David Rudisha retains 800m title as Shaunae Miller beats Allyson Felix in dramatic diving finish

David Rudisha successfully defended his men's 800m title at Rio 2016 on Monday night. The affable Kenyan middle-distance runner, who set a new world record en route to a memorable triumph in London four years ago, saw off the challenge of compatriot Alfred Kipketer to cross the finish line in a time of 1:42.15.

It was an incredibly fast start to the final, with 19-year-old Kipketer, who emerged victorious at Kenya's Olympic trials in July ahead of Ferguson Rotich and the injury-plagued Rudisha, sprinting intently from the off but totally mistiming his efforts. He soon ran out of steam and was predictably overtaken before eventually dropping down the field to seventh.

With the mesmerising Rudisha comfortably gliding home to win gold, reigning 1500m champion Taoufik Makhloufi took silver for Algeria and Clayton Murphy of the United States produced an excellent run to snatch bronze.

In the penultimate event of a rain-soaked and delayed evening athletics session at the Joao Havelange Olympic Stadium, there was more disappointment for the great Allyson Felix. Having already missed out on the chance to defend her women's 200m title in the aftermath of torn ankle ligaments, she was narrowly beaten by a diving Shaunae Miller in a dramatic photo finish to the 400m final.

Despite a quick start from Natasha Hastings, Bahamian flag bearer Miller looked to have paced herself well and appeared to hold a comfortable lead down the home straight. The experienced Felix gained ground on her quickly, however, and looked very likely to edge a narrow victory before a desperate lunge to the line from her rival sealed the tightest of wins in a personal best time of 49.44 seconds.

Jamaica's Shericka Jackson took bronze, just as she did at the 2015 World Championships in Beijing. On that occasion, Felix beat Miller in a world-leading time to claim her first global 400m title.