The Rio 2016 Olympics might be winding down but Team GB showed they are not taking their foot off the pedal as they were able to celebrate their most successful away Games ever following the conclusion of the penultimate day of action.
It all kicked off early in the morning as Liam Heath, having already won K2 200m silver alongside Jon Schofield at these Games, went one better in the individual equivalent.
Having powered through his heat and semi-final 24 hours earlier the 32-year-old was back out in the Lagoa Stadium for the final, taking gold in 35.197 seconds.
The men’s K1 200m was only added to the Olympic schedule four years ago, with Team GB’s Ed McKeever claiming the first title at London 2012.
And having ensured Team GB kept hold of the crown Heath is now tied with Tim Brabants and David Florence as the most decorated British Olympic canoeist of all time with three medals, although he is the quickest of the trio to achieve the feat with Rio 2016 just his second Games.
Meanwhile, the quartet of Rachel Cawthorn, Jess Walker, Louisa Gurksi and Rebaka Simon were seventh in the women’s K4 500m.
Later that afternoon Nicola Adams became the first British boxer to retain their Olympic Games title since 1924 after she beat France’s Sarah Ourahmoune in the women’s flyweight final.
The 33-year-old from Leeds won by unanimous decision, cruising through the first two rounds before defending her advantage in the final two.
Adams, who won the inaugural women’s flyweight title in London, matches middleweight Harry Mallin’s feat of 1920 and 1924 in defending her title and took Team GB’s 26th gold of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.
But Team GB weren’t done there as Mo Farah added the 5000m title to his earlier 10,000m crown, successfully completing the double-double.
What’s more, Farah’s success meant Team GB were on 65 medals, the same amount they claimed at London 2012.
But they didn’t have to wait long to surpass that tally as later in the evening Eilidh Doyle, Anyika Onuora, Emily Diamond and Christine Ohuruogu won women’s 4x400m bronze, bringing up Team GB’s most successful away Games medal total in the process and also becoming the first host nation to better their tally at the next summer Games.
Elsewhere at the Olympic Stadium, Lynsey Sharp set a new personal best of 1:57.69 minutes to finish sixth in the women’s 800m final, while Andy Butchart also lowered his lifetime best to 13:08.61 in the 5000m final.
While Farah stormed to gold Butchart had crossed in seventh but was elevated to fourth following disqualifications, while teenager Morgan Lake was tenth in the women’s high jump final.
Earlier in the evening Bianca Walkden claimed taekwondo bronze in the women’s +67kg event, but teammate Mahama Cho fell just short of the podium as he lost his bronze-medal match in the men’s +80kg division.
The medals didn’t stop there though with Vicky Holland becoming the first British woman ever to claim an Olympic triathlon medal after winning a sprint finish for Rio 2016 bronze at Copacabana with teammate Non Stanford.
Holland and Stanford were in medal contention throughout, cycling among the pack after the swim before running side by side as Gwen Jorgensen and Nicola Spirig broke away.
It was Holland who had more at the death sprinting away from Stanford in the last 100m to complete the podium after American Jorgensen had surged ahead of Spirig herself, while Helen Jenkins came home 19th.
However, there was disappointment for Tom Daley who, despite topping the 10m platform preliminaries, finished last in the semi-final and failed to advance to that evening’s showpiece.
Joe Choong looked to be on course to win a medal in the men’s modern pentathlon as he sat second ahead of the final event – the run-shoot.
But he couldn’t hold on to the silver medal and finished in tenth, while teammate Jamie Cooke ended up in 14th.
And as the women’s golf tournament came to a close, Charley Hull shot a final round three-under 68 to finish tied seventh, eight shots off winner Inbee Park of South Korea.
Catriona Matthew meanwhile ended with a one-under round to finish in 29th place.
Image courtesy of BBC via YouTube, with thanks.
