Team GB’s Keely Hodgkinson storms to Olympic gold in women’s 800m final
PARIS — On a day where Keely Hodgkinson and Team GB’s women’s team sprint started the gold rush on the athletics and velodrome tracks respectively, the foundations for further medals were laid elsewhere.
Hodgkinson ran with the weight of Great Britain’s expectations on her shoulders but still emerged Olympic 800m champion at Stade de France.
The Wigan world silver medallist was the heavy favourite heading not just into Monday night’s final but well ahead of these Games, setting a world-leading time of 1:54.61 just over two weeks before what had increasingly started to feel like a dance with destiny.
On a clear Monday evening in Paris she was calm and collected, moving up from fifth to first entering the final lap and cruised across the line in 1:56.72.
Ethiopia’s Tsige Duguma surged to silver in 1:57.15, while Kenya’s world champion Mary Moraa collected bronze.
Hodgkinson told BBC Sport: “That was absolutely incredible. I’ve worked so hard over the last year and you could see how much it meant to me as I crossed the line.
“I can’t believe I’ve finally done it. It means so much to me. And to do it here, where better? The audience was absolutely incredible, it felt like a home crowd to me, so I’m super happy.
“I wanted to be up near the front anyway, probably quicker after the first lap, but doing the semi-final and the final back to back everyone was tired. It’s tough.
“I trusted myself, I could feel Mary [Moraa] coming at me down the back straight. But I showed composure and I got to the line first this time.
“I had a cheeky look at the screen just to make sure but you can’t do anything until you cross that line. I’m now the Olympic champion for the next four years and nobody can take that away from me.”
Teenage climbing sensation Toby Roberts was left “really psyched” by a strong finish to the first stage of his Olympic debut.
Roberts finished third in his boulder semi-final with the lead semi-final to follow on Wednesday – scores are then combined and the top eight make Friday’s final.
Roberts feels lead is his stronger discipline and will hope to take the momentum from his final climb, when he scaled the summit to score 24.7 from a possible 25 to bring the capacity crowd in Le Bourget to its feet.
“I was really psyched to get the last one,” he said.
“I definitely felt a bit of pressure going out to the last boulder, I thought I might have to top it to be in a good place. I was able to calm down in the cool zone and put in a good performance.”
Great Britain will also have three contenders in the final of the individual showjumping after Harry Charles, Scott Brash and Ben Maher all finished in the top 30 of qualifying.
The trio combined for team gold on Friday, and will hope to bolster Team GB’s medal tally in Tuesday’s final.
Charles said: “It felt incredible. It just felt super easy and he felt so comfortable.
“To do that ahead of tomorrow fills me with confidence. I’m just enjoying every moment now. We did what we came here to do and anything now is a bonus.”
And Britain’s divers will look to extend their streak of medals in every event so far in the women’s individual 10m platform after Andrea Spendolini-Sirieix booked her place in the final.
Having already won bronze in the synchro alongside Lois Toulson, Spendolini-Sirieix finished in third in the semi-final behind Chinese pair Chen Yuxi and the exceptional Quan Hongchan.
She said: “I’m so happy. The job today was to get into the final and I’ve done that. I feel like I can enjoy tomorrow, it’s show time.
“The Games have been so much better than Tokyo. I’m so happy, I’ve got joy in my heart. I love diving and it’s completely different. I’ve cherished this whole experience.”
On the final day of action in the artistic gymnastics, Rebeca Andrade sprung a surprise as she got the better of Simone Biles for a deserved gold medal on the floor.
Biles, who had won three golds so far in these Games, including the all-around title, had fallen on the beam to miss the medals altogether.
And she then landed with both feet outside the area to take silver on the floor, as Andrade claimed her first gold and fourth medal of these Games.
Biles said: “I’ve accomplished way more than my wildest dreams, not just at this Olympics but in the sport, so I can’t be mad at my performances.
“I’m pretty proud of myself and it’s always so exciting to compete.”
Finally, there was disappointment in the women’s hockey as GB could not spring a huge upset and fell to a 3-1 defeat to the Netherlands.
The Dutch have been the dominant force in women’s hockey for more than a decade, winning three of the last four Olympic titles – Maddie Hinch’s heroics in the 2016 final the only time they have been denied.
But despite the best efforts of Hannah French, who cancelled out Xan de Waard’s first-minute opener, GB succumbed as Luna Noa Fokke scored twice, either side of half-time.
Watch every moment of Paris 2024 live only on discovery+, the streaming home of the Olympics
Source link
