Chebet Is The Women’s 10,000m Olympic Champion As GB Win More Medals On The Track

Friday saw a busy night of medals on the track in Paris, including the women’s 10,000m, the 4x100m relays, men’s 400m and 400m hurdles, plus the completion of the women’s heptathlon. Here’s who won the medals.

CHEBET WINS DOUBLE GOLD

Kenya’s Beatrice Chebet has won the women’s 10,000m Olympic gold in Paris, claiming her country’s first ever win in event, as she completes the distance double by winning the 5000m and 10,000m.

Chebet’s time of 30:43.25 put her ahead of Italy’s Nadia Battocletti, who won silver by running a new national record of 30:43.35, and the Netherlands’ Sifan Hassan won her second bronze in Paris, following her third place in the 5000m. 

It was a tactical race, well below Chebet’s own world record of 28:54.14, seven women were in a tight group as they started the final lap. Chebet moved into the lead on the final bend and was able to out-kick the rest to achieve her historic win. “This 10,000m gold medal, I can describe it as the most important medal in my life,” she said.

GB’s Eilish McCoulgan was running in her fourth Olympic games and finished in 31:20.51 for 15th place, following a season disrupted by injury. It will be her last track race at the Olympics and she’s already talking about her fifth Games, looking at targeting the marathon for Los Angeles 2028. GB’s Megan Keith finished in 33:19.92 in her first Olympic Games.

KATARINA JOHNSON-THOMPSON FINALLY GETS HER OLYMPIC MEDAL

GB’s Katarina Johnson-Thompson has won an Olympic silver – her first Olympic medal in her fourth games – in the heptathlon to add to her impressive career record, as Belgium’s Nafissatou Thiam won her third successive Olympic gold. 

In the final event of the day, Johnson-Thompson was still in contention for the win, needing to beat Thiam by around 8.5 seconds to gain back the points she was in arrears. Despite the Brit running a new personal best, the Belgian was strong enough to hold on. 

Johnson-Thompson was just 36 points behind the Belgian at the end of the seven events, the equivalent of a centimetre or a second here and there in a wonderful competition in Paris in which she performed incredibly, with many season bests and personal bests.

IT’S SILVER FOR TEAM GB IN THE WOMEN’S 4X100m RELAY

There was a thrilling finish in the women’s 4x100m, with Team GB finishing in second place behind Team USA, and the Germans in third.

Dina Asher-Smith, Imani Lansiquot, Amy Hunt and Daryll Neita put together a brilliant relay race, with Neita running a phenomenal final leg to almost chase down USA’s Sha’Carri Richardson, the 100m silver medallist from earlier in the Games. GB were just 0.07 seconds behind USA’s time of 41.78.

Neita and Asher-Smith were both so close to winning individual medals in Paris, so the relay is a silver-lining to their Games. 

GB’s Bianca Williams and Desiree Henry will also get medals having run in the earlier 4x100m relay rounds.

IT’S BRONZE FOR TEAM GB IN THE MEN’S 4X100m RELAY

As Team GB’s women watched from the side of the track, they got to celebrate double medal success as the GB’s Jeremiah Azu, Louie Hinchliffe, Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake and Zharnel Hughes won bronze in the men’s 4x100m relay behind Canada and South Africa. The US team had a terrible first changeover and were later disqualified, with 100m champion and 200m bronze medallist Noah Lyles not racing having suffered with Covid earlier in the week.  

MARILEIDY PAULINO WINS WOMEN’S 400M IN NEW OLYMPIC RECORD

The Dominican Republic’s Marileidy Paulino ran 48.17 to win the women’s 400m and set a new olympic record. 

Bahrain’s Salwa Eid Naser was second, with Poland’s Natalia Kaczmarek outsprinting Ireland’s Rhasidat Adeleke to win bronze. GB’s Amber Anning was fifth.

RAI BENJAMIN BEATS KARSTEN WARHOLM TO WIN MEN’S 400m HURLDES

USA’s Rai Benjamin has beaten his great rival Norway’s Karsten Warholm to win the men’s 400m hurdles. Brazil’s Alison dos Santos was third. 

Warholm is the world record holder, reigning Olympic champion and was the pre-race favourite, but Benjamin finally managed to get his gold, having finished behind Warholm in Tokyo and in three World Championships. “I can’t believe I actually finally did it,” said Benjamin after the race.

WHAT’S ON LATER?

It’s final after final on the last day of competition on the track in Paris. Here are the times to tune in (all in BST):

6.25pm: Men’s 800m – final
6.45pm: Women’s 100m hurdles – final
7.00pm: Men’s 5000m – final
7.25pm: Women’s 1500m – final
8.12pm: Men’s 4x400m relay – final
8.22pm: Women’s 4x400m relay – final

If you want to hear more about what it’s like to be in Paris for the Olympics then Sarah, Andy and Rick are over there recording a daily podcast. You can listen to The Running Channel podcast here!

Photo Getty Images / Hannah Peters