Sifan Hassan wins extraordinary women’s marathon before Emma Finucane in track cycling

The Olympics reaches its final day with the Paris 2024 Games still offering some final sport with Team GB bidding to add some final medals.

The women’s marathon kicks off Day 16, with Tigist Assefa and Sifan Hassan among the star athletes tackling the intimidating 26.2 mile course.

Emma Finucane is back in action in track cycling as Team GB look to build on their success at the velodrome, despite a brutal collision on Saturday which saw Ollie Wood feeling like “crash test dummy”.

Emily Campbell is in action in the weightlifting and she will be compete in the Women’s +81kg division, looking to build on the historic silver medal she won in Tokyo three years ago.

Follow the latest updates and news throughout Sunday ahead of the closing ceremony:

Olympics 2024 – latest medals and results

• Today at the Olympics: Sunday’s schedule and highlights

• Women’s marathon underway on hilly Paris course

• Emma Finucane in women’s sprint semi-finals from 10:22am

• Emily Campbell in women’s +81kg weightlifting final from 10:30am

• Closing Ceremony to conclude Olympics at around 8pm

Olympics 2024: Women’s marathon

09:25 , Mike Jones

Assefa makes the move first and puts on the burners but she’s met with an injection of pace from Sifan Hassan. Hassan manages to pull up alongside her.

The two come together and there’s shoulder-to-shoulder contact before Hassan moves into the lead with 100m to go. She turns and sprints up the blue tarp before crossing the line in first place!

Sifan Hassan has won the women’s marathon!

Ethiopia’s Tigst Assefa wins silver and Kenya’s Hellen Obiri claims the bronze.

Olympics 2024: Women’s marathon

09:25 , Jack Rathborn

Olympics 2024: Women’s marathon

09:23 , Mike Jones

Hellen Obiri is gone!

It’s a sprint finish between Ethiopia’s Tigst Assefa and Sifan Hassan of the Netherlands!

Olympics 2024: Women’s marathon

09:22 , Mike Jones

Lokedi has been dropped! She’s falling off the back of the other three who will all claim medals now but which ones?

Olympics 2024: Women’s marathon

09:21 , Mike Jones

Amane Beriso Shankule has been dropped so it’s now down to four contenders. The two favourites have to be Obiri and Hassan but Lokedi and Assefa are experienced runners and know how to win marathons.

Obiri has moved into the lead to set this pace and potential attack the final kilometre. Hassan has come on the inside and all four women are running next to each other.

This is coming down to the wire…

Olympics 2024: Women’s marathon

09:18 , Mike Jones

The leaders reach the 40km mark, 2.2km to go and still no attack from any of the runners. The closer this gets to the finish the more it plays into the hands of Sifan Hassan who is a great finisher.

This is a hilly course, like the Boston marathon, and Hellen Obiri was a strong winner there. Which way will this race go?

Olympics 2024: Women’s marathon

09:13 , Mike Jones

The leaders pass the Eiffel Tower with around 3km to go and it’s still anyone’s game. There are five women competing for three medals.

It could all come down to the final few metres. Will someone make a move before then to stride on and claim the gold?

Olympics 2024: Women’s marathon

09:09 , Mike Jones

There’s a pack of five women leading this monster race with Tigst Assefa and Amane Beriso Shankule joined by Sharon Lokedi and Hellen Obiri.

Sifan Hassan of the Netherlands has also caught them up and this group have pulled about 12 seconds ahead of the rest of the field as the end of the race approaches quickly.

Olympics 2024: Women’s marathon – 36km, 2:01:49

09:03 , Jack Rathborn

And there goes Obiri, the Kenyan has dropped back too.

We’re down to four and the damage has been done by a 15:44 5km split from 30-35km.

Olympics 2024: Women’s marathon

09:00 , Jack Rathborn

The Olympic champion Jepchirchir is likely gone now then…

Lokedi looking strong, three medals into five though. Do you risk missing out entirely for a chance at gold? The moves are coming.

Suzuki and Meringor are desperately trying to join the big five up front.

1:59:43 at 35km… We could have a burnup to decide a marathon at this rate. The Olympic record is 2:23, expect another one to go after Tola’s astonishing effort yesterday.

Olympics 2024: Women’s marathon

08:54 , Jack Rathborn

The lead group is down to nine.

Hassan has bridged the gap too, the downhill proving her friend with that leg speed.

It’s developing into a class: Lokedi, Assefa, Shankule (also known as Beriso), Jepchirchir, Obiri, Hassan… The stars are at the front and the racing is about to begin.

