The Olympic Games are in full swing, and the action has started in the Stade de France. Excellent performances from Keely Hodgkinson, Jemma Reekie and Phoebe Gill were amongst the British highlights of the first day. James Rhodes runs through what happened.

The noise, oh the noise.

It started as a ripple of applause, then it got louder. Louder. Louder. Before long, the Stade de France had erupted, but to those not in the know, momentary confusion. It was not anything on the track, but Leon Merchand winning his fourth gold medal in the pool, a few hundred metres away.

That noise, that atmosphere, sums up the first day of athletics well. Every race, every field event, every athlete introduction. A noise fitting of the occasion.

The final race of the evening, the men’s 10000m, was a perfect ending. Ethiopian team tactics, with Yomif Kejelcha, Selemon Barega and Berihu Aregawi taking it in turns to keep the pace up. The Ugandan powerhouses Joshua Cheptegai and Jacob Kiplimo in the pack, not showing their cards. Grant Fisher and Mo Ahmed right up there. Plus, keeping the crowd fully engaged, Jimmy Gressier in there too.

The pace was fast, 63 second laps, 2:40 kilometres. Relentless. A lull in the third quarter, one lap dropping to 69 seconds, but it was building up for one spectacular finale. That is exactly what was delivered.

Joshua Cheptegai made his move, and the Olympic title was his. The World Champion’s first, and Uganda’s first, 10,000m Olympic gold medal. Plus, with 26:43.14, a new Olympic Record, bettering Kenenisa Bekele’s 27:01.17 from 2008. It was a close finish, with the top six separated by less than a second. Aregawi took silver, and Fisher bronze. Only the fourth men’s 10000m medal for the United States in Olympic history.

Terrific Two Laps

The heats of the women’s 800m were the highlights of the evening from a British perspective. Keely Hodgkinson, Jemma Reekie and Phoebe Gill all safely progressed to Sunday’s semi-finals, avoiding this morning’s repechage races.

Keely (1:59.31) controlled her heat from the front, doing as little as needed to take the win. Jemma (2:00.00) did the same. Post-race, Keely noted it wasn’t the easiest of two laps:

“I’m just happy to qualify through because it was a quite a tough heat. I’m just glad to make it through safely. The semis will be fun. The final I know I just have to give everything, but the heats and rounds you have everyone giving it there all, but I am trying to save my energy and you are trying to not make any mistakes“.

Photo: Sam Mellish/Team GB

Perfect Phoebe

Phoebe found herself in a particularly fast hear, the bell reached in 57.35 by Ethiopian Worknesh Mesele. You’d be forgiven for forgetting that this is not just Phoebe first Olympics, it is her first ever Great Britain vest. She raced as controlled a heat as possible, making an excellent move in the closing part of the race to finish in 1:58.83 in third.

She is just seventeen years old. Until this year, she’d never raced a British Championships. Now, it’s the biggest stage of them all. Speaking after the race, she said just how much it meant to her:

“It’s the Olympics, it’s the best competition in athletics. seeing my face on the screen when the camera came round, I was trying not to cry. I was like, you can’t break down before you’re about to do an 800m!“.

Photo: Sam Mellish/Team GB

She went on to say, even in the middle of the biggest racing moment of her young career, she has been able to take in just how far she has progressed:

“I’m just very proud of myself because I was looking at photos of my young self yesterday, doing primary school cross country leagues. I think she would just be so happy that I’m here now, at Paris doing the Olympics because it’s a big dream of mine“.

Phoebe’s time is also inside the qualifying standard for next year’s World Championships in Tokyo.

Morning Fun

The morning session saw Josh Kerr and Neil Gourley safely progress from their 1500m heats. George Mills finished tenth in his heat, clocking 3:35.99. It means he will go again in the repechage this evening. Also in the repechage will be Ireland’s three competitors; Luke McCann, Andrew Coscoran and Cathal Doyle.

Reigning World Champion Josh Kerr made it look oh, so, easy in the first of three heats, comfortably winning against a strong field including Yared Nuguse, Narve Gilje Nordas and Brian Komen. He sat at the back in a slow paced start (2:01.00 for the first 800m) before an effortless-looking move in the last lap.

In the 100m, Daryll Neita, Dina Asher Smith and Imani Lansiquot all progressed to this evening’s semi-finals, and added World Championships qualifiers to their resumes.

This morning sees Louie Hinchliffe, Zharnel Hughes and Jeremiah Azu open their campaign in the men’s 100m heats.