Kenya's Conseslus Kipruto stormed to victory in the men's 3,000 meters steeplechase final Wednesday, ensuring the East African nation maintained its iron grip on the event it has won in every Games since 1984. The 21-year-old had long been touted as the young pretender to Kenya's steeplechase crown but he produced a final lap sprint that saw him grab gold in an Olympic record of 8 minutes 3.28 seconds. A winner of two silver world championship medals, Kipruto was so far ahead of his rivals that he started celebrating and waving to the crowd at the start of the final straight. Evan Jager won a rare medal for the United States in the race – its first since 1984 - after overtaking Kenya's double Olympic champion Ezekiel Kemboi in the last 50m to take silver. Kemboi, who won his fourth steeplechase world championship in a row last year, announced his retirement from athletics after the race. "After 18 years I have done my best," said 34-year-old Kemboi, who won gold at the Athens and London Games. Indonesia's Ahmad Tontowi and Liliyana Natsir stomped on Malaysia's dreams of a maiden Olympic gold medal at the badminton by hammering Chan Peng Soon and Goh Liu Ying in the mixed double final. [caption id="attachment_78095" align="alignright" width="300"] Moukhled Al-Outaibi of Saudi Arabia finishes his men's 5,000m heat in Rio Wednesday. — Reuters [/caption]Roared to the title by dozens of feverish home fans, the world No. 3 pairing pounced all over the Malaysians from the first point at the Riocentro and never dropped the pressure in the 21-14, 21-12 win. Briton Mo Farah survived another stumble to get through to the final of the 5,000 meters and remain on course for the prized Olympic distance double-double. Farah recovered from a fall to win the 10,000 gold four days ago and almost went down again in the last lap of his heat Wednesday after being clipped by American Hassan Mead, who did fall to miss out on qualification. Farah is seeking to become the second man after Finland's Lasse Viren (1972-76) to retain both the 10,000m and 5,000m titles but, said he still felt the effects of the longer race in his legs during Wednesday's run in 32degree heat. Farah just about retained his balance after his stumble to qualify safely in a heat won by Ethiopian Hagos Gebrhiwet, who is likely to be one of his chief rivals in the final. Paul Chelimo, who switched allegiance from Kenya after joining the US Army, was the fastest qualifier, running a personal best 13 minutes, 19.54 seconds, while another Kenyan-turned-American Bernard Lagat, at 41 appearing in his fifth Olympics, also made it. France, meanwhile, won the Rio Olympics team show jumping gold medal, its second equestrian gold of the Games after its triumph in the team eventing. The United States earned silver, while Germany seized bronze in a jump-off against Canada. South Africa's Caster Semenya sailed into the semifinals of the 800m to remain on track for a gold medal. The 25-year-old is the overwhelming favorite to add an Olympic gold in Rio to the silver she won in London four years ago, with a 2016 time that is nearly a second faster than her closest rivals. She bided her time in Wednesday's heats, smoothly accelerating through the field in the final 200m to win in 1min 59.31sec, around four seconds slower than her season best of 1:55.33.
