TOKYO: Unheralded Italian sprinter Lamont Marcell Jacobs stormed to a shock gold in the Olympic 100 metres on Sunday after Caeleb Dressel collected his fifth swimming gold medal of the Games.
Jacobs crossed the line in a European record of 9.80sec at the Olympic Stadium to succeed retired Jamaican legend Usain Bolt as champion of the blue riband event of the athletics programme.
Fred Kerley of the United States took silver in 9.84sec and Canada's Andre de Grasse collected bronze in 9.89sec.
The fastest man in the world this year, American Trayvon Bromell, was eliminated in the semi-finals.
Jacobs had not even broken 10 seconds until this year.
"It was my childhood dream to win an Olympic Games and obviously a dream can turn into something different, but to run this final and win it is a dream come true," the Texas-born Italian said.
Jacobs credited improvements in training, diet and mentality for his progression this season. "I really work hard with my mind," he told AFP. "Because when I was arriving at the big moment my legs don't work too good. Now my legs go really good when it's a big moment."
On the final day of the swimming, the United States won their epic duel in the pool with Australia.
Dressel dominated the men's 50m freestyle final, setting a new Olympic record of 21.07sec, and then returned to help his team smash the world mark in the men's 4x100m medley relay.
The other undoubted swimming star of the Games was Emma McKeon, who finished with four golds to become the first woman to win seven swimming medals at a single Olympics.
McKeon provided a triumphant finish when she helped Australia to the women's 4x100m medley relay crown, less than 40 minutes after winning the 50m freestyle.
US swimmer Robert Finke touched first in the men's 1500m freestyle to make it a distance double after winning the 800m earlier in the meeting. The United States ended with 11 golds in the pool, two ahead of fierce rivals Australia, whose nine golds marked their best ever showing.
Dressel, 24, didn't get close to matching Michael Phelps' eight-gold haul at Beijing 2008 but he joins just four other swimmers with at least five wins at a single Games.