Kenya’s Eliud Kipchoge won the Olympic men’s marathon with a commanding performance in Sapporo on Sunday, winning his second straight gold medal and cementing his place among the all-time greats of the sport.

Abdi Nageeye of the Netherlands took silver and Belgium’s Bashir Abdi won bronze.

Kipchoge, 36, joins Ethiopia’s Abebe Bikila (1960 and 1964) and East Germany’s Waldemar Cierpinski (1976 and 1980) as the only runners to win back-to-back gold medals on the Olympic stage.

The world record holder has now won four Olympic medals overall, having also taken silver in 2008 and bronze in 2004 in the 5000m.

Kipchoge showed why he was the man to beat going into Sunday’s race when he took full control as he pushed ahead of the pack after the 30km mark.

By the 35km stage he had jumped out to a lead of 27 seconds from a virtual tie 5km earlier and extended it to one minute and 17 seconds by 40km.

Kipchoge finished in two hours, eight minutes and 38 seconds, holding up two fingers as he crossed the finish line.

Team GB medal winners have been reunited with their loved ones in emotional scenes as they returned home from Tokyo.

Canoeist Liam Heath and pole vaulter Holly Bradshaw were among those to touch down at Heathrow Airport on Saturday evening sporting their medals following their success at the Olympic Games.

Heath, who won bronze in the K1 200m, was reunited with his three-year-old daughter Sarah, who ran towards him as he arrived at Terminal Five. Other family members waved a poster that said “Welcome Back Daddy” as the Olympians were greeted with applause.

Heath, 36, from Guildford, told the PA news agency: “She [Sarah] looks so grown up. She grows every day but you don’t really see it when you’re with her 24/7. I think it’s the longest time I’ve actually been away from Sarah since she was born - nearing on a month.

“She’s a proper little person and I absolutely adore her. It was absolutely incredible to come back home and see her running towards me.”

Heath is Team GB’s most successful canoeist - with four Olympic medals won so far, including the bronze in Tokyo.

He said: “It feels absolutely incredible. You set out on a journey and you take so many people along with you and so many people were here who shared in the dream. It’s hard to put into words.”

Bradshaw, who won bronze in the pole vault, described Tokyo 2020 as “special” despite a lack of spectators due to the coronavirus pandemic.

She said: “I think every Olympics is different anyway but this has felt very different in that it’s all about the performance and not about going out and exploring or anything like that.

“You just trained and came home and you had to be super on it with hygiene. But I think it’s been a really, really good Games and Japan did a really good job to make it feel special even though there was no one there.”

The 29-year-old, who finished sixth at London 2012 and fifth in Rio, said her bronze medal meant a lot as it was something she had “wanted for so long”.

Meanwhile, sailor Dylan Fletcher was greeted by cheers from a crowd of family members who waved Union flags and held up balloons.

The 33-year-old won a gold medal in the men’s 49er alongside teammate Stuart Bithell.

Great Britain added five more medals to their tally on Day 15 of the Olympic Games, but dropped a place in the medal table as the Russian Olympic Committee moved above them.

Tokyo is already Team GB’s fourth most successful Games of all time, as they chase the total number of medals set in London (65) and Rio (67).

1) China - 38 gold, 31 silver, 18 bronze - 87 overall

2) United States - 36 gold, 39 silver, 33 bronze - 108

3) Japan - 27 gold, 12 silver, 17 bronze - 56

4) ROC - 20 gold, 26 silver, 23 bronze - 69

5) Great Britain - 20 gold, 21 silver, 22 bronze - 63

6) Australia - 17 gold, 7 silver, 22 bronze - 46

The Ingebrigtsen story is a remarkable one. He is lillebror, the little brother who followed in the footsteps of older siblings Henrik and Filip under the unique methods of their father Gjert, who sees athletics as war and has little time for emotion.

Gjert and wife Tone have six boys and one girl, and some of them understandably grew sick of their dad’s demands, which included getting up in the freezing cold of Norwegian winter to go interval training as a family while Gjert held a stopwatch and barked instructions.

Oldest brother Henrik was Jakob’s idol growing up. Henrik won European titles and Jakob matched that two years ago as an 18-year-old, but this was the family’s first global title and vindication, perhaps, of Gjert’s extreme methods. How many other finalists were on a professional training programme aged 10?

Lawrence Ostlere reports on the rise of Jakob Ingebrigtsen, culminating in 1500m gold:

Jessica Springsteen hailed the influence of Great Britain’s 2016 Olympic showjumping champion Nick Skelton on her international career after winning a silver medal at Tokyo Equestrian Park.

Springsteen, daughter of rock star Bruce Springsteen marked her Olympic debut by helping the United States to a team competition podium finish.

Along with colleagues Laura Kraut and Mclain Ward, Springsteen, riding Don Juan van de Donkhoeve, saw Sweden edge home in a jump-off to capture a first Olympic team gold since 1924, winning by a combined team time of 1.30 seconds. Belgium took bronze.

Skelton looked on as Springsteen collected four first round penalties before delivering a jump-off clear round, and she said: “It’s about making a plan, and he (Skelton) has so much experience at these championships.

“He knows how it goes, and having someone like that next to you is great. He was helping me all week. It is unbelievable. I am so excited. I FaceTimed (home) really quickly, and they were all screaming, all yelling, all smiles and I don’t think they understood a word I said!”

Joe Choong credited the makeshift shooting range he set up in his back garden during lockdown for helping him regain the motivation for modern pentathlon that propelled him to Olympic gold in Tokyo.

The Bath-based athlete was one of the favourites for a medal having won the World Cup Final, which doubled as the test event, in 2019 and claiming world championship silver in the same year, but the pandemic changed everything.

He said: “At the end of 2019 I was world number one, I was winning medals pretty much every competition, so it was a pretty dark time mentally for me.

“I didn’t suffer anything severe but I was unmotivated. I didn’t train for a couple of weeks, just didn’t want to. I thought what’s the point?”

The turning point was when he and housemate Sam Curry, another pentathlete, decided to use the time to practise shooting in their garden.

“It started out as a bit of fun,” said Choong. “We just set up some targets under some steps. We guessed which step was the right height for a shooting range and counted to 10 when we strode to where we had a table.

“We just started shooting there, having some fun, attaching a target to ourselves and running while someone tried to hit us. It ended up being pretty decent training.”

Josh Kerr declared he will not settle for Olympic bronze despite ending Team GB’s 33-year wait for a medal in the men’s 1500m.

The 23-year-old ran a personal best of three minutes 29.05 seconds to finish behind Norway’s Jakob Ingebrigtsen and Kenya’s Timothy Cheruiyot.

It is the first British medal in the men’s event since Peter Elliott won silver in Seoul in 1988 and adds to Laura Muir’s second place in the women’s 1500m on Friday.

Kerr said: “It was a fast race, I wanted to win, I said it and everyone laughed at me a little, but I’m here to win it and win medals. I’m not satisfied with a bronze, I’m happy with it being a step in my career.

“I was throwing everything I had at it. How bad was that first round? That really gives you a kick up the arse. It was annoying having the first off day in two years in the first round of the Olympics. I snuck through and made sure I didn’t take any step out there for granted.

“I got better every round and that’s the name of the game in this sport. I went out there, had some fun, had a smile on my face and was hunting for a medal all day.”

• Joe Choong completed a modern pentathlon double for Team GB as he won gold in the men’s event, 24 hours after Kate French came top in the women’s
• Galal Yafai won Team GB their first boxing gold of the Games as he defeated Carlo Paalam of the Philippines, for a fifth boxing medal overall for GB
• Tom Daley won his fourth Olympic medal, and second of Tokyo, as he claimed bronze in an outstanding men’s 10m individual platform final
• In a stunning day in the athletics, Josh Kerr won bronze in the men’s 1500m final, which was won by Norway’s Jakob Ingebrigtsen
• Sifan Hassan completed her 5,000-10,000m double; and the USA’s Allyson Felix won her 11th Olympic medal in the women’s 4x400m relay
• At the velodrome, Matt Walls and Ethan Hayter took silver in the men’s madison, but Katy Marchant was knocked out of women’s sprint contention
• Team GB missed out on a sixth equestrian medal in the team show jumping event; Ben Maher withdrew his horse before the final round
• Peres Jepchirchir won the women’s marathon as she and Brigid Kosgei secured a one-two for Kenya; the USA’s Molly Seidel took a surprise third
• Nelly Korda won the women’s golf tournament by a single stroke after a dramatic final round of play
• The USA won gold in the men’s basketball final as they edged France, while Australia beat Slovenia to bronze

There was a surprise in the men’s beach volleyball final as Norway won their first ever gold medal in the sport by defeating the ROC in straight sets, in what was a busy day of team sports finals.

Elsewhere, France gained revenge on Denmark to reclaim Olympic gold in the men’s handball final. France, who were champions in 2008 and 2012 but were shocked by Denmark in 2016, secured a 25-23 victory to reassert their dominance over the sport.

In the women’s water polo final, the United States thrashed Spain 14-5 to win the gold while France have won their first ever men’s volleyball gold by defeating the ROC in the final.