Five-time Wanda Diamond League champion Noah Lyles claimed his first ever Olympic title on the first weekend of athletics action in Paris, while reigning Diamond League champion Yaroslava Mahuchikh claimed gold in the women's high jump.
Lyles ran 9.79 in a historic 100m, edging Jamaican rival Kishane Thompson by just five thousandths of a second in a dramatic photo finish. It was a victory which saw the US star add a first Olympic gold medal to the four individual world titles and five Diamond Trophies already on his mantlepiece.
Ukrainian high jumper Mahuchikh also won gold by the slimmest of margins, beating Australian rival Nicola Olyslagers on countback after clearing 2.00m. The triumph completed a neat Paris double for Mahuchikh, who broke the world record with her 2.10m jump at the Wanda Diamond League meeting in the French capital last month.
2021 Diamond League champion Ryan Crouser took gold in the men's shot put, beating fellow American and current Diamond Trophy holder Joe Kovacs with a winning throw of 22.90m.
In the women's 100m, St. Lucia's Julien Alfred claimed her country's first ever Olympic title with a national record of 10.72, building on the strong form which saw her take her first ever Diamond League in in Monaco last month.
Four more reigning Diamond League champions are in action on Monday night. Sweden's Mondo Duplantis is hoping to defend his title in the men's pole vault, Great Britain's Keely Hodgkinson lines up in the women's 800m and the USA's Valarie Allman is favourite in the women's discus. Ethiopia's Gudaf Tsegay, meanwhile, is eyeing 5000m glory after she broke the world record at last year's Wanda Diamond League Final in Eugene.