Jepchirchir is GONE!? She’s dropped back, drama here at 33.4km… They broke 30km in 1:43:59, 17:20 for that final 5km.

We’re down to FIVE: Obiri, Lokedi, Shakule (Beriso), Assefa and Hassan, 8km remaining.

Olympics 2024: Women’s marathon

08:40 , Jack Rathborn

Hassan leaning into this horrid hill at 28.5km, it’s so steep, she’s been dropped as the Ethiopian Assefa and Shankule surge from the front.

It looks like we’ll have an Ethiopian double gold here as we approach 30km.

Olympics 2024: Women’s marathon

08:34 , Jack Rathborn

It’s bad news for Hellen Obiri… She drops off. One of the big four. Now seven seconds back from the main pack.

So it’s Salpete, Trofimova, Jepchirchir, Assefa, Lindwurm, Hassan, Chesang and a few others at 27km.

Obiri with a surge, she clings on to the back of the pack. Alemu, fourth in London this year, now struggling and looks to have run her race.

The Aussie duo of Gregson and Stenson storm past her now. Hassan is detached, she is flagging too, what a workload she has put in, about 10-15m back but surging down the flat stretch here to bridge the gap.

Olympics 2024: Women’s marathon

08:25 , Jack Rathborn

Team GB watch: Calli Hauger-Thackery is 41st and +1:10, Clara Evans is 49th and +1:39 to the leaders, while Rose Harvey is down in 82nd and +6:05 to the leaders.

The steepest hill is just ahead, this is where the men’s race was won and lost from Tola.

This group has gone through 25km now and Salpete leads by a second in 1:26:34.

Olympics 2024: Women’s marathon

08:13 , Jack Rathborn

We have the 20km split then, Israel’s Salpeter leads in 1:09:31 from about 20 athletes, including favourites Jepchirchir, Assefa, Obiri, Alemu, Lokedi, and Hassan.

The last 5km was in 18:19, it’s starting to become really hard work following a 16:40 5km between 10-15km.

Julien of France, who did lead, at least by a couple of meters pushing the pack along, has dropped back.

Now they hit another sapping hill…

Olympics 2024: Women’s marathon

08:05 , Jack Rathborn

We’ll await the next split at 20km, but Jessica Stenson is pushing on about 10m clear of the chasing pack after 18km.

The Australian is exposing herself here, a strange tactic perhaps before the half-way stage.

Julien is now about 10m off the back, the women, including Jepchirchir and Obiri, take a look around while sharing their drinks.

Kejeta of Germany has stepped off, she’s walking, a real shame after going with the lead pack.

Today at the Olympics: Sunday’s schedule and highlights including Emma Finucane and Closing Ceremony

07:57 , Jamie Braidwood

As the Paris 2024 Olympics comes to a close, the final day of what has been a monumental year for the Games should deliver its fair share of breathtaking moments.

Kicking things off on Sunday will be the eagerly anticipated women’s marathon, with Ethiopia’s Tigst Assefa looking to further cement her greatness after setting a new world record with a staggering time of 2:11:58 at the 2023 Berlin Marathon.

Joining her in the race will be Sifan Hassan, looking to complete an audacious treble, and Great Britain trio Calli Hauger-Thackery, Rose Harvey and Clara Evans, who received a late invitation to Paris after the injury to Charlotte Purdue.

The endurance events will be coming in thick and fast, as the women’s final of the Modern Pentathlon will get underway at 10:40am, with Kate French and Kerenza Bryson hoping to add to Team GB’s medal tally.

There is Men’s Keirin, as well as the Women’s Omnium in track cycling, with Emma Finucane, Jack Carlin and Hamish Turnbull among the riders in action. France play the USA in the women’s basketball gold medal game.

Emily Campbell won Great Britain their first medal in women’s weightlifting when she won silver in Tokyo and will be in action as she competes in the Women’s +81kg division.

Then there will be the Closing Ceremony, starting at 8pm BST, which will bring the Olympics to its natural conclusion.

Today at the Olympics: Sunday’s schedule and highlights including Tigst Assefa

Olympics 2024: Women’s marathon

07:57 , Jack Rathborn

We’re approaching the half-way point in the women’s marathon.

Out in front is Melody Julien of France, she hits one of those fiendishly hard hills after 55 minutes.

Sifan Hassan is in the chasing pack, pinned to the very back and looking to be dragged along in her third event of the Games.

Hellen Obiri, Peres Jepchirchir, Megertu Alemu, Tigst Assefa al up near the top and just .second behind a huge pack.

