the final three seconds, only for Batum's fourth block and Gobert's 16th board to deny Slovenia.

Sky Brown is hoping her success in Tokyo will help change people's minds about skateboarding as an Olympic sport, as she looks to add another discipline to her bow in 2024.

Brown became the youngest British medallist in Olympic history when she clinched bronze in the women's park skateboarding event on Wednesday.

The 13-year-old – who won gold at the X Games in July – fell on her first two runs, but nailed her final effort to take bronze with a score of 56.47. Japan's Sakura Yosozumi won gold, with the host nation also claiming silver through Kokona Hiraki.

Skateboarding was making its Olympic debut in Tokyo and will again be competed in Paris in 2024.

That decision had its detractors, but all four events across the men's and women's disciplines have been a huge success at the Ariake Urban Sports Park, where youth has reigned supreme.

"I'm feeling insanely happy, it's crazy to be here, I'm thankful," Brown told BBC Sport.

"I hope I've changed people's minds about skateboarding. People don't know how beautiful skateboarding is, there are no rules, you can be creative, just get out there and do whatever you want.

"Falling on your first two runs is the worst feeling ever. I usually make my first two runs so I was a little shocked yesterday. My dad told me: 'This is just a contest, even if you fall you're still amazing, you're still good.'

"Then [gold medallist] Sakura said: 'Sky, we believe in you, you've got it, just stick it.' Everyone was cheering and I just thought, 'I've got to do this. I've got to land it'."

Brown suffered skull fractures due to a fall in 2020, but she explained: "That was a bit of a rollercoaster, but that accident made stronger, it made me feel powerful, it made me want to go hard and push myself.

"That was a heavy time for my family. It's insane to be here right now."

It is not just skating that Brown excels at. She is also a keen surfer, along with her brother Ocean, and is hoping to compete in that event in three years' time.

"That's the goal, that's my dream, competing for skating and surfing in Paris. That would be really cool. I surf more than I skate," she said.

"All I did to get here was believe in myself and take baby steps. If you believe in yourself, you could be here. But you've got to have fun and enjoy the journey."