Blast at cycling was controlled explosion of bag

Britain’s Adam Peaty set a world record of 57.55 seconds in the men’s 100 metres breaststroke heats on Saturday, beating his own mark of 57.92 set in London past year.

A Rio 2016 spokesperson said: “The security services found a suspicious package close to the cycle road race finish line in Copacabana and as a precaution made a decision to perform a controlled explosion”.

Bomb squad agents in protective clothing were operating near the press tribune at the site but the cause of the blast was not immediately clear. The controlled blast occurred at 1:45 pm local time.

A loud bang was heard on the BBC’s coverage of the road race, with the commentators falling silent for a number of seconds before confirming that the noise had come from near the finish line. “All are safe”, she said.

A Rio 2016 spokesman told The Guardian: “The security services found a suspicious package close to the cycle road race finish line in Copacabana and as a precaution made a decision to perform a controlled explosion”.