2024 Olympics Day 1 PM: Big Names Through In 5k, Brits Impress In 800
All the big names were spared in the first heat of the Women's 5,000 & The Brits Impressed In The 800
By Harper Clark and Joseph Carroll
Paris – The PM session of the Olympics ‘ first day offered a great deal of excitement highlighted by Joshua Cheptegei winning gold in the 10,000m and Grant Fisher getting bronze. That gets its own separate recap.
In the distance prelims in the PM, superstars Faith Kipyegon and Keely Hodgkinson got their Olympic campaigns undeway in round 1 of the women’s 5000 and 800 respectively and 5 of the 6 American women in these events advanced.
In round 1 of the men’s 1500 in the morning session, Josh Kerr looked amazing and all 3 Americans advanced.
Women’s 800
The first round of the women’s 800 did have a little drama as a few names did not advance. Two women who have run in the 1:57s this year will have to run in the first Repechage round in Olympic history on Saturday after not finishing in the top 3 today. 2019 world champ Halimah Nakaayi (#7 in the world this year) of Uganda, who had PRd twice this year, was only 4th in heat 2 and Ethiopia’s Habitam Alemu (6th at Tokyo Olympics) was only 7th in heat #1.
The winner of heat 1 was Britain’sJemma Reekie who showed why she’s the second-fastest woman in the world this year, blowing away the first heat down the homestretch in 2:00.00. NCAA champion Juliette Whittaker of the US nabbed the final auto qualifying spot in third place but it came down to the wire as she was unaware of Switzerland’s Valentina Rosamilia coming up on the outside. Whittaker scraped through by thousandths as both women were credited with a time of 2:00.45.
The third heat, which was on the quicker side, sent 17-year-old British champion Phoebe Gill through to the semis after she finished in third place in 1:58.83. Gill said that the experience of running behind people is a bit new to her as she had been used to dominating her races.
She said that she has had to try and be more purposeful in dealing with her emotions on the Olympic stage.
Keely Hodgkinson’s pursuit of her first major global title went along without interruption in the fourth heat, as she eased away down the homestretch, running 1:59.31. Hodgkinson said she does not love the heats and felt like she had to exert herself a bit more than expected to make the semi-final.
U.S. Olympic Trials champion Nia Akins eased through to the semifinal as well, finishing in 2nd. Mary Moraa did not get the memo that there were no time qualifiers, bringing the fifth heat out in 56.8 en route to a 1:57.95 clocking for second in the heat. She used her usual surges to toy with the field and let up at the line as Tsige Duguma won in the quickest time of the day, running 1:57.90. Natoya Goule-Toppin’s experience showed in the final heat as she led wire-to-wire, winning in 1:58.66. American Allie Wilson failed to qualify, finishing in 6th. She will run the repechage round tomorrow.
QT: Mixed day for Americans
It was a mixed day for the Americans as Nia Akins and Juliette Whittaker advanced to the semis but Allie Wilson will have the harder task of trying to advance from the repechage round which is roughly 15 hours after today’s round 1. Akins and Whittaker were up front throughout and didn’t have to deal with passing runners to secure a top 3 spot, although Whittaker said she wasn’t aware Valentina Rosamilia of Switzerland was closing in on her at the end (they finished with the same 2:00.45 time with Whittaker advancing by the thousandth).
Wilson meanwhile was coming into Paris after running a 1:57.52 PR in her last race, but said she did not get out well the first 200 and felt the competition at this level was too good after that to make it up. She said she tried her hardest to kick for the top 3 but in the final 50 realized
she wasn’t going to make it, so she saved a little something for Saturday’s repechage round.
The US champ Akins had Olympic favorite Keely Hodgkinson in her heat which Akins didn’t find out about until today as she said she didn’t look at the heat assignments until today. Akins said the race was physically harder than she expected. “I wasn’t as overwhelmed as I thought I would be, so emotionally it was] easier than I expected, physically kind of like a rust buster,” she told LetsRun.
Akins decided to stay at Albuquerque longer so she skipped the opening ceremonies so she could focus on the task at hand.
Quick Take: 17-year-old Phoebe Gill showed tremendous poise after falling behind
Before today, the British champion Gill, who turned 17 in April, had only ever raced outside of the UK on one occasion – last year’s Commonwealth Youth Games in Trinidad & Tobago (which she won).
