PARIS: Hamish Kerr beat American Shelby McEwan in a jump-off to give New Zealand a first-ever Olympic high jump gold, with no shared gold this time around.Both cleared 2.36 metres, a personal best for McEwan, before failing on 2.38m. They then missed once more over 2.38m before the bar was lowered to 2.36m which they also missed.
Down to 2.34, McEwan failed again but Kerr sailed over to add the Olympic gold to his world indoor title from earlier in the year.
Qatar's Mutaz Essa Barshim got bronze with 2.34m, on countback against Italy's Stefano Sottile, for his fourth Olympic medal as he showed no signs of a calf problem that had bothered him in qualifying.
Barshim had famously shared the Tokyo 2020 gold with another Italian, world champion Gianmarco Tamberi.
Tamberi had to settle for 11th, after saying he was back in the hospital early in the day with kidney problems. But he still decided to compete.