Uganda’s Joshua Cheptegei won the 10,000 metres, the first track title of the Paris Olympics, on Friday whilst the United States smashed the 4x400m mixed relay world record in a sparkling opening to the athletics.
Cheptegei produced a record-breaking performance of his own, timing 26 minutes 43.14 seconds to break Kenenisa Bekele’s 16-year-old Olympic record, and make up for his disappointment in finishing runner-up in Tokyo three years ago.
Cheptegei, 27, said his mind had been set on Olympic glory when he watched Bekele win the title in Beijing in 2008. “When I was watching the great Kenenisa Bekele win in Beijing, it was something that grew in my heart,” he said. “I said, one day, one time, I want to be Olympic champion. The most special day.”
The United States set their world record in the heats of the relay. The quartet timed 3min 07.41sec, eclipsing the previous best of 3:08.80, set when the US won world gold in Budapest last year. Lead-off runner Vernon Norwood said it was the ideal curtain-raiser for the mighty United States track and field team. “We set the tone for the rest of the United States with that world record,” said Norwood.
Sha’Carri Richardson will be the first to see if she can follow it up when she bids to add the Olympic title to her world crown today. The 24-year-old – aiming to become the first American since Gail Devers in 1996 to win Olympic 100m gold – had little trouble in her heat on Friday.
The United States’ stunning run will have been a wake up call for Dutch star Femke Bol, who is aiming for a treble at the Games. The 24-year-old – who will also compete in the 400m hurdles and the women’s 4x400m relay – sat out the heats but her teammates comfortably qualified, without the American fireworks, for today’s final. Bol is one of two Dutch women targeting a triple gold – remarkable distance runner Sifan Hassan being the other one.
Hassan got her 5,000m campaign off to a smooth start, finishing just behind Kenyan great Faith Kipyegon.
Kipyegon lived up to her nickname the ‘smiling destroyer’ last year in Budapest, twice getting the better of Hassan in the 1,500 and 5,000m. This has far from deterred Hassan, who says it is due to her curious nature that she has gone for an unprecedented treble for a woman athlete.
The 31-year-old Olympic champion is aiming to become the first woman in history to win 5,000m, 10,000m and marathon gold at the same Olympics, emulating Czech great Emil Zatopek, who achieved the men’s triple at the 1952 Helsinki Games.
“I haven’t finished all three (events) yet,” she said. “I just did the heat and we’ll see if it’s possible after I complete the marathon, but I think it’s possible. I have four races - one has already finished, I have three left. But I’m very nervous for the marathon,” added Hassan, who made a sensational debut when she won the London Marathon last year.
Ryan Crouser is also going for a historic treble in being crowned Olympic shot champion three times. The 31-year-old American eased into today’s final with a mark of 21.49 metres.
Ukraine, whose sporting infrastructure has been decimated since Russia’s 2022 invasion, are targeting three medals. Their greatest hope for gold, high jump world record-holder Yaroslava Mahuchikh, comfortably qualified for tomorrow’s final. With her family in Dnipro, which is she says shelled daily, she could be forgiven for having her mind elsewhere.
However, the bronze medallist from the Tokyo Games says she is focussed. “It’s my chance to show to all people that we will continue fighting and the war in Ukraine is not stopping,” she said. The decathlon looks set for a nailbiting climax with Germany’s Leo Neugebauer leading overnight, only 42 points ahead of Ayden Owens-Delerme of Puerto Rico.
