Reuters Sports News Summary

08/14/2016 0:59

Following is a summary of current sports news briefs.

Swimming: Paltrinieri turns 1,500m freestyle into race for silver

Gregorio Paltrinieri of Italy won the Olympic gold medal in the 1,500 meters freestyle on Saturday after dominating throughout the race with a relentless display of technique and endurance in the longest event in the pool. Connor Jaeger of the United States took the silver, and Italy's Gabriele Detti won bronze after overhauling Jordan Wilimovsky of the U.S. in the closing stages. But the winner never seemed in doubt after world champion Paltrinieri took the lead at 150 meters and wore down the rest of the field.

American Henderson snatches long jump gold

Jeff Henderson of the United States won gold in the men's long jump on Saturday, leaping 8.38 meters to snatch the title in the last round. His win, edging out South Africa's Luvo Manyonga in the last round of the competition, gives the United States its 22nd long jump gold medal.

Athletics: Jamaica's Thompson wins women's 100 meters

Elaine Thompson of Jamaica won the women's 100 meters sprint at the Rio Olympics in a time of 10.71 seconds on Saturday. Tori Bowie of the United States finished second to take silver, while Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce of Jamaica won bronze.

Swimming: Blume wins Denmark's first swim gold since 1948

Denmark's Pernille Blume beat the favorites to win the 50 meters freestyle in 24.07 seconds on Saturday and give her country a first Olympic swimming gold medal since 1948. Simone Manuel of the United States, who won 100 freestyle gold in a dead-heat with Canada's Penny Oleksiak, was just 0.02 behind for silver while Aliaksandra Herasimenia of Belarus took the bronze in 24.11.

Athletics: Farah reigns supreme, Thompson is new sprint queen

Elaine Thompson inherited the mantle of Olympic 100 meters champion from fellow Jamaican Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce on Saturday but Mo Farah simply refused to relinquish his 10,000m crown as the Briton recovered from a fall to retain his title. Fraser-Pryce, who took bronze in a fantastic final, became the third athlete in two days to discover why no woman has ever managed to win three individual athletics titles in a row, after Ethiopian 10,000m runner Tirunesh Dibaba and New Zealand shot-putter Valerie Adams both came up short on Friday.

Athletics: Rio gets Bolt fever, Harting snatches discus gold

Usain Bolt took the first "sluggish" steps towards his hoped-for Olympic triple-triple on Saturday when he eased through his 100 meters heat as the fans turned out in force to see the sport's superstar bring the athletics program to life. After Friday's feeble turnout on a grey, wet morning, there were enough in the 60,000-capacity stadium to attempt a somewhat ragged Mexican wave in the Saturday sunshine, although there was no shortage of excitement to keep them occupied.

Swimming: Manuel anchors medley team to 1,000th U.S. gold

Simone Manuel anchored the U.S. women's 4x100 meters medley relay team to the 1,000th gold medal in her country's Olympic history on Saturday, and the second of her career. The United States were the defending champions and Manuel's swim came about 40 minutes after she won silver in the 50 freestyle.

Russia athletics suffers final disgrace as last competitor barred

Russian track and field suffered a final humiliation at the Rio Games on Saturday when the sport's governing body suspended long jumper Darya Klishina, removing from competition the nation's only athlete to have so far survived a blanket ban for doping. The suspension, announced three days before she was due to compete, relates to new evidence uncovered by an anti-doping probe into allegations Russia ran a systematic, state-backed cheating program, said a source familiar with the matter.

Swimming: U.S. wins men's medley relay, golden send-off for Phelps

The United States won the men's 4x100 meters medley relay on Saturday after Ryan Murphy had given them a world record start that propelled Michael Phelps to a 23rd gold medal in his final Olympic race. Britain took the silver medal and Australia bronze.

Fencing: Russia skewer Ukraine, dedicate gold to those banned

Russia dismantled Ukraine to win their fourth fencing gold at the Rio Olympics on Saturday as the Americans took bronze over traditional powerhouse Italy for the second straight day. Russia lost just one of nine bouts in the women's team saber final, trouncing Ukraine 45-30 to rack up seven fencing medals at the Games - their best performance in two decades.

08/14/2016 0:59