Tokyo 2020 Olympics: men’s marathon, cycling and more on final day – live!

What a race and what a champion. He’s just the third athlete to defend the men’s marathon title. He stayed with the pack for most of the race and then drifted off to the horizon when he wanted to – and no one was catching him. The heat was intense today but he doesn’t look in the least bit tired after a marvelous 26.2 miles. He wins by more than a minute over a field of the best runners in the world. His winning time is 2hr 8min 38sec. Wow.

Men’s marathon: We pass the two-hour mark and Kipchoge runs through the shady lanes of the Hokkaido University campus. He has 2km to go and his lead is up to 1min and 17 seconds.

Men’s marathon: Two miles to go. What a shame Kipchoge won’t be rewarded for this wonderful performance by the roar of a packed stadium. There are, at least, a scattering of cheers from the people of Sapporo as he glides through the streets.

Men’s marathon: Kenya’s Lawrence Cherono, Belgium’s Bashir Abdi, Spain’s Ayad Lamdassem and the Netherlands’ Abdi Nageeye are still bunched tight in the chasing pack. I think there’s going to be a sprint for silver and bronze. Suguru Osako of Japan is making a move from behind though, and could maybe grab a medal.

Men’s marathon: I’m going to risk this and say Kipchoge is the nailed on champion. It’s maybe the least risky statement I have ever made. The 36-year-old is around 5km from becoming a double Olympic champion and looks very, very comfortable. The interesting part will be who finishes in silver and bronze.

Men’s marathon: 7km to go and Kipchoge’s lead is now 28 seconds ahead of the pack. He ran the last 5km in 14min and 28sec. The previous one was around 15 seconds. Yikes. The chasing pack now consists of Kenya’s Lawrence Cherono, Belgium’s Bashir Abdi and Spain’s Ayad Lamdassem. The Netherlands’ Abdi Nageeye is a few seconds back from them and still in with a chance of a medal.

Men’s marathon: It must be so demoralising to run at this pace, in that heat and then just see Kipchoge accelerate off into the distance. He grabs some ice from the cooling station, dabs himself down and scampers away from his competition.

Men’s marathon: Eliud Kipchoge, the world record holder and reigning Olympic champion and all-around superhuman, has basically said: “Nah, let’s get this nonsense over with,” and accelerates away from the pack looking very comfortable. What a superb athlete. Everyone else looks like they are hurting. Kipchoge looks like he’s nipped out to get some bread (the shop must be very far away). His lead is 14 seconds and growing with 10km to go.

Men’s marathon: If you’re wondering how the Aussies/Brits/Kiwis/Canadians/Americans are doing (I’m just doing our biggest markets, we love all marathon runners) then here you go. At 18 miles, USA’s Galen Rupp has just dropped off the leading pack, NZ’s Zane Robertson is 19th around a minute off the leaders, Canada’s Ben Preisner is 50th, GB’s Callum Hawkins is 57th and Australia’s Liam Adams is 46th. There are other runners from each of those countries but they’re further back. Basically none of those runners will will gold.

Men’s marathon: For the first time since 1980 (and they didn’t participate then so had a good excuse) the US men’s track team has failed to win an individual Olympic gold (they did win in the 4x400m replay). Their last chance is in this race in the form of Galen Rupp. He’s in the leading pack but I’d be very surprised if he won a medal, let alone gold.

Men’s marathon: Brazil’s Daniel do Nascimento, who was at the front of the pack for a long time, stumbled and fell and looked like he was in trouble. But he’s got up and is running again. I hope he’s OK and isn’t ploughing on when he needs medical help. And he’s stopped again. The right decision to stop and medics quickly attend to him.

Men’s marathon: A reminder that the race is being run in Sapporo, 500 miles or so north of Tokyo to avoid the capital’s brutal heat. Current temperature in Sapporo: 26C. Current temperature in Tokyo: 24C. In fairness, weather is hard to predict (although the word on the street is the long-term trend is WARM). In other news, the New York Mets, are being destroyed by the Philadelphia Phillies. Again. What are we going to turn over to in disgust now the Olympics are (all but) over?

Men’s marathon: We’ve reached the halfway point and Stephen Mokoka of South Africa leads. But it’s a halfhearted-yeah-whatever kind of lead of two seconds and the pack soon gobble him up again. Still about 30 athletes within a few seconds of each other.

Hello! And bad news for fans of 24-hour liveblogs of quadrennial multi-sport events because it’s our last one of the Games. But the good news it’s the Summer Olympics again in three years! And the Winter Olympics in, maybe … two months? I dunno, around then. I think the World Cup is next week.

Anyway, on to Day 16 of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics! The marathon is currently being run, but here’s what else is on today courtesy of my colleague Martin Belam:

All events are listed here in local Tokyo time. Add an hour for Melbourne, subtract eight hours for Cardiff, 13 hours for Albany and 16 hours for Seattle.

• 9am and 1.30pm Volleyball – the women’s bronze medal match is up first, Serbia v Not Russia, with the women’s final at lunchtime featuring the US and Brazil 🥇
• 9.30am-4.30pm Water polo – after two ranking matches and then the battle for the bronze, the final is at 4.30pm 🥇
• 10am-12.25pm Track cycling – the medal races start from 11.45am and feature the women’s sprint, the men’s keirin, and the women’s omnium points race concludes at all at 12.25pm 🥇
• 11am Rhythmic gymnastics – it is the group all-around final. There are two rotations before the medals are determined 🥇
• 11am and 3pm Handball – it is the sharp end of the women’s tournament. The bronze medal match between Norway and Sweden first and then the 3pm final featuring France and Not Russia 🥇
• 11.30am Basketball – it’s the women’s final, where Japan face a US team who have won their last 54 consecutive matches at the Olympics 🥇
• 1.40pm and 4.30pm Water polo – Hungary play Spain for the men’s bronze, and then it is Greece v Serbia for men’s gold 🥇
• 2pm-3.55pm Boxing – today’s session consists of four finals bouts – women’s and mens light, women’s middle and men’s super heavy to round it off. Team GB’s Lauren Price fights at 2.45pm 🥇
• 8pm closing ceremony – don’t dream it’s over.

You can find our full interactive events schedule here.

As it stands

Here’s how the emoji table stands with one day to go:

1 🇨🇳 China 🥇 38 🥈 31 🥉 18 total: 87
2 🇺🇸 USA 🥇 36 🥈 39 🥉 33 total: 108
3 🇯🇵 Japan🥇 27 🥈 12 🥉 17 total: 56

4 ◽️ Not Russia 🥇 20 🥈 26 🥉 23 total: 69
5 🇬🇧 Great Britain 🥇 20 🥈 21 🥉 22 total: 63
6 🇦🇺 Australia 🥇 17 🥈 7 🥉 22 total: 46
7 🇩🇪 Germany 🥇 10 🥈 11 🥉 16 total: 37
8 🇳🇱 Netherlands 🥇 10 🥈 11 🥉 12 total: 33
9 🇮🇹 Italy 🥇 10 🥈 10 🥉 19 total: 39
10 🇫🇷 France 🥇 9 🥈 12 🥉 11 total: 32