Greg Rutherford settles for bronze as Jeff Henderson wins enthralling long jump final

Greg Rutherford has claimed the bronze medal at Rio 2016 with Jeff Henderson taking gold after a scintillating long jump final at Rio 2016.

27-year-old Henderson secured his first Olympic medal with a huge jump of 8.38m, edging ahead of South Africa's Luvo Manyonga by a single centimetre.

Rutherford, Henderson, his fellow American Jarrion Lawson and Manyonga all vied for gold in a hugely competitive final but the Briton fell short of repeating the feats of London 2012.

Lawson threatened to snatch gold after completing the leap of his life in what was the last jump of the night. The 22-year-old was judged to have dragged his left hand behind him, however, and was instead marked at 7.78m, good enough for fourth place.

After a disappointing qualifying campaign where he just scraped into the top 10, Rutherford threw down the gauntlet with a fine 8:18m on his first jump.

United States duo Henderson and Lawson saw his jump and raised it, with Henderson taking the lead with a mammoth 8:20m with Lawson landing just a centimetre behind him.

Henderson held his lead in the second round but Rutherford took a commanding step forward in the third, landing at 8:22m to take the advantage again. Lawson took the lead back however with a huge 8:25m.

Manyonga suddenly broke up the party with a huge 8:28m but an enthralling contest took another twist when Henderson registered his gold-medal winning jump.

On his last run, Rutherford needed to land the jump of his life to leapfrog both Henderson and Manyonga, but could only manage 8.29m, good enough for bronze.

Day eight of competition Rio had the tantalising prospect of a repeat of London 2012's Super Saturday, with Mo Farah and Jessica Ennis-Hill also attempting to defend their titles won on that magical afternoon four years ago.

Farah managed to do just that, sealing victory in the 10,000m to win his third Olympic gold medal. Ennis-Hill however fell short, winning a silver in the women's heptathlon event with Belgium's Nafissatou Thiam taking gold.