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Rio 2016: Day nine review – Whitlock wizardry highlights scintillating Sunday

You wait more than a century for your first Olympic gymnastics gold medal and then two come along in just over an hour courtesy of the same man – step forward Max Whitlock.

Whitlock became the first ever Team GB gymnast to win an Olympic gold medal with victory in the floor final, an event that saw Kristian Thomas finish seventh.

But he wasn’t done there, returning later that afternoon to collect the pommel gold, edging teammate Louis Smith into silver.

But they weren’t the only medals on a memorable Sunday for Team GB, with Justin Rose also writing his name into the records books over at the Olympic golf course.

Rose became the first Olympic Games golf gold medallist in 112 years as he edged out 2016 Open champion Henrik Stenson in a thrilling showdown.

Neck and neck around the final 18 holes, Rose chipped to within six-feet of the pin on the final hole with the pair tied at 15-under.

Stenson couldn’t sink his long birdie putt and also missed his par attempt, giving Rose two attempts to seal the title – but he only needed one.

And in the Olympic velodrome, Jason Kenny can now boast five Games gold medallist on his CV after he beat Callum Skinner 2-0 to claim the individual sprint crown.

He becomes only the third cyclist to defend his sprint title, the first since 1996, while it is also the second time in three Olympic Games that Team GB have taken gold and silver in the event.

Kenny now joins Sir Bradley Wiggins and Sir Steve Redgrave on five career Olympic titles and he still has the men’s keirin to come in Rio.

Skinner and Kenny teamed up together and with Philip Hindes won the men’s team sprint on the first day of action in the velodrome with fours golds and one silver now won by Team GB in track cycling after four afternoons.

In the men’s omnium, Mark Cavendish sits third overall after three of the six events while Becky James and Katy Marchant safely navigated qualifying and the first round of the women’s sprint.

Windsurfer Nick Dempsey got Team GB’s sailing medal tally up and running as he officially got his hands on a second successive Olympic silver, before Giles Scott quickly ensured there would be a gold to celebrate.

Dempsey went into the men’s RS:X medal race on the Pao de Acucar course with nothing possible except finishing with silver, provided he completed it successfully, but still put in a shift to finish fourth.

Meanwhile four-time world champion Scott cannot be knocked off top spot in the Finn after an eighth and a second in the last two outings of his qualifying series gave him an unassailable lead going into the medal race.

Elsewhere, the women’s 470 duo of Hannah Mills and Saskia Clark are leading after an eighth and a victory on day nine, but it is less good news for the men’s crew of Luke Patience and Chris Grube who fell to tenth after a disqualification and a 20th.

Bryony Shaw placed ninth overall after the medal race of the women’s RS:X, where she was sixth, while Nacra 17 pair Ben Saxton and Nicola Groves are eighth going into the medal race after finishing their qualifying series with two 15th-place finishes and a 12th.

Grace Reid brought her maiden Olympic campaign to a close with an history-making eighth-place finish in the 3m springboard at the Maria Lenk Aquatics Centre.

Reid, from Edinburgh, was the first British woman to compete in the 3m final for 34 years, since Alison Drake finished 12th at the 1972 Olympics in Munich. 

Team GB’s jumpers kicked off their Rio 2016 campaign by qualifying in joint eighth on the opening day of action at the Olympic Equestrian Centre.

Paul Drinkhall, who made the fourth round of the singles event, partnered with Liam Pitchford and Sam Walker for the table tennis team event – pushing defending champions China in each match before eventually going down 3-0.

And Olivia Federici and Katie Clark made their maiden Olympic appearance as a duet on day nine in Rio and ranked 18th overall for their first routine.

Image courtesy of British Gymnastics via YouTube, with thanks.

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