The United States underwhelming athletics campaign suffered further blows on Thursday with favourite Grant Holloway beaten in the 110 metres hurdles and their men’s 4x100m relay team failing to qualify for the final.
There was some respite for the Americans in the shot put with a 1-2, Ryan Crouser successfully defending his title with world champion Joe Kovac taking silver as he did in Rio in 2016.
But there was more disappointment in the men’s triple jump.
Will Claye — favoured at last to win a gold medal after twice finishing runner-up in the Olympic final behind Christian Taylor, who missed Tokyo due to injury— came up short in fourth place.