Christoph Harting wins dramatic discus final at Rio 2016

Germany’s Christoph Harting timed the throw of his life to perfection as he launched the discus to a 68.37m PB in the final round of the competition to claim victory ahead of Poland’s world champion Piotr Malachowski.

Many might have expected a Harting to appear on the podium, but after defending champion Robert was a casualty of the qualifying round it was his younger brother who stepped up to see that the title would remain in the family.

With a best of 66.34m before his final throw, the younger Harting added more than two metres to that mark on his last attempt, also improving his PB by 31 centimetres, to leapfrog Malachowski who was leading with 67.55m. Although the eventual winner led circle-side support for the Pole, clapping him as he took his final throw, Malachowski couldn’t respond and had to settle for silver ahead of Daniel Jasinski, who claimed a second medal for Germany with 67.05m for bronze, also from his final throw.

On being beaten by Harting, the now two-time Olympic silver medallist Malachowski said: “I wasn’t surprised by his result, but I was more worried about Daniel Jasinski. He was on fire.”

The Pole added: “In discus throw at this level, you can just make a little side step. Details matter. You can put your feet just a little bit differently and it can add two or three metres. He (Harting) did something smoother and that’s why he got a few extra metres.”

Thiam leaps into lead

Belgium’s Nafissatou Thiam gained a narrow lead ahead of defending heptathlon champion Jessica Ennis-Hill to set up a close contest with two events remaining. Leaping a 6.58m PB in the long jump, she is five points ahead of the Briton with 5018, while Katarina Johnson-Thompson sits third on 4967 points with the javelin and 800m remaining.

Akela Jones is fourth on 4907 and Brianne Theisen-Eaton fifth on 4872.

Johnson-Thompson and Ennis-Hill both had their best jumps in the first round, recording 6.51m and 6.34m respectively. Thiam looked to have recorded a huge leap of 6.93m in the first round but it was a foul and her foot had been so far over the board it didn’t leave a mark in the plasticine.

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