US athlete wins silver medal after finalists turn down opportunity to share joint gold medal at Olympics

American high jump star Shelby McEwen won a silver medal after he and New Zealand's Hamish Kerr turned down the opportunity to share a joint Olympic gold medal.

The high jump event at the Olympics is always tightly contested, with Kerr and McEwen both tied at 2.36 metres in the final in Paris.

They had earlier watched as other competitors fell by the wayside, with Qatar's Mutaz Barsham doing enough for the bronze but failing to clear the 2.36 bar.

Italy's Gianmarco Tamberi, meanwhile, finished 11th with a jump of 2.22 - but for the 32-year-old just to be competing in the final was incredible enough after he spent the early part of the day in hospital due to abdominal pain.

Some may remember how Tamberi and Barsham both cleared 2.37 at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, but both agreed to share the gold medal instead of opting for the jump off. The moment was praised as one of the highlights of the Games.

"Can we have two golds?" 🥇🥇

An ICONIC moment three years ago at Tokyo 2020 in the high jump! #Athletics pic.twitter.com/r9XFcxy8AE

— The Olympic Games (@Olympics) August 10, 2024

This time around, McEwen and Kerr were faced with the same decision - but ended up agreeing on a different outcome.

The decision had to be taken as the pair jumped 2.36 at their first attempt, but then failed all three attempts at the increased 2.38.

But after Kerr missed his final attempt at 2.38, he had a brief exchange with McEwen before the pair agreed to have a jump-off.

In the jump-off, athletes are given another opportunity to jump their previous missed height, before the bar then continues to lower until an athlete wins.

Both missed 2.36 to provide added drama, before Kerr was able to clear 2.34 and secure the gold medal ahead of McEwen.

Despite losing out on the gold, it was still an incredible outcome for McEwen, who finished 11th in the Tokyo final and and set a personal best jump this time around.

The decision to go for the jump-off received mixed reactions on social media, although several people praised the principle of only one gold medal winner. McEwen finished 12th in Tokyo, while Kerr was 10th.

In addition, the opportunity to take a jump-off has been accepted before, and Qatar's Barsham said earlier this year that a sharing of the gold medal in the event would likely never happen again.

He said: "To be honest, it will never happen again. That moment, we'll never share that again.

"It was a one-time thing. Coming back from injuries and a dark place, I wanted to do something different, something with a different meaning."

The final outcome will increase the drama in the final medal table standings, with China currently leading the US by a single gold heading into the final day of the Games.

If they finish level, the US will take top spot by virtue of having comfortably more silver medals, and medals overall, than their closest rivals.