Olympics 2024: Women’s marathon

07:55 , Jamie Braidwood

We’ve hit 15km and the temperature is rising in Paris as the leaders push on at the front of the course. We’ve hit the big hill that could decide this race and played a big part in yesterday’s men’s marathon.

Hellen Obiri, Peres Jepchrichir, and of course Tigst Assefa are all in the leading pack, as is Sifan Hassan. But this hill could be about to split them!

Lin Yu-ting crowned Olympic champion amid gender row in Paris

06:45 , Jack Rathborn

Lin Yu Ting, one of the boxers at the centre of a gender eligibility row, was crowned Olympic champion after beating Julia Szeremeta in the women’s 57kg final.

The Chinese Taipei boxer beat the Polish fighter by unanimous decision in the contest’s showpiece at Roland Garros.

Lin and Algerian fighter Imane Khelif were both cleared to compete in this year’s Games by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), despite being disqualified by the International Boxing Association (IBA) last year for allegedly failing gender eligibility tests.

Lin Yu-ting crowned Olympic champion amid gender row in Paris

Eliud Kipchoge explains why he did not finish Olympic marathon and reveals future plan

06:30 , Jack Rathborn

Eliud Kipchoge has explained a back injury forced him to drop out of the Olympic marathon at Paris 2024 in the first ‘DNF’ of his marathon career.

The Kenyan was dropped in the first half of the race, but pushed on to the 31km before stepping off the course with further physical pain in his waist.

Ethiopian runner Tamirat Tola won gold, despite not initially being on the team to participate. He thrived as a late replacement for Sisay Lemma to claim gold and set a new Olympic record on the challenging Paris course in a time of 2:06:26.

Great Britain’s Emile Cairess impressed but narrowly missed out on a medal after finishing just over a minute behind the champion in fourth.

Eliud Kipchoge explains why he did not finish Olympic marathon

Emile Cairess shines at Paris Olympics marathon – can Team GB runner now win a major?x

06:15 , Jack Rathborn

“That’s nuts,” Emile Cairess remarked after finishing fourth in the men’s marathon at the Paris Olympics. He was not talking about his own performance, but instead the new champion and gold medallist Tamirat Tola and, specifically, the Ethiopian’s scorching splits. The 32-year-old stormed home on a sweltering day in Paris, clocking 2:06:26 thanks to a staggering second half of 61:35 to clinch a new Olympic record.

Belgium’s Bashir Abdi and Kenya’s Benson Kipruto won silver and bronze respectively. But Tola’s 21-second victory was made even more impressive given the stifling conditions and a course with some venom thanks to several punishing hills. The race was effectively over after 35km when Tola clocked a stunning 5km split of 14:02, which is six seconds faster than the first heat of the men’s 5000m round one this week.

The course’s total elevation was 1,430 feet – significantly more than Boston (891 feet) or New York (945 feet). It did for a fading Eliud Kipchoge, the two-time defending Olympic champion could be seen walking at times before eventually stepping off the course at 31km.

Emile Cairess shines at Olympics marathon – can Team GB runner now win a major?

Jakob Ingebrigtsen admits Olympic 1500m defeat will ‘haunt me for the rest of my life’

06:00 , Jack Rathborn

Jakob Ingebrigtsen has revealed how his toughest losses “haunt” him forever after suffering a stunning upset in the 1500m at the Olympics.

The Norwegian was the favourite for one of the most anticipated races of Paris 2024, but missed out on a medal altogether, finishing behind gold medallist Cole Hocker, with rival Josh Kerr taking silver ahead of Yared Nuguse in bronze.

The Norwegian rebounded in the 5000m, thriving in a slow race to outkick his rivals to defend his title in 13 mins and 13.66 secs ahead of Ronald Kwemoi and Grant Fisher, before explaining how he responded to his 1500m setback.

Jakob Ingebrigtsen admits 1500m defeat will ‘haunt me for rest of life’

Kate Shortman and Izzy Thorpe earn GB’s first ever artistic swimming medal

05:30 , Jack Rathborn

Kate Shortman and Izzy Thorpe claimed a first artistic swimming medal for Great Britain at the Olympics with silver in the women’s duet.

The childhood friends were fractionally outside the podium places after Friday’s Big Ben-themed technical performance but a Rising Phoenix free routine on Saturday was adjudged the best of the 17-strong field.

An overall score 558.5367 was not enough to dislodge China from top spot but they nudged the Netherlands into the bronze-medal position by the wafer-thin margin of 0.1404 points.

Shortman and Thorpe, whose historic achievement has led to Sea Life London Aquarium renaming two nurse sharks after them, were the only pairing in the top-five who are not sisters.

