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 United 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 United 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 won his fourth gold of the Games.
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.
