The wait is over as track and field took center stage on the seventh day of the Paris Olympics.
Day one of running actually kicked off on Aug. 1 with the 20km race walk sessions on the streets of Paris, but all of the track and field events will take place at Stade de France with the men’s decathlon 100m as the first event on Aug. 2. The first day of track and field was a mix of qualifying rounds — split into day and night sessions — including the men’s decathlon events and an exciting finish in the men’s 10,000m final.
Here are some of the highlights from the first day on the track:
- Uganda’s Joshua Cheptegei set an Olympic record in the 10,000m final in an exciting 26:43.14 finish in front of a packed Stade de France. Cheptegei fought off an impressive surge by no less than 6 other runners with just over 100m remaining in a race that stayed competitive for most of the 27 laps. Ethiopia’s Berihu Aregawi took the silver in 26:43.44, while Grant Fisher narrowly missed out on second and grabbed the bronze in 26:43.46. Fisher is the first American to medal in the 10,000 since Galen Rupp brought home the silver at the 2012 London Olympics.
- Sha’Carri Richardson surged from lane 6 in her heat of the women’s 100m quarterfinal and cruised to 10.94 for the win and a slot for the U.S. in the semifinal Saturday night. Luxembourg’s Patrizia Van Der Weken took second in 11.14 and Australia’s Bree Masters grabbed the third qualifying spot in 11.26.
- In the 4x400m mixed relay preliminary, the U.S. smashed their world record, as Vernon Norwood, Shamier Little, Kaylyn Brown and Bryce Deadmon cruised to the next round with a time of 3:07.41. France (3:10.60) and Belgium (3:10.74) took the other qualifying spots and both set national records in the mixed relay. They will be joined by Great Britain (3:10.61), Netherlands (3:10.81), Italy, (3:11.59), Jamaica (3.11.06) and Poland (3.11.43) for tomorrow’s final.
- In a wide open women’s 800m field that will be without defending champion Athing Mu, Friday’s six heat’s were a glimpse of who will likely have a shot at taking the title in Paris. The top fastest times all came from heat 5, as Ethiopia’s Tsige Duguma crossed the line in 1:57.90, with Kenya’s Mary Moraa (1:57.95) and Shafiqua Maloney from St. Vincent and the Grenadines (1:58.23) took third. They will be joined in the semifinal by Great Britain’s Jemma Reekie (2:00.00), Slovakia’s Gabriela Gajanova (2:00.29), American Juliette Whittaker (2:00.45), Cuba’s Daily Cooper Gasper (1:58.88), South Africa’s Prudence Sekgodiso (1:59.84) and Switzerland’s Rachel Pellaud (2:00.87).
- Rounding out the group that will head to the 800m semifinal is Ethiopia’s Worknesh Mesele (1:58.07), France’s Renelle Lamote (1:58.59), Great Britain’s Phoebe Gill (1:58.83), Great Britain’s Keely Hodgkinson (1:59.31), American Nia Akins (1:59.67), Benin’s Noelie Yarigo (1:59.68), Jamaica’s Natoya Goule-Toppin (1:58.66), Australia’s Claudia Hollingsworth (1:58.77) and Kenya’s Lilian Odira (1.58.83). Tomorrow’s repechage round is a chance for those fell short in qualifying to get another shot at the semifinal.
- In the men’s shot put qualifying rounds, Italy’s Leonardo Fabbri grabbed the top overall spot (21.76m), while American standouts Payton Otterdahl (21.52m), Ryan Crouser (21.49m) and Joe Kovacs (21.24) will join him in the final.
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