Charlotte Dujardin and Valegro won their third Olympic gold medal in a masterclass of precision and elegance which will go down in dressage history.
Dujardin and Valegro’s 18th consecutive win as a combination could not get any grander. A defence of the dressage open individual title they clinched at London 2012 in their debut Games was delivered in majestic fashion and in a resounding triumph in Deodoro.
Their magnificent routine scored an astonishing 93.928%, just shy of a world record, and propelled them to the top of the standings in the penultimate display of the event. There was little doubt Valegro’s supreme athleticism would outshine and Dujardin was left to celebrate a magical victory.
Carl Hester on Nip Tuck recorded a seventh place finish, while Fiona Bigwood on Orthilia placed 17th.
In the overall standings. Their teammate Dujardin’s gold was Great Britain’s 16th of Rio 2016 and GB finished day nine second overall in the medal table with 41 medals in total.
More highlights from day nine included:
Cycling - Track
Mark Cavendish added the final piece to his medal collection by sealing omnium silver with an exceptional ride in a brutal points race in the Rio Olympic velodrome.
The Manxman turned on the burners in a 12.793 flying lap in the afternoon session to enter the final stage of the competition in second place, but Cavendish fell behind early on and suffered a wobble after tangling with Park Sang-Hoon which resulted in the Korean crashing.
Cavendish fought back to win sprint nine to go back into third place and a sprint 12 triumph put him level in silver medal position with Denmark’s Lasse Norman Hansen. Cavendish followed eventual gold medal winner Elia Viviani over the line for points in sprint 14, and then clung to Hanson to ensure he took the Olympic silver medal, adding to his glittering track and road achievements.
Laura Trott seized control of the women’s omnium with some ruthless racing to open up an eight-point lead as she searches for an unprecedented fourth Olympic gold for a British female athlete.
Trott maintained the pace in the opening scratch race, finishing second to Belarus’ Tatsyana Sharakova, before the London 2012 omnium champion took over the competition. A dominant performance in the individual pursuit, clocking 3:25.054 propelled her to the top of the overall standings, and she extended that lead in emphatic fashion with victory in the elimination race.
British riders continued to set the standard in the women’s individual sprint, with Becky James comfortably outpacing Virginie Cueff of France. Katy Marchant left it until the last corner but hit top gear to leave Germany’s Miriam Welte behind as both moved on to Tuesday’s quarter-finals.
Athletics
It was a day of firsts for Sophie Hitchon after she threw a personal best and a British record to earn bronze and become the nation’s first ever medallist in the women’s hammer.
The 25-year-old put herself into medal contention in the third round of six with a throw of 73.29m, but Hitchon was pushed down to fifth heading into her final attempt. It required something big and Hitchon delivered just that, breaking the British record and landing 74.54m to regain third spot and write British sporting history.
Sprinters Dina Asher-Smith and Jodie Williams both advanced through their 200m heats, Williams qualifying 12th fastest in 22.69 and Asher-Smith in 15th in 22.77 to make it to Wednesday’s semi-finals. In the men’s 400m hurdles, Jack Green finished second in his heat in a time of 48.96 to secure automatic qualification while Sebastien Rodger crossed the line sixth in his heat in 49.54m, and did not advance to Wednesday's semi-finals.
Following a rain delay, Andrew Pozzi made it through to the 110m hurdles Final as an automatic qualifier in 13.50 despite knocking down the ninth hurdle. Lawrence Clark jumped a clean round to go safely through in third place in his heat, in a time of 13.55. Eilidh Doyle took victory in her 400m hurdles heat in 55.46 to go through to Wednesday's semi-finals.
Hockey
Great Britain’s women will get a shot at a Rio 2016 medal after going through to the semi-finals with a 3-1 victory against Spain.
GB had the perfect start to the quarter-final contest with Georgie Twigg and Helen Richardson-Walsh’s scoring in the first quarter. Lily Owsley made it three just before half-time and, although Spain pulled a goal back late on, Britain closed out the game to set up a semi-final clash with New Zealand.
Badminton
There were euphoric scenes in Riocentre Pavilion 4 as Great Britain pair Chris Langridge and Marcus Ellis pulled off a big upset to reach the semi-finals of the men’s doubles.
The team ranked 22nd in the world reached the last four with a terrific straight-games victory over world number eight team Hiroyuki Endo and Kenichi Hayakawa of Japan, 21-19, 21-17. The Brits are guaranteed the chance to play for a medal and they will decide which that will be in a semi-final contest with Chinese duo Fu Haifeng and Zhang Nan on Tuesday.
Raj Ouseph followed up to make it an outstanding day for British badminton by getting the better of Indonesia’s Tommy Sugiarto to march through to the last eight of the men’s singles. The 13th seed claimed a close-fought 21-13, 14-21, 21-16 victory and will play Denmark’s Viktor Axlesen in Tuesday’s quarter-final.
Swimming
Keri-Anne Payne put in a gutsy swim to touch in seventh place in the 10km open water swim around Fort Copacabana. She finished in 1:57.23.9, around 51 seconds behind gold medallist Sharon van Rouwendaal of the Netherlands.
Canoe - Sprint
Both K1 kayaker Jessica Walker and K2 pair Lani Belcher and Angela Hannah made progress through their heats but were unable to take a step further past their semi-finals.
Belcher and Hannah qualified through the K2 heats in 15th, but a time of 1:49.285 in the semi-final saw them place 13th, meaning they will compete in Tuesday’s B final. Walker stormed through her heat in fifth place overall but finishing fourth in her semi-final left her 12th overall and she is forced to settle for a B final spot.
Boxing
Muhammad Ali could not seal a place in the last eight of the men’s flyweight division as he was defeated by Venezuelan fighter Yoel Segundo Finol in a unanimous decision.
Sailing
Laser sailor Nick Thompson and laser radial sailor Alison Young had huge amount of work to do to get themselves back into podium positions but their medal races were abandoned due to high winds in Guanabara Bay. The 49er, 49er FX and 470 men and women’s races were also called off.
Diving
Jack Laugher booked his place in the semi-finals of the men’s 3m springboard competition with an impressive outing in the preliminaries. Laugher was the best British finisher in ninth overall with as score of 439.95 but Freddie Woodward just missed out, finishing one place outside of qualification in 19th on 388.15 points.
Click here to Look Ahead to Day 11.