Paris 2024 Olympics: Keely Hodgkinson makes winning start in bid for 800m gold

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Paris 2024 Olympics: Keely Hodgkinson makes winning start in bid for 800m gold

Great Britain’s Keely Hodgkinson made a winning start to her Olympic 800m title bid as Joshua Cheptegei claimed the first track gold at Paris 2024 in the 10,000m.

Hodgkinson, 22, is targeting a first global title in the French capital after finishing second at successive World Championships since she achieved a stunning silver on her Olympic debut as a teenager in Tokyo.

She controlled her heat from the front in one minute 59.31 seconds to qualify for Sunday’s semi-finals, where she will be joined by team-mates Jemma Reekie and 17-year-old Phoebe Gill.

World record holder Cheptegei, of Uganda, sprinted clear on the final lap to set an Olympic record of 26:43.14 and clinch the first gold on the eye-catching purple track inside the Stade de France.

The 27-year-old, a three-time world champion over the distance, finished ahead of Ethiopia’s Berihu Aregawi and bronze medallist Grant Fisher, of the ******* States.

Elsewhere, Great Britain will compete for a mixed 4x400m relay medal on Saturday after the quartet of Samuel Reardon, Laviai Nielsen, Alex Haydock-Wilson and Nicole Yeargin set a national record to win their heat in 3:10.61.

The ******* States qualified fastest for that final in a world record 3:07.41.

However, Team GB’s Scott Lincoln was unable to qualify for the shot put final with a best throw of 19.69m.

The French athletes were backed passionately throughout the evening and, in a remarkable moment, the men’s decathlon 400m was delayed by loud chants of ‘Allez les Bleus’ when swimmer Leon Marchand

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Josh Kerr and rival Jakob Ingebrigtsen remain on course for their anticipated Olympic gold-medal showdown after both qualified from their men’s 1500m heats in Friday’s morning session.

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