GB set new Games gold record while France celebrate

Great Britain continued their most successful start to a summer Olympics as they collected three gold medals on day seven in Paris.

It means Team GB have nine golds after seven days at the Games for the first time ever.

Friday’s impressive showing delivered seven medals in total as Britain’s overall tally at the Games rose to 27, and they climbed briefly to third in standings in the afternoon.

By Friday evening, it was party time for hosts France as they enjoyed success at the Champ de Mars Arena, in the pool and then spectacularly on the BMX track.

A week after igniting the Olympic cauldron, France’s Teddy Riner put his own name back up in lights as he became the most decorated judoka ever in the Games.

Leon Marchand became the first French athlete to take four individual golds at a single summer Olympics and only the third male swimmer to achieve the feat, after American greats Michael Phelps and Mark Spitz.

Joris Daudet, Sylvain Andre and Romain Mahieu then took a clean sweep of the medals in the men’s BMX racing final, although ugly scenes at the final whistle marred France’s 1-0 win over Argentina in the quarter-finals of the men’s football.

Silver medals for Duncan Scott, behind Marchand in the 200m individual medley, and Ben Proud in the 50m freestyle ensured a satisfactory end to the night for Britain.

Success for the British team had arrived early on with three medals across rowing and diving.

Emily Craig and Imogen Grant won gold in the women’s lightweight double sculls, while men’s pair Ollie Wynne-Griffith and Tom George claimed silver after being pipped on the line by Croatia.

Divers Anthony Harding and Jack Laugher added to the tally with bronze in the men’s 3m synchro springboard final. Bryony Page stormed to gold in the trampoline – and in the equestrian arena, GB triumphed in the team jumping final.

Three years ago, Craig and Grant missed out on a double sculls medal by just 0.01 seconds in Tokyo.

But now they are Olympic champions after a dominant performance in which they pulled away to win by almost a length from fast-finishing Romania.

In contrast, Wynne-Griffith and George gained a healthy early lead in the men’s pairs, only to be reeled in and passed close to the line by Croat brothers Martin and Valent Sinkovic.

Four finals, four medals – this has been Britain’s best-ever Games in the diving competition.

Harding and Laugher added to the medal tally, ensuring this is the first Olympics in which Team GB have been on the podium in four different diving disciplines.

Favourites China took gold, while Mexico’s consistency throughout the competition allowed them to pip GB for silver.

However, wth the individual diving events still to come next week, British success off the diving boards and platforms may not be over yet.

Page won a silver medal at Rio 2016 and a bronze at Tokyo 2020 – and in Paris, she completed the set with gold.

The Briton qualified for the trampolining final with a score of 55.620 – despite a couple of nervy moments where she landed worryingly close to the edge.

But the world champion employed her big-stage experience when it mattered most with a sensational routine.

The 33-year-old’s score of 56.480 lifted her above Viyaleta Bardzilouskaya into top spot and prompted tears of joy as the realisation set in that she was an Olympic champion.

With French President Emmanuel Macron watching on and the expectations of a nation on his shoulders, Riner did not disappoint, writing his name into the history books in the city he calls home.

With his victory over South Korea’s Kim Min-jong in the men’s +100kg category, the man nicknamed ‘the Teddy Bear’ secured his fourth Olympic gold medal and sixth overall.

“It is a perfect day, I am not sure if it is a dream,” he told BBC Sport. “It is incredible at home, with my family in my city.”

With a jubilant Macron hugging the 35-year-old to roars of approval, the success of one of France’s most popular sports stars kick-started a party that was continued across town by their new poster boy Marchand.

As has become the norm, the noise was deafening at La Defense Arena as the 22-year-old Marchand appeared.

And he took his fourth gold medal on home soil in the second-fastest time in history in the men’s 200m individual medley, in front of Britain’s Duncan Scott, who earned a silver.

French euphoria then went into overdrive as three home riders, Daudet, Andre and Mahieu, pocketed the gold, silver and bronze medals in the men’s BMX racing final.

After being set up by team-mates Harry Charles on Romeo 88 and Ben Maher on Dallas Vegas Batilly, it was up to Scott Brash to bring home gold in the equestrian team jumping final.

Brash was put under pressure by an excellent circuit from American rider McLain Ward on Ilex, which meant knocking down a single fence would have denied Team GB the title.

But he delivered with a nerveless performance on Jefferson, sparking wild British celebrations in Versailles at their first gold in this event since London 2012.

USA had to settle for silver, with hosts France taking bronze.

Following Thursday’s race walks, the athletics got under way in earnest on Friday on the remarkably purple track at the Stade de France.

One of Britain’s main medal hopes, Josh Kerr, cruised into the semi-finals of the 1500m in three minutes 35.83 seconds – his best time of the season so far.

GB’s Neil Gourley also progressed in a heat containing Norway’s defending champion Jakob Ingebrigtsen but George Mills missed out and will hope for a reprieve on Saturday, in the newly-introduced repechage.

Dina Asher-Smith, Daryll Neita and Imani-Lara Lansiquot all qualified from their women’s 100m heats.

Great Britain’s gold-medal hope Keely Hodgkinson, Tokyo fourth-place finisher Jemma Reekie and teenage sensation Phoebe Gill all advanced in the women’s 800m heats.

However, there was disappointment for Morgan Lake in the women’s high jump as she failed to reach the final.