Olympic Track and Field 2016: Men's Triple Jump Medal Winners, Scores and Result

For the second straight Summer Olympics, Americans Christian Taylor and Will Claye swept the top two medals at track and field's most difficult combination of athleticism and timing. Taylor brought home his second consecutive gold with a jump of 17.86 meters at the 2016 Rio Games on Tuesday. Claye's second-place jump was just 0.10 meters behind, as the two competitors and friends again battled each other down to the final attempt. 

Dong Bin of China earned a bronze with a jump of 17.58 meters.

Medal	Jumper	Distance
Gold	Christian Taylor (United States)	17.86 meters
Silver	Will Claye (United States)	17.76 meters
Bronze	Dong Bin (China)	17.58 meters

The narrative unfolded differently from London, when Taylor and Claye both waited until their fourth jump to get their best score. Both went about setting the tone early Tuesday, with Taylor going for 17.86 meters on his first try to lock himself in clear medal contention.

That number set the bar for everyone who tried and failed to top it. Claye's first attempt went for 17.76 meters to put him in second place, and the two essentially went about the rest of their day trying to top one another.

Taylor wound up recording the three best jumps of the day, hitting 17.77 meters on both his second and fourth attempts. Clay's next best effort was a 17.61-meter leap on his fourth try, and he added a 17.55-meter jump on his final try.

While the result was the same, there was one major difference from 2012: Taylor's jumping leg. A left knee injury in 2013 forced him to switch to jumping off his right leg, a decision Taylor says required him to "relearn" how to triple jump.

“It is a lot of coordination and timing,” Taylor said, per Jaylon Thompson of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “There is a lot of muscle development that goes into it. I had to switch my thinking and re-learn the event. It starts from smaller hops and lots of repetition.”

Taylor came back better than ever, recording the second-best jump in history (18.21 meters) last August. The only other man competing who had touched 18 meters was Cuban Pedro Pablo Pichardo, who pulled out of the Rio Games due to injury.

With Pichardo out of the picture, Claye was Taylor's only real competition—appropriate given they've spent most of their lives battling each other. Separated by just one year in age, Taylor, 26, and Claye, 25, both attended the University of Florida, where they competed for SEC and national championships. That competition carried over to the last two Olympic Games, with Taylor consistently coming out on top.

Four years from now, Taylor will be 30 and Clay 29. It's unclear whether either man plans on going for a third medal. If they do, it'll be hard to count them out given their history.