Kate Shortman and Izzy Thorpe earn GB’s first ever artistic swimming medal

Georgia Bell claims stunning bronze as Faith Kipyegon makes 1500m history

05:15 , Jack Rathborn

Georgia Bell unleashed the kick of her dreams to haul in Ethiopia’s Diribe Welteji and snatch a 1500m bronze at the Olympics as the legendary Faith Kipyegon clinched a third successive title.

A blazing Olympic record from Kipyegon, 3 mins and 51.29 secs, proved a blessing beyond the in-race pain for her rivals, as the Kenyan dragged a train of medal hopefuls around to express times. And Bell profited to claim a British record of 3 mins and 52.61 secs, almost four seconds better than her previous best mark, to finish just five-hundredths of a second behind Australia’s Jess Hull in silver.

Bell trains alongside newly-crowned 800m Olympic champion Keely Hodgkinson and has now completed a staggering journey from quitting the sport in 2017 to rediscovering her passion for running in 2021.

Georgia Bell claims stunning bronze as Faith Kipyegon makes 1500m history

Steph Curry’s late magic puts France to sleep as USA win thrilling Olympic final

05:00 , Jack Rathborn

In the end, all of the boos, jeers and glittering French stardust in the world would still not have been nearly enough to stop this unbeatable force. The United States men’s basketball team are Olympic champions once again, winning their fifth straight gold medal against the hosts France at a raucous Bercy Arena in Paris. Led by Steph Curry and his dazzling late run of three-pointers in the closing minutes, the United States assembled a dream team for Paris and came away with the only prize that mattered. For Curry, this was personal too.

France gave it as good a shot as they could manage. The hosts had brought out the big guns in Paris, the giants of their Olympics in Teddy Riner and Leon Marchant sat alongside Thierry Henry courtside. In the stands, Emmanuel Macron arrived just in time for what was the hottest ticket in town on the final Saturday night of the Games. In front of them, they believed the towering Victor Wembanyama could become the biggest star of all, if the 20-year-old could lead the way to improbable glory and the biggest moment of what had already been a memorable Olympics.

And for a moment, when the majestic Wembanyama reached highest of all on a put-back to cut the USA’s lead to three points with three minutes remaining, the Bercy Arena trembled at the thought. Except, it only triggered one of the all-time closing stretches from a legend of the sport. Curry was inspired. He went from roaring at the French crowd, almost ripping the USA off his jersey, before putting them to sleep: his astonishing three through the reaching arms of two French defenders sealed victory before adding another from deep for good measure. Good night, he said.

Steph Curry’s late magic puts France to sleep as USA win thrilling Olympic final

Emma Hayes returns the USA’s spark and retires a legend to win Olympic gold

04:00 , Jack Rathborn

The winning machine rolls on. In her first act as manager of the United States, Emma Hayes returned the leading force in the women’s game back to gold medal position.

A first Olympic title in 12 years and fifth overall follows a period where the United States lost what made them dominant. In less than three months, Hayes has managed to remind them of who they are while imprinting her own personal stamp. At the Parc des Princes, Brazil had most of the chances, most of the threat. The USA suffered but hung on, victory secured through Mallory Swanson’s goal early in the second half and Alyssa Naeher’s late saves.

They ensured there would be no fairytale ending for Marta. An icon of Brazilian football and six-time women’s world player of the year, the 38-year-old now heads into retirement without the major title for her country she had long desired, and her trail-blazing career deserved.

Emma Hayes returns the USA’s spark and retires a legend to win Olympic gold

Caden Cunningham wins taekwondo medal he dreamt aged 10 – but will the Olympics ever see him again?

Sunday 11 August 2024 00:51 , Jack Rathborn

At the end of a fierce final under the high domed ceiling of the Grand Palais, Caden Cunningham settled for silver. He smiled and graciously raised the hand of the new Olympic heavyweight champion, Iran’s Arian Salimi, who snatched victory in the deciding round of this fight after sending a long tentacled leg behind Cunningham to tap the sensor on his head guard.

Cunningham is only 21 and his chance will come again. In many ways this was the night he announced himself to the world, but the outlines were sketched a decade ago in his family living room, when a 10-year-old Cunningham and his dad hatched a plan to qualify for the Olympics in 2024.

“I wanted to move over to kickboxing but that isn’t in the Olympics, so when we looked at it we thought, no, let’s stick with taekwondo,” Cunningham told The Independent before the Games. “Me and my dad worked out that by Paris, that’s when I’d be old enough to compete. That’s when I decided. I trained every single second I could.”

Caden Cunningham wins Olympic medal he dreamt aged 10 – but will he ever return?