Glittering day for GB as Spain deny France in thriller – day 14 in Paris

Teenage climber Toby Roberts added to Team GB’s medal tally at Paris 2024 with a spectacular gold in the men’s boulder and lead final.

Katarina Johnson-Thompson ended her long wait for an Olympic medal with silver in the heptathlon, narrowly missing gold despite posting a personal best in the 800m finale.

Another silver went to Team GB’s women in the 4x100m relay, before the men’s quartet took bronze in their race.

There were more medals for Great Britain at the velodrome as Elinor Barker and Neah Evans took madison silver, while Jack Carlin came away with a dramatic bronze in the sprint.

While at the Parc des Princes, there was heartbreak for host nation France in the men’s football gold medal match against Spain as they lost 5-3, having come back from 3-1 down to force extra time.

In the diving, it was disappointment for Team GB’s Yasmin Harper as she missed out on adding to her synchro bronze medal, finishing fifth in the women’s 3m springboard final, while team-mate Grace Reid was 10th.

Imane Khelif won Olympic women’s boxing gold amid a gender eligibility row.

With just two more days of competition left, Great Britain are in a tight battle to finish as the highest European nation in the medal table.

Team GB are in fifth, equal on 14 golds with host nation France and just one medal ahead in total with 57, while the Netherlands are one gold further back.

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Roberts was in provisional first place when Sorato Anraku, the final climber and favourite, took to the 15-metre wall.

But the world silver medallist from Japan lost his grip and slipped near the top to hand Roberts a dramatic gold.

The 19-year-old Briton, who improved his climbing on a wall built by his father in his back garden during the pandemic, had scored 92.1 points in the lead final to take his total to 155.2 – 9.8 points ahead of Anraku in silver.

“I am just lost for words. To find out that I had got the gold in that moment was truly incredible,” Roberts told BBC Sport.

“I have been training for this moment my whole life. To say it hasn’t sunk in is an understatement. I imagine later it will be a flood of emotions.”

Track and field all-rounder Johnson-Thompson – who made her Games debut at London 2012 – finally secured an Olympic medal as she took a hard-earned silver.

She narrowly missed out on gold to Belgium’s history-maker Nafissatou Thiam in a dramatic conclusion to the competition.

Two-time outdoor world champion Johnson-Thompson trailed by 121 points – equating to roughly 8.5 seconds – heading into the decisive seventh event.

Johnson-Thompson opened a significant lead on Thiam during the 800m and crossed the line in a personal best two minutes 04.90 seconds.

That gutsy performance from the 31-year-old was not quite enough, however, and Thiam took gold at the Stade de France by 36 points to become the first woman to win three Olympic heptathlon titles.

It was a superb competition from Johnson-Thompson at her fourth Games, recording the second best points total of her illustrious career.

Great Britain’s Barker and Evans won a hard-earned silver medal in an enthralling madison.

It took a huge push on the final sprint to give the world champions a total of 31 points, six points behind gold medallists Italy who gained a lap to get 20 points, as did Netherlands who took the bronze.

There was drama in the men’s individual sprint bronze medal race as Britain’s Jack Carlin, who was tied at one race win apiece, moved up the track and collided with Dutch rider Jeffrey Hoogland.

Already on a yellow warning from an earlier race, Carlin received a reprieve with the race restarted after he was judged to have mistakenly caused the collision and he took advantage to take the bronze medal.

The two medals continue Team GB’s success in the Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines velodrome at these Olympics, with seven now won.

Evans’ silver in the madison also means every member of the British track squad has won a medal in Paris.

Great Britain’s women claimed Olympic 4x100m relay silver before the men’s team took bronze in two thrilling races at a rain-sodden Stade de France.

Dina Asher-Smith, Imani Lansiquot, Amy Hunt and Daryll Neita had two tricky changeovers, but Neita was superb on the anchor leg.

She almost overhauled 100m silver medallist Sha’Carri Richardson down the final straight, but the American dipped over the line first.

Zharnel Hughes then starred for the men on the anchor leg, running a superb final few metres to secure a medal for the quartet of Hughes, Jeremiah Azu, Louie Hinchliffe and Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake.

Team GB took advantage of the United States – without Covid-hit 100m champion Noah Lyles – being disqualified for a faulty first changeover.

Earlier on Friday, with pre-Games medal favourite Jake Wightman out with a hamstring injury, it looked like Team GB would be without a representative in the men’s 800m final after Ben Pattison and Elliot Giles failed to qualify.

However, Max Burgin, going in the last semi-final, pulled off a personal best of one minute 43.50 seconds to finish third and go through as one of the two next fastest.

There was heartbreak for host nation France at the Parc des Princes as they had to settle for silver after being edged out by Spain in the men’s football final.

A pulsating match saw the hosts take an early lead, only to quickly fall 3-1 behind before half-time and then mount a stunning second-half comeback.

Elation turned to deflation for Thierry Henry’s side as they could not see the job through, with Spain substitute Sergio Camello keeping calm in the most tense of situations to score twice in extra-time.

The thrilling triumph, which was Spain’s first Olympic gold since 1992, continued the nation’s recent success, little over a month after they won the men’s European Championship, beating England in the final.

They also won the men’s under-19 European title last month, while the women’s team lifted the World Cup last year.