Teenage sport climber Toby Roberts won Great Britain’s 14th gold of the Paris 2024 Olympics after victory in the men’s boulder and lead competition.
Roberts, 19, secured 155.2 points to beat favourite Sorato Anraku of Japan, who lost his grip and fell needing only 86 points on the lead wall to relegate Roberts into silver-medal position.
Austria’s Jakob Schubert took bronze, with another Briton, Hamish McArthur, finishing fifth.
Roberts, given the nickname ‘The Terminator’ due to his determination told the BBC: “I’m just absolutely lost for words. To find out that I got the gold in that moment, it was just truly incredible.
“I’ve been training for this moment my whole life, and now I’ve just won. To say it hasn’t sunk in is an understatement.
“I don’t really know what to think right now, but I imagine later, there’s just going to be a flood of emotions. It’s a goal I’ve been training towards for 10 years, basically. Just no words.”
Roberts later added: “To find out you’ve won Olympic gold is definitely a shock. It was a rush of adrenaline, emotion and then happiness.
“I hope this makes climbing bigger and bigger. The sport is growing in the UK with climbing gyms opening up, and it’s so cool to see climbing on this big stage.”
Brilliant silver for Brits in women’s Madison
Elinor Barker and Neah Evans won silver for in the women’s Madison.
A big late charge from Barker saw Britain win the last of the 12 sprints in the 120-lap race and move above the Netherlands as Italy’s Chiara Consonni and Vittoria Guazzini celebrated gold.
Italy finished with 37 points to Britain’s 31 and the Netherlands’ 28.
The British pair had been on the attack from the off, winning the first sprint and staying in the medal positions for the rest of the race.
They took the most points of any team purely from the sprints, but Italy and the Netherlands both gained a lap on the field, picking up 20 points in the process.
Evans said: “It’s an Olympic silver medal. That is fantastic.
“But as world champions we came in with really high expectations, we wanted to win and we felt we were in a really good position and there was an attack that went that we weren’t 100 per cent ready for and by the time we responded there was a different race dynamic.
“We gave it everything and I think on reflection we’ll be so proud of the ride we did. But at the same time when you come for gold it’s like, eurgh, not quite. But still, silver.”
Dame Laura Kenny and Katie Archibald became the first female Olympic champions at the Tokyo Games when the Madison made its debut in the women’s programme. Barker and Evans are the reigning world champions after their win in Glasgow last summer.
Silver for relay team
Daryll Neita, Amy Hunt, Imani Lansiquot and Dina Asher-Smith celebrate winning silver in the women’s 4x100m relay
Dina Asher-Smith, Imani Lansiquot, Amy Hunt and Daryll Neita won silver in the women’s 4x100m relay.
Sha’Carri Richardson won her first Olympic gold medal by bringing the Americans from behind in the anchor lap to win the race – 0.07s ahead of Britain with Germany claiming bronze.
KJT still has chance of Olympic gold
At the Stade de France, Katarina Johnson-Thompson lost top spot in the heptathlon to Nafissatou Thiam ahead of Friday evening’s final event, the 800m, which takes place at 1925 BST.
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Sky Sports’ Miriam Walker-Khan explains what Katarina Johnson-Thompson must do to win Olympic gold in the heptathlon
The reigning world champion began day two in the gold-medal spot and retained that place with a leap of 6.40 metres in the long jump.
However, Johnson-Thompson was usurped by two-time Olympic champion Thiam after the javelin, with the Belgian throwing 54.04m and Johnson-Thompson landing 45.49.
The Briton now trails Thiam by 121 points and will need to beat her rival by around eight seconds to win the gold medal in Paris.
Johnson-Thompson’s best 800m time is 2:05.63, a little over six seconds better than Thiam’s 2:11.79.
Harper misses out on diving medal as China win gold again
In the women’s 3m springboard, Britain’s Yasmin Harper came fifth and compatriot Grace Reid 10th as China won their seventh gold from seven in the diving events in Paris.
Chen Yiwen – who also won the synchronised 3m title with Chang Yani on the opening day of the Games – registered a score of 376.00 to finish ahead of Australia’s Maddison Keeney (343.10) and countrywoman Chang (318.75).
Harper (305.10) was unable to add to the bronze she claimed alongside Scarlett Mew Jensen in the 3m synchro event.
Plus, Great Britain’s Hector Pardoe came sixth in the men’s 10km open water swimming after pipping France’s Marc-Antoine Olivier in a photo finish, while Ireland’s Daniel Wiffen, who won 800m freestyle gold and 1500m bronze in the pool, finishing 18th as he made his debut in open water swimming.
Hungary’s Kristof Rasovszky took open water gold with a time of one hour 50 minutes and 52 seconds, 2.1 seconds ahead of Germany’s Oliver Klemet, with Rasovszky’s compatriot David Betlehem bagging bronze.
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