Noah Lyles of the United States lived up to his pre-race billing by taking gold in the men's 100m, winning an exceptionally tight contest by just 0.005s Sunday from Jamaica's Kishane Thompson, reported Xinhua.
With no runners stretching clear of the rest, a photo finish was required to separate the leading contenders, with Lyles ultimately being determined the winner in a personal best time of 9.784s.
The 27-year-old, who is the current world champion over 100m and 200m, becomes the first Olympic men's 100m winner from the U.S. since Justin Gatlin at Athens 2004.
The luckless Thompson, who had appeared slightly ahead of Lyles at the race's halfway point, took silver in 9.789s, with Lyles' teammate Fred Kerley rounding out the medal placings in 9.81s.
Tokyo 2020 gold medalist Lamont Marcell Jacobs finished fifth in 9.85s, after having only narrowly squeezed into the final as one of the two fastest non-automatic qualifiers.
South Africa's Akani Simbine and Letsile Tebogo of Botswana both ran national record times of 9.82s and 9.86s respectively as they finished fourth and sixth.
Oblique Seville of Jamaica had run a personal best of 9.81s in his semifinal, but faded to finish eighth and last in the final.
In the women's high jump, world record holder Ukraine's Yaroslava Mahuchikh claimed gold, clearing her best effort of 2.00m on her first attempt.
Australia's Nicola Olyslagers also cleared 2.00m but required three attempts to do so. With neither competitor clearing 2.02m, Mahuchikh was thus awarded gold by virtue of having fewer misses.
Mahuchikh and Olyslagers dominated proceedings, with each athlete having cleared every bar at the first attempt up to 1.98m, by which point every other competitor had been eliminated.
After having confirmed her gold medal, Mahuchikh also had an attempt at 2.04m which she missed, bringing the competition to a close.
Iryna Gerashchenko of Ukraine and Australia's Eleanor Patterson tied for the bronze medal on 1.95m, having both been knocked out at 1.98m with three misses each.
The men's hammer was dominated by reigning world champion Ethan Katzberg of Canada, whose first attempt of 84.12m was just 0.68m shy of the Olympic record.
Silver went to Bence Halasz of Hungary with 79.97m, while Mykaylo Kokhan (79.39m) took bronze, scoring Ukraine's first medal in the men's hammer throw for 28 years.
Tokyo 2020 men's hammer champion Wojciech Nowicki could only finish a disappointing seventh.
Monday's athletics action will see medals being awarded in men's pole vault, women's discus, women's 5,000m and women's 800m.
Source: www.dailyfinland.fi