History repeated in the men's triple jump final at Rio 2016 as Christian Taylor again beat fellow American Will Claye to the gold medal.

Reigning champion Taylor was unable to challenge Jonathan Edwards' long-held world-record distance of 18.29 metres, which he had come within eight centimetres of at last year's World Championships, but nevertheless earned his second Olympic title with a season's best performance.

A first-round jump of 17.86m proved enough for Taylor on Tuesday, with Claye improving his personal best by one centimetre to claim silver with 17.76m as Dong Bin of China (17.58m) took bronze.

Taylor was a strong favourite to retain his crown in Rio and emphasised his status as the world's best by producing three jumps superior to Claye's best effort – which also came in round one.

Two jumps of 17.77m followed Taylor's opening mark, but the world and Olympic records (18.09m) remained out of reach.

Taylor, 26, now boasts four major global titles, having also earned gold medals at the World Championships in 2011 and 2015.