Tokyo 2020: Gold medal winners plus Adam Peaty, Helen Glover, Andy Murray and more GB updates

Carapaz wins men's road race

Geraint Thomas immediately switched his focus to Wednesday’s Olympic time trial after being forced to abandon the road race following a crash as Ecuador’s Richard Carapaz stormed to victory.

Carapaz, third in the Tour de France last week, rode clear of Brandon McNulty with six kilometres of the demanding 234km race to the Fuji International Speedway left and held off the chasing pack to deliver only Ecuador’s second Olympic gold in their history.

Adam Yates was part of a nine-man chasing group who crossed the line 67 seconds after his Ineos Grenadiers team-mate. The Lancastrian had launched his sprint first, knowing surprise was his best opportunity, but he was soon swept up to finish ninth as Wout Van Aert pipped Tour winner Tadej Pogacar to silver on the line.

Winning start for GB

Great Britain’s men launched their Tokyo Olympics campaign with a 3-1 victory over South Africa at the Oi Hockey Stadium.

Sam Ward struck early to give Britain a flying start, but the lead proved short-lived as Matthew Guise-Brown equalised just 10 minutes later.

It remained level at half-time, but Britain enjoyed a dominant second period and claimed maximum points in the Pool B encounter through goals from Liam Ansell and Jack Waller.

Britain face Canada on Monday in their next game in a group that also includes Holland, Belgium and Germany.

Mixed fortunes for British boxers

British featherweight Karriss Artingstall made an encouraging start to her Olympic campaign with a comfortable opening victory over Keamogetse Kenosi but Peter McGrail was eliminated in his first round bout.

Macclesfield-born Artingstall, a gunner in the British Army and a bronze medallist at the 2019 World Championships, proved too classy for her Botswanan opponent, who struggled with her headguard on several occasions.

Artingstall was given the nod by all five judges in every round, with four scores of 30-27 and one of 30-26, as she eased into the last-16 of the 57kg category at the Ryogoku Kokugikan in Tokyo.

Kurt Walker overcame a cut to his right eyebrow in the corresponding men’s division following a savage left hook in the third round by Spain’s Jose Quiles, but the Irishman was awarded a unanimous decision win earlier on Saturday.

However, British rival McGrail fell at the first hurdle, the Merseysider dropping a unanimous decision to veteran Thai Chatchai-Decha Butdee, who also competed at London 2012 and Rio 2016.

Easy peasy for Peaty

Adam Peaty underlined his status as the overwhelming favourite to become the first British swimmer to retain an Olympic title by cruising into the semi-finals of the men’s 100 metres breaststroke.

The 26-year-old from Uttoxeter prevailed in his heat in 57.56 seconds at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre, the quickest time of anyone to compete in the event on Saturday night and the eighth fastest of all time over the distance.

He owns the previous seven as well and attention in Sunday morning’s semi-final will turn to whether he can set a new world record, currently 56.88secs which he recorded en route to winning gold at the 2019 World Championship.

Mixed doubles contenders emerge

Andy Murray and Joe Salisbury marked themselves out as medal contenders with a brilliant first-round performance in the men’s doubles at the Ariake Tennis Park.

The pair had a tough draw against second seeds and Roland Garros champions Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut but they brushed the French pair aside in a 6-3 6-2 victory.

Salisbury and Murray had never played a match together before but the former is Britain’s best doubles player while Murray also has plenty of experience in the format.

Japanese legend in shock exit

Defending champion Max Whitlock safely negotiated the nerve-racking qualification process at the Ariake Gymnastics Centre on the day one of his sport’s biggest stars bowed out.

Whitlock has often acknowledged the inspiration he has gleaned from watching the career of Kohei Uchimura, the Japanese great who came into his home Olympics as a double defending all-around champion hoping for one last gold before retirement.

But the 32-year-old Uchimura, forced to target a single apparatus for his swansong after battling a succession of injuries, fell from the horizontal bar midway through the qualification process, bringing his illustrious career to an unfortunate end.

Glover through - but promises more to come

Helen Glover launched her bid for a third Olympic gold medal and insisted there was more to come.

The two-time Olympic champion finished third in her women’s pairs heat with Polly Swann as they opened their Games campaign on Saturday.

The duo clocked in seven minutes 23.98 seconds behind Australia and the ROC, the Russian Olympic Committee, at the Sea Forest Waterway.

But Glover, who only returned to training in 2020 following almost four years out of the boat after starting a family, expects more ahead of Tuesday’s semi-final.

“It’s good to progress to the next round, we both know there is more to come as it wasn’t a perfect row but I guess there’s definitely value in learning in the early rounds,” said the 35-year-old, who won pairs gold in 2012 and 2016 with Heather Stanning.

“We are open to what is coming next. We know we have done better in training, it would be more frustrating if we had a perfect row and didn’t have anything to improve on.”

All White in the end

Ellen White struck again to book Team GB’s spot in the last eight at the Olympics after victory over Japan.

The striker grabbed her third goal in two games to seal a cagey 1-0 win over the hosts in Group E.

Dress to impress

Charlotte Fry admitted her Olympic Games debut “could not have gone much better” as she cruised into the individual dressage final at Tokyo’s Equestrian Park.

The 25-year-old, whose late mother Laura rode for Britain in the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, topped her qualifying group with Everdale on a personal best grand prix score of 77.096 per cent.

Two riders from each of six groups – plus the next six-best finishers – will contest Wednesday’s individual final.

And Fry’s outstanding performance under the floodlights also meant a strong start to British team hopes, with Charlotte Dujardin and Carl Hester completing a powerful trio.