On the final night of competition at Stade de France, expectations were high for Kathryn in her fourth Olympic final and for world championships bronze medallist Mackenzie, who had thrown a personal best last month.

“I didn’t know what to expect, I’m not disappointed, I’m feeling everything at the moment,” Kathryn said. 

“I feel like I lacked a little bit of fitness in the legs coming back from my injury in April. 

“It was my second competition since then and I think obviously there’s always a question of “what if” but I don’t know the “what if, could, should, would’ve been.

“I think I did the best I could do with what I’ve done and I have to walk away satisfied and happy with that.”

Being a four-time Olympian is remarkable in itself but to make the top-eight everytime is exceptional. 

Kathryn said that this isn’t the end of her career, but there won’t be any more Olympic campaigns.

“It’s not a goodbye right now but it’s certainly the end of my place in Olympic history,” she said. “Obviously super grateful for my fourth Games, to make my fourth final and then finish top eight and that’s where that’ll finish.”

Mackenize was disappointed with her performance, but stayed out in the centre until the end of the competition to support the other athletes and maximise the experience.

“The Olympics are pretty special and I’m disappointed in my performance in the final,” Mackenzie said. “It’s pretty magical to be in that stadium and I’m so happy for some of my friends.

“I was confident and I’ve been able to perform in majors. I’m healthy and really happy and things are going really well but it’s hard to say (what happened).

“I think now the competition is over you can think about how momentous and mammoth the support is and how much it means to a lot of people. 

“And my coach has done a really good job and my family and friends have been so supportive, I wish it’d gone better.

World Champion Kitaguchi won the competition with her opening throw of 65.80m. Jo-Ane van Dyk won the silver for South Africa and Nikola Ogrodnikova (CZE) won the bronze. 

McSweyn 18th in 5000m final

Earlier in the night, Stewart McSweyn finished 18th in the Men’s 5000m Final in a time of 13:31.38.

Competing in his first Olympic 5000m final, after placing seventh in Tokyo in the 1500m, the King of King Island was either at the front of the pack or with the lead pack before losing touch with leaders with 1500m to run.

The 29-year-old battled on bravely, but this was his fourth tough race of the Games, after also contesting the 1500m in Paris.  

Norway’s Jakob Ingebrigtsen defended his title in a season best time of 13:13.66. Kenyan Ronald Kwemoi won the silver and American Grant Fisher flew home for bronze.

“It was pretty tough. I put myself in a good spot, I wanted to try and be in that top six and just see if I could do it today if I had the legs, but unfortunately, I started getting tired with four laps ago,” Stewart said.

“I was grinding and just holding on though until I had no legs and once I got dropped off the main pack, it was pretty tough from there. 

“But the efforts there and it's another Olympic final, so I think it's a solid performance. 

“I've just got to keep getting better if I want to try and be right back up in the mix again.”

The three Ethiopian runners were pushing the pace throughout with the Norwegian staying in touch. There was a big move with 500m to run and Ingebrigtsen had the strength and class required.

It was a 22-man final after six athletes, including McSweyn, were added to the final after falls and infringements in the heats.  

Andrew Reid