Paris (AFP) - Sha’Carri Richardson powered the US to an Olympic sprint relay gold with a storming anchor leg Friday, as Algeria’s gender eligibility row boxer Imane Khelif limbered up for her gold medal bout.

With just three days left of the Games, history was made in Paris as breaking made its Olympic debut in Place de la Concorde and Chinese table tennis legend Ma Long captured the sixth gold medal of his career.

In the 4x100m relay, it was a case of redemption for sprint superstar Richardson, who made up for her silver in the individual 100m with a gold-winning anchor run.

Richardson turned on the afterburners to overhaul Britain, Germany and France in the home straight as the US quartet took gold in a season’s best time of 41.78sec.

“The moment that I will describe is realising that when we won, the USA ladies, it was a phenomenal feeling for all of us,” said Richardson.

But on a wet track at the Stade de France, the US men again failed in their bid to win their first 4x100m gold since Sydney in 2000 with a disastrous baton fumble.

Already missing 100m individual champion Noah Lyles through Covid, a botched baton change completely slowed the US momentum, allowing Canada to snatch gold ahead of South Africa and Britain.

“You can never count us out, we feel great,” said Canadian runner Aaron Brown.

- Historic treble -

Meanwhile, a nail-biting women’s heptathlon saw Nafissatou Thiam become the first woman in history to win three consecutive Olympic golds, sealing victory ahead of Britain’s Katarina Johnson-Thompson.

Thiam, the 2016 and 2020 Olympic champion, finished with 6,880 points after the 800m, the final event in the seven-discipline test of endurance.

Kenya’s Beatrice Chebet won the women’s 10,000m gold to add to her 5,000m title as defending champion Sifan Hassan finished third.

American Rai Benjamin outstripped Norwegian arch-rival and defending champion Karsten Warholm to win the 400m hurdles.

Spain’s Jordan Diaz won gold in the men’s triple jump leading a podium consisting of three Cuban-born men.

- ‘They are women’ -

The boxing ring will be the centre of attention late on Friday when Khelif, 25, takes on China’s Yang Liu in the 66kg final.

A row over the eligibility of Khelif and Taiwan’s Lin Yu-ting has overshadowed the Olympic boxing tournament and the Games as a whole.

The International Boxing Association disqualified both from last year’s world championships after they failed gender eligibility tests but both were cleared to fight in Paris.

Both have fought on the women’s circuit for years and competed at the Tokyo Games without controversy.

A row erupted when Khelif stopped her Italian opponent after just 46 seconds, with celebrities and politicians weighing in to make baseless claims over her gender.

But Khelif has won the support of fans in Paris, with cries of “Imane, Imane” ringing out repeatedly before and during her semi-final bout on Tuesday.

“I am like all athletes, I am here to achieve my dream,” she said.

Lin fights on Saturday in a different weight category.

IOC President Thomas Bach reiterated his support for the pair, stressing “they are women” and lashing out at the IBA and its tests.

He said the IOC would decide in the first half of next year whether boxing would have a place in Los Angeles for the 2028 Olympics.

- ‘Balaton Shark’ -

Friday’s first event saw 31 men take the plunge into the River Seine for a gruelling 10-kilometre swim against strong current in water deemed clean enough for competition.

A hard-fought race finished with a sprint between Hungary’s Kristof Rasovszky and Oliver Klemet of Germany, just won by the Hungarian, nicknamed the “Balaton Shark” after his club.

The water quality in the Seine has been a major talking point during the Games, with training sessions cancelled and the men’s triathlon postponed after elevated pollution levels.

China maintained its diving dominance, securing their seventh title of the Games as Chen Yiwen clinched women’s 3m springboard gold.

The Chinese can secure the clean sweep with victory in Saturday’s 10m men’s platform.

Dominance also in table tennis as Ma, the Chinese flagbearer at the opening ceremony, led China to team gold over Sweden, the sixth title of his career.

That took him past divers Wu Minxia and Chen Ruolin, and gymnast Zou Kai, to notch the most golds of any Chinese athlete in Olympic history.

Netherlands completed a remarkable double in Olympic hockey when their women’s team, the defending champions, beat China 3-1 in a shootout to take gold just 24 hours after the men’s side had triumphed over Germany.

Japan’s B-Girl Ami won the inaugural women’s breaking gold.

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