Paris 2024 day 10: Team GB's Keely Hodgkinson wins gold in 800 metres

Great Britain's Keely Hodgkinson celebrates winning the Women's 800m Final. Credit: PA

Keely Hodgkinson has won Great Britain's first athletics gold after winning the women's 800m final.

The 22-year-old took the lead on the first lap and held off tough competition to go one better than the silver medal she secured at Tokyo 2021.

She becomes the third British woman to win Olympic gold in the 800m, after Anne Packer at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics and Dame Kelly Holmes at Athens 2004.

Hodgkinson described the final as "absolutely incredible".

She told ITV News: "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?

"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 who got bronze] coming at me down the back straight. But I showed composure and I got to the line first this time.

"I'm super happy to bring it home for everyone. It's not just me, it's a whole team effort and they know who they are. This is our gold medal."

Her win has moved Britain to fifth place on the medal table, with a total of 12 gold medals, just behind France.

Cycling

Team GB's women's cycling team also put the "great in Great Britain" by winning gold and breaking the world record three successive times at the Paris Olympics.

Katy Marchant, Sophie Capewell, and Emma Finucane initially set a blistering time of 45.472 seconds in their qualifying round, beating China's previous record by 0.015 seconds.

They then lowered the record to 45.338 seconds in the first round against Canada.

The trio smile after their gold medal win Credit: PA

Only an hour later in the finals against New Zealand, the trio demonstrated their excellence by breaking the record again at a time of 45.186 to claim another gold for Team GB.

New Zealand beat Britain's first record with a time of 45.348 seconds in the first round.

British Cycling said on X: "Putting the 'GREAT' in Great Britain with ANOTHER World Record!"

Marchant, who won bronze in Rio 2016, is an expert in the field, while this was Capewell's and Finucane's first Olympic Games.

Kayak cross

Joe Clarke and Kimberley Woods claimed silver and bronze medals respectively in a pair of wet and wild kayak finals.

Clarke went into the event with three world titles to his name but had to settle for second in a straightforward battle with New Zealand's Finn Butcher.