“We’re a different league now at the Olympics,” Gill said. “I’m so used to front-running my races and just not having to worry about people behind me.”
It was an emotional night for Gill, who said she had to stop herself from crying on the start line, but she handled herself well. When she fell behind into non-qualifying position on the final turn, she kept her composure and rallied for the final auto spot in third. Gill said that she prepared for the Olympics by visualizing everything that could go wrong in a race and how she would respond. She admitted that was a “harsh” way for her to prepare, but it paid off today.
“[Racing] these professionals, you have to be adaptable and be on your game constantly,” Gill said.
Women’s 5,000 Prelims: 3 for 3 for Americans
In heat 1, what was dubbed the “Killer Heat” on the LRC message boards, all of the big names advanced, with world champ Faith Kipyegon leading the way in 14:57.56. Yuma Yamamoto of Japan built a big lead early to no avail as she was swallowed by the field heading into the final 1600 meters, eventually finishing in 17th and failing to qualify. Sifan Hassan, who opted to compete in the 5,000, 10,000, and marathon (better known as “The Zatopek”), got off to a good start, qualifying comfortably in 2nd place after spending most of the race at the back of the lead pack. Gudaf Tsegay, the 5,000m WR holder, showed no signs of struggle either, finishing in 5th. Of the eight qualifying spots, five were occupied by finalists from the Tokyo Olympics, including Americans, Elise Cranny and Karissa Schweizer; who finished in 7th and 8th, respectively. A pack of 10 was in contention for the eight auto spots on the final lap, and the Americans got the final two spots.
Beatrice Chebet, the 10,000m WR holder, won heat #2 easily, running 15:00.73, a time that wouldn’t have qualified out of the first heat. There were no surprising non-qualifiers. Medina Eisa, who finished 6th at last year’s Worlds, finished second. American Whittni Morgan, who qualified for the Olympics in the absence of Elle St. Pierre and Parker Valby, finished in 6th, qualifying for the final.
Quick Take: This is a great day for the American women
Going into the Olympics, LetsRun’s Robert Johnson gave the American women less than a 1% chance to medal. Now out of a heat that had almost all the major players both Elise Cranny and Karissa Schweizer were able to make it through to the final. Going into the bell, they each had to outkick one woman to advance and they did just that, finishing 7th and 8th in the heat as Japan’s Nozomi Tanaka faded to 9th. They were both a sizable amount back of the real contenders in front of them, so they will need to improve to contend for the medals in the final. Schweizer wants to execute a good race in the final and finish higher than Tokyo. The pair made the final together in Tokyo, finishing 13th and 11th respectively.
Schweizer has had a rocky road to the Olympics, not being able to run every day before the Trials. Since the Trials, she has been able to run daily and as a result feels like she is in much better shape now as opposed to a month ago.
In the second – and much easier – heat, Whittni Morgan qualified and ran a season’s best of 15:02.14 to finish 6th after only finishing 5th at the Olympic Trials. The last time that the American women put three women in an Olympic final was all the way back in 2008.
Morgan said she skipped the opening ceremonies to try and perform well after making the team, despite finishing 5th at the Olympic Trials. “I didn’t do the opening ceremonies just to stay at altitude longer and just have the best shot here. I really wanted to perform well, especially the way I was selected for the Olympics. I kind of wanted to kind of prove that I belong to be here since I didn’t get the top three spots,” she told LetsRun in the mixed zone. She definitely showed that.
Quick Take: Beatrice Chebet said it took her body a while to recover from her 10,000m world record at the Pre Classic but feels ready to go now
Chebet set an incredible world record of 28:54 for 10,000 back on May 25 at the Pre Classic but has only raced once since then, taking 2nd in the 5,000 at the Kenyan trials on June 14. She said she was tired after the world record in Eugene and wanted to make sure she recovered from the Trials and was totally ready to go in Paris rather than pushing it by racing a Diamond League.
“After the world record, I did not recover well,” Chebet said. “After the trials, it was not [an] injury. You just feel lactic acid was still in my body. For now, I’m good.”
Chebet, in the easier of the two heats, said she only needed to run at 50-60% effort today but knows it will take 100% to win the gold in Monday’s final.
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MB: Official Olympics Day 1 PM Thread
