[gallery size="medium" td_select_gallery_slide="slide" td_gallery_title_input="Harting keeps discus gold in the family" ids="76701,76700,76699"]
RIO DE JANEIRO — German Christoph Harting dramatically snatched Olympic discus gold from Poland's Piotr Malachowski with his last throw if the final Saturday as he registered a personal best of 68.37 meters to keep the title in the family.
Harting's brother Robert won the event in London four years ago but failed to get through qualifying Friday, leaving the way clear for his younger brother to win his first major title.
Robert Harding, six years Christoph's senior, failed to make it through qualifying after suffering a back injury while trying to switch off a lamp with his foot from his bed.
His absence made the year's form thrower Malachowski a clear favorite and the big Pole's first three throws would have been good enough for gold until Harting summoned up his huge final effort.
Malachowski had a chance to get back in front with the last throw of the competition but could not surpass Harting or improve on his earlier 67.55, settling for silver ahead of German bronze medalist Daniel Jasinski (67.05).
Usain Bolt and Justin Gatlin warmed up for their 100m Olympic showdown Saturday with easy victories.
Bolt and Gatlin are poised for the final chapter of their long rivalry in Rio Sunday when they are expected to duel once more for the title of fastest man on the planet.
The two sprinters easily negotiated their opening heats on a raucous morning session at the Olympic Stadium, with Gatlin topping the qualifying times with a tidy 10.01sec.
Jamaican superstar Bolt, bidding to win 100m, 200m and 4x100m titles for a third straight Games, was fourth quickest in 10.07sec.
Afterwards Bolt said he was pleased to have got off the mark without any problems.
Gatlin, one of the oldest men in the field at 34, said he was kept on his toes by a crop of young sprinters.
Meanwhile the battle for the heptathlon crown is poised to go to the wire after Belgium's Nafi Thiam edged into a five-point lead over Britain's defending champion Jessica Ennis-Hill following the morning's long jump.
Thiam leaped a best of 6.58 meters to leave her up front on a total of 5,018 points. Ennis-Hill only made 6.34m for 5,013 to increase the pressure going into the final two disciplines of the grueling event, the javelin and the 800m.
Athletics world body, the IAAF, meanwhile, banned long jumper Darya Klishina, Russia's only athlete allowed to take part in the Rio Olympics, the Court of Arbitration said Saturday.
Klishina made an immediate appeal to the court against the order, the tribunal said.
The International Association of Athletics Federations banned Russia because of an investigation which said there had been "state-sponsored" doping in Russia.
Klishina was originally allowed to compete in Rio because she was based in the United States and had regular testing outside Russia.
