Tokyo 2020 Olympics - Athletics - Men's 4 x 100m Relay - Final - Olympic Stadium, Tokyo, Japan - August 6, 2021. Lorenzo Patta of Italy, Lamont Marcell Jacobs of Italy, Eseosa Desalu of Italy and Filippo Tortu of Italy celebrate with national flags after winning gold. (Photo: Reuters)   

Scorching Italian men and dominant Jamaican women continued their country's golden storylines at the Tokyo Olympics on Friday. Here's what you need to know about the Tokyo Games:

BLISTERING ITALIANS

A scorching Italian 4x100 metres relay team pipped Britain over the finish line, delivering Lamont Marcell Jacobs his second gold and the country's 10th at Tokyo.

The Italian 4x100m relay quartet of Olympic 100m champion Marcell Jacobs, Lorenzo Patta, Eseosa Desalu and Filippo Tortu raced to victory to win their first gold in the event since London 1948.

Lead-off runner Patta handed the baton to Jacobs, who produced a storming run down the back end, with Tortu on the anchor leg crossed the line in a new Italian record of 37.50 seconds.

Great Britain, pipped at the line by 0.01s, claimed the silver medal, with Canada bagging bronze, clocking 37.70.

Jacobs will bow out of the Games as a double Olympic gold medallist in the sprint events while Canadian sensation Andre de Grasse won his third medal at Tokyo 2020.

De Grasse opened his campaign at the Games with a bronze medal in the 100m final before being crowned Olympic 200m champion.

ATHLETICS WRAP

The Jamaican women underlined their sprinting dominance with a gold in the 4x100 metres relay.

Jamaica stormed home to their first Olympic women's 4x100m title in 17 years, taking gold in a national record time of 41.02 at the Olympic Stadium.

The USA came away with silver in 41.45 and Great Britain took bronze in 41.88.

What made the win even more special is that back in Jamaica it was Independence Day.

Shericka Jackson of Team Jamaica crosses the finish line to win the gold medal in the Women's 4 x 100m Relay Final on day fourteen of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games at Olympic Stadium in Tokyo, Japan on August 6, 2021. (Photo: Getty Images)

In a team that included 100m gold medallist Elaine Thompson-Herah, silver medallist Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce and bronze medallist Shericka Jackson alongside the 2018 100m/200m World Junior Champion Briana Williams, Jamaica were going to be tough to beat.

Williams got Jamaica off to a blistering start before Thompson-Herah flew down the back-stretch passing the baton to Fraser-Pryce, who maintained their lead. Jackson powered down the home straight to cross the line ahead of reigning Olympic champions the United States in the second-fastest time in history.

For Thompson-Herah Jamaica's win saw her pick up her third gold medal of Tokyo 2020, completing the sprint triple - 100m, 200m and 4x100m.

The 29-year-old also became just the fifth woman to win at least three track and field gold medals in the same Olympic Games and the first since American Allyson Felix at London 2012.

Kenya's Faith Kipyegon retained her Olympic title in the women's 1,500 metres at the Olympic Stadium on Friday, breaking the Olympic record as she denied Dutchwoman Sifan Hassan her dream of winning an unprecedented Olympic treble.

Men's 5,000 metres world record holder Joshua Cheptegei of Uganda added gold in that event to last week's 10,000m silver, while Shaunae Miller-Uibo of the Bahamas snatched the women's 400 metres gold.

DECORATED WOMEN

Laura Kenny became the most decorated female Olympic cyclist in history with a fifth gold, destroying the field in the first women's madison event at a Games.

American Allyson Felix's bronze in the 400 metres made her the most decorated woman in Olympic track and field history, edging ahead of Jamaica's Merlene Ottey.

After day fourteen of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, China still lead the medal tally with 36 gold, 26 silver and 17 bronze medals, while the US are in second with 31 gold, 36 silver and 31 bronze medals. Host Japan maintained their third place after collecting golds in karate and wrestling for a total of 24 golds, 11 silvers and 16 bronzes.

Reuters, Tokyo 2020