Tokyo Olympics: Gold for Great Britain in mixed relay events on day eight

Tokyo Olympics: Gold for Great Britain in mixed relay events on day eight
Dates: 23 July-8 August Time in Tokyo: BST +8Coverage: Watch live on BBC TV, BBC iPlayer, BBC Red Button and online; Listen on BBC Radio 5 Live, Sports Extra and Sounds; live text and video clips on BBC Sport website and app.

Great Britain kicked off a golden Saturday by winning two of the new mixed relay events as their total medal haul in Tokyo rose to 27 on day eight.

The inaugural Olympic triathlon mixed relay title was followed by Britain clinching the swimming 4x100m mixed medley relay in world-record fashion.

That was GB's eighth gold medal of the Games, with four of those coming in the pool for the first time in 113 years.

Emma Wilson then added a sailing bronze medal in the women's RS:X windsurfing.

There are more medals set to come for Britain with boxer Lauren Price guaranteed a podium place after reaching the women's middleweight semi-finals.

Britain also face Fiji for a chance to win bronze in the women's rugby sevens at 09:30 BST, though they were disappointed to miss out on an opportunity for gold after losing 26-19 to France in the semi-finals.

Then, in one of Saturday's highlights, Britain's major medal hope Dina Asher-Smith will be in semi-final action from 11:15 in the women's 100m and hoping to make the final at 13:50.

Meanwhile, US Gymnastics has announced four-time Olympic champion Simone Biles will not compete in Sunday's vault and uneven bars gymnastics finals.

The 24-year-old withdrew from the women's team final and the individual all-around final earlier this week saying she needed to focus on her mental health.

An US Gymnastics statement said they were "in awe" of Biles, who is yet to decide if she will compete in the floor (2 August) and balance beam (3 August) finals, and that she "continues to handle this situation with courage and grace".

'The Olympics? I've completed it'

The first gold came early on Saturday as Jessica Learmonth, Jonny Brownlee, Georgia Taylor-Brown and Alex Yee won the first ever Olympic triathlon mixed relay.

Learmonth set the platform, Brownlee broke away from the pack and Taylor-Brown and Yee maintained the advantage to secure Britain's third triathlon medal of the week.

"The Olympics? I've completed it," said 31-year-old Brownlee, who claimed bronze at London 2012 and silver at Rio 2016.

"It feels absolutely amazing. It's my third Olympics and I finally walk away with gold."

Britain finished 14 seconds ahead of the United States while France claimed the bronze medal.

"I can't believe it. I was slightly nervous being in a team of Olympic medallists and I'm just so glad we executed a brilliant race," said 33-year-old Learmonth.

History-makers in the pool

More success followed in the pool in another event introduced for the Tokyo Olympics, with GB taking a thrilling 4x100m mixed medley relay victory in world-record time.

It was Britain's fourth swimming gold in Tokyo and the first time they have achieved such a feat at an Olympics in 113 years.

A quartet of Kathleen Dawson, Adam Peaty, James Guy and Anna Hopkin won in three minutes 37.58 seconds, with China taking silver and Australia bronze.

"One word has changed the whole British team - belief," said Peaty, who also won gold in the 100m breaststroke.

"We believe we can win, we believe we can get world records. If you have belief you can build everything around that and we showed that here."

Guy was also in the 4x200m freestyle relay that won gold earlier in the week and Tom Dean earned the other in the men's 200m freestyle.

Caeleb Dressel was part of a USA team that finished fifth in the 4x100m mixed medley relay but earlier claimed his third gold at the Games and set a new 100m butterfly world record in the process.

What's coming up on Saturday?

Shooting: The mixed trap team event will feature GB's three trap shooters (01:00-06:50), while Seonaid McIntosh competes in the women's 50m rifle 3 positions (04:00-09:10).Sailing: Tom Squires is in fifth place going into the men's medal race.Rugby sevens: GB women play Fiji for bronze after losing semi-final (09:30).Athletics: Dina Asher-Smith runs in the first semi-final at 11:15 where she will be expected to seal her place in the final at 13:50. There's also the 4x400m mixed relay (13:35), where the US are world champions and Britain finished fourth in 2019.Boxing: GB's Karriss Artingstall fights in featherweight semi-finals (11:24)Tennis: Belinda Bencic faces Marketa Vondrousova in the women's final (time to be confirmed)._112244215_aroundthebbc-bluebanner-nc.png_112244216_398cb652-171b-4fc6-8346-c6a40c7d342e.png

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