Ashley Moloney has confirmed his status as one of the world’s best athletes by winning a historic decathlon bronze at the Tokyo Olympics Games.

The phenomenal performance by the youngest man in the field, at just 21, is Australia’s first decathlon Olympic or world championship medal in history. It is also the first athletics medal for Australia at Tokyo 2020 and the third youngest men's Olympic medallist in Australian athletics history.

Moloney needed a personal best in the 1500m to hold off the challengers for the bronze and his 8,649 points broke his own Australian Record by 157 points in the process.

The world number one Canadian Damian Warner broke the Olympic record (9,018) to win the gold, and the young man from Brisbane was only 77 points behind French world record holder Kevin Mayer, who won the silver. American Garrett Scantling finished 58 points behind the Australian.

The rest of the world will be asking who is this baby-faced decathlon man from Australia?

But those who watched him with the world under 20 crown as an 18-year-old and then brake the Australian record in December 2020 knew that it was possible. His coach Eric Brown watching back in Brisbane certainly knew what he was capable of and so did his good friend and training partner Cedric Dubler.

Dubler also deserves a medal of a different kind for his bravery to complete the event and finish 21st with a bad hamstring injury. But it was the encouragement and support he showed Moloney throughout the competition, particularly in the 1500m is what will be a lasting memory of the Games. In the gruelling 1500m, after 2 days of intense competition and when medals were on the line, Dubler paced Moloney through the first 1100m and with one lap to go started screaming at his friend to lift and make sure he didn’t miss the bronze medal.

When the result was confirmed Dubler celebrated with Moloney like he had also won a medal and he couldn’t quite believe what he had achieved.

“Everything is going through my mind. I do not know how to feel, I crossed the line and saw I got a PB and thought we’re on. I just started crying on the spot. I can’t believe this happened,” Moloney said.

“I saw Garrett (Scantling) going for it and I thought don’t you dare. I just had to keep going. He had to be 10 seconds in front of me and once he went ahead, I got really anxious. I just had to make sure that he never had a chance.

“Once Mayer went ahead of me, I was a bit like second is out of reach, but I knew I had bronze and just went for it.”

“I’ve been waiting to get out here for such a long time, got to strut my stuff a little bit and now I’m here as a medallist.”

He knew he couldn’t have done it without the support of his mate.

“Cedric was screaming at me. I can’t repeat what he said, but I could feel his voice bouncing in my cranium like a bat out of hell. I had no idea what was needed. I was just putting one foot in front of the other. I was a bit concerned to be honest, but it turned out that it was executed well.”

Dubler was not only managing his own injury and trying to finish the gruelling last event but he was managing the situation for Moloney.

“I was stressed. I had to obviously run a race that brought him through, but I was keeping an eye on where Pierce LePage and Scantling were. He had me worried a little bit, but I started screaming at him and we got him there,” Dubler said.

There were some anxious moments before the stress of the 1500m. With the competition tightening and some of the biggest names in the sport coming after Moloney he had to jump well in the pole vault to keep his medal hopes alive.

“Today I thought it got away from me. I almost stacked it (in the pole vault) and it really shook me. I was completely on edge but managed to find a way to pull through.”

Moloney was quick to thank Dubler, his coach Eric Brown and his family and supporters.

“My parents have supported me massively across the years. It takes a village and hundreds of people have been involved. To Cedric, he keeps me honest, calls me out when I’m slacking and I can’t thank him enough,” Moloney said.

“Eric Brown is a one-of-a-kind coach, a beautiful man. He pretty much raised me on the track, took Cedric and I in when we were young and got us to the Olympics,” Moloney said.

“This would mean the world to him. Caitlin Jones and I were his first Olympians in Rio and full credit to him for tonight he now has an Olympic medallist,” Dubler said.

Moloney finished the first day of the competition in second place and he knew he would need a great second day to stay in the hunt for the medals. From the 10 events he produced a personal best in the 100m and 1500m, to bookend the competition, and also equalled his best in high jump. The other seven events were close to his best. He knew he couldn’t have a bad event to be competitive at the Olympic Games.

Most decathletes peak in their late twenties and early thirties as it takes years to perfect 10 events and have the strength for the throwing events. Moloney is still tracking ahead of the best in history. Warner was the oldest competitor in the field at 31, and he is just hitting his peak. He was 5th at the London Olympics as a 22-year-old and 3rd in Rio as a 26-year-old. Moloney will be 32 when the Brisbane 2032 Olympic Games are in his backyard. And he will be pushed all the way by Dubler who is only 26 and if fully fit would have been finishing in the top 10 at these Games.

Hoare and McSweyn through to Olympic 1500m final

Australian middle-distance runners have delivered again at the Tokyo Games with national record holder Stewart McSweyn and Ollie Hoare qualifying for the 1500m semi-finals. Not since the Melbourne 1956 Games has Australia had two men in the 1500m final.

In the first semi-final, Hoare ran a great tactical race to put him sitting 5th or 6th for most of the race. He pushed into fourth with one lap to run and managed to keep matching the increasing pace and pressure from the strong field to run an awesome race.

“I tactically didn’t run that very well. I got caught behind and had to patient and not panic. There was a lot of movement in the last lap, I had to stay clear of it and come home with my speed. I was really happy with that last 100 metres,” Hoare said.

The US-based 24-year-old finished fourth in 3:34.35 at this his first major championship.

“I’m feeling good. I’ve never made an Australian team ever, the Olympics are my first as a junior or senior, and now I’m here in Tokyo,” Hoare said.

“Expectations are high. We’ve had a terrific track and field performance so far, and I’ve been inspired by Peter (Bol), Linden (Hall), Jess (Hull) and Patrick (Tiernan). Having those good people around, building a culture, it’s been really important.”

“There’s a bit of work to do and I’m looking forward to the final. It’s fantastic to be able to represent my country, not just here at the Olympics, but at track meets in America, showing the world what we can do. It’s worth every penny to be a part of this team, it’s a privilege. Every time we are in the village it feels like home, and I haven’t been home for a while.”

McSweyn had a big crowd of fans from his hometown of King Island cheering for him again today. The Tasmanian star was back early and then went around the field and took the lead after 300 metres. For the next two laps he pushed the pace, as he did in the heat, and had a commanding lead before the chasers pushed hard and the 26-year-old looked like he would get swallowed up.

“I did a lot of the work. There are a lot of good 800 metre guys in that semi, I didn’t want to leave it to a kick, so I thought I should string them out a little bit,” McSweyn said.

“At a lap to go, I knew they were going to come, and the big focus was when they came around us. I had to hold strong. The big thing was to get through, they don’t hand out medals in the semi.”

It was a fantastic run. With 150 metres to go he had dropped back to sixth and his head was dropped, and he looked gone. But he dug deep and found another gear to cross in fifth in 3:32.54.

The race was won in an Olympic record 3:31.65 by Kenyan Abel Kipsang. McSweyn should also have his name next to the record for all the work he did out front. It will be a cracking final on Saturday.

“I’m confident I can bring it in the final, hopefully I won’t have to so quite as much work. I’m riding momentum now and I think I can compete with the big guys in two nights’ time.”

“In the final we are not going to jog around four laps and leave to a last lap sprint. I am confident I can make sure I’ve got a lot left on the last lap.”

In the morning session on Thursday, Nicola McDermott and Eleanor Patterson qualified through to the final of the Women's High Jump cleearing 1.95 metres. No Australian women had every jumped this high before at the Olympics. Full details>>>

4x400m relay women run seasons best

The Women’s 4x400m relay team of Bendere Oboya, Kendra Hubbard, Ellie Beer and Anneliese Rubie-Renshaw were the other Australians on the track on Thursday evening.

Oboya was getting her second run for the Games while the others were having their first hit-out. With Hubbard and Beer making their Olympic debuts.

It was a tough race for the girls to stay with the leaders and they were in seventh place for most of the race. The girls did produce a season best of 3:30.61 but they won’t progress from seventh but they left it all on the track.

Swan and Tingay do Australia proud as road competition commences in Sapporo

Competition also commenced in Sapporo this afternoon, with Declan Tingay and Kyle Swan taking to the start line for the men’s 20km walk.

Both walkers made their Olympic debut this Games, and their event launches a four-day program of road events that also includes the men’s and women’s marathon, the women’s 20km walk and the men’s 20km walk.

Tingay and Swan both started strong, among the lead pack for the first four kilometres before Kaihua Wang of China set the pace and spread the field out.

Moving through 10 kilometres in 41:33 and ranked 20th, Tingay improved his ranking in the second half of the race to cross 17th in a new personal best time of 1:24:00.

“I’m sore, tired and hot, but mostly sore. It wasn’t the most fantastic performance, but I had a very fun time out there,” Tingay said.

“My goal was to finish among the top-30. I obviously didn’t want to get disqualified either. I guess I’ve under promise and over delivered.

“I’m just looking forward to having a coke and an ice cream.”

Swan, who is coached by Brent Vallance, also capably managed the challenging conditions on the one-kilometre loop course to finish in a time of 1:27:55 in 36th place.

“It was challenging out there, so hot, but it was so much fun. I enjoyed competing on this stage and I’m happy with the result,” Swan said.

“I did everything I could in the last six months to make this a reality. It didn’t matter if I came first or last, I was going to be happy with the opportunity to be an Olympian.”

Massimo Stano of Italy won the gold medal in a time of 1:21:05, sharing the podium with the Japanese duo of Koki Ikeda (silver, 1:21:14) and Toshikazu Yamanishi (bronze, 1:21:28).

Andrew Reid, Cody Lynch, Sascha Ryner and David Tarbotton