Hansle Parchment pulled off an upset victory at the Olympic Stadium here in Tokyo, Japan, yesterday, to capture the Olympic Games Men’s 110 Metres Hurdles title.

Parchment stopped the clock at 13.04 seconds to earn Jamaica’s third gold medal at Tokyo 2020. The favourite for sprint hurdles gold, American Grant Holloway was forced to settle for silver in 13.09, with bronze going to another Jamaican, Ronald Levy (13.10).

“It’s been a long time coming,” said Parchment, in an interview with regional media. “It’s been a lot of hard work, keeping the focus, keeping the tunnel vision, and putting the right race together. And I did just that. I’m elated.”

The region also secured a one-three finish in the Men’s 400m. Bahamian Ricardo Gardiner was golden in 43.85 seconds, while Grenada’s Kirani James claimed bronze with a 44.19 run. Silver, meanwhile, went to Colombia’s Anthony Zambrano (44.08).

“It feels amazing,” said Gardiner. “My first Olympic Games (Rio 2016) didn’t go well for me, but this one here, I’m cherishing this moment. Olympic champion.

When the gun went off I stumbled a bit coming out, but I recovered. I kept it moving, and with 200 metres to go, I started to push a little bit. And 100 metres to go, I gave it all I’ve got. I came across the line and saw my name on the big screen and I was in first place. I’m just happy. I want to thank the whole world: country, family, friends, coach, manager, everybody.

James captured 400m gold for Grenada at the 2012 Olympics in London, England. He followed up with silver at the 2016 Rio Games. Yesterday, James claimed bronze to become the first man in Olympic history with a complete set of one-lap medals.

“At the end of the day I’m just grateful to God to be on this stage and being able to represent and win another medal. It’s just having faith, trusting in God, the process, my coach, and everything.”

Another Caribbean athlete, Christopher Taylor was sixth in the championship race in a personal best 44.79 seconds.

Another Grenadian, Lindon Victor finished seventh in the Men’s Decathlon. Victor accumulated 8,414 points in the ten-discipline event. Damian Warner dominated the field, the Canadian running away with gold thanks to his Olympic record score of 9,018.

Cuba’s Cristian Napoles finished 10th in the Men’s Triple Jump with a 16.63 metres effort. Gold went to Portugal’s Cuban-born jumper Pedro Pichardo, his 17.98m national record performance giving him a huge cushion on the rest of the field.

At 9.50 this morning (T&T time), Jamaica will be on show at the Olympic Stadium in the Men’s 4x100m final. In the qualifying round, Jevaughn Minzie, Julian Forte, Yohan Blake and Oblique Seville combined for victory in heat one in 37.82 seconds. The Jamaican quartet led all qualifiers into the final.

Trinidad and Tobago, sixth in the same race in 38.63 seconds, did not qualify for the final. Richard Thompson, the anchorman for T&T, called time on his career after the race. Thompson earned 100m silver, behind Usain Bolt, at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Thompson also has two Olympic sprint relay medals – gold from 2008 and silver from the 2012 London Games.

Jamaica are the favourites for Women’s 4x100m gold. Having swept the podium in the 100m dash, Jamaica look set for gold in today’s 9.30am final. But in sport, there’s no such thing as a sure thing. Ask Grant Holloway.

Fielding an under-strength quartet in the qualifying round, Jamaica finished third in heat one in 42.15 seconds. T&T were eliminated after finishing eighth in heat two in 43.62.

In the Women’s 4x400m heats, Cuba and Jamaica qualified for the championship race. The Cubans finished second in heat one in three minutes, 24.04 seconds. Bahamas were non-finishers in that race. In the second heat, Jamaica were second in 3:21.95, securing a berth in tomorrow’s 8.30am final.

T&T cyclist Nicholas Paul finished sixth in the Men’s Sprint. Paul’s charge to the podium was halted in the quarterfinal round by Russian Denis Dmitriev.

For a short while, Paul was a semifinalist, having beaten Dmitriev in the second race for a 2-0 win. The Caribbean rider, however, was relegated for not holding his line during the final sprint. Dmitriev won the third and deciding race, and will see action in today’s semifinal round. Paul was second in the 5-8 race, claiming sixth spot overall in the Tokyo 2020 Sprint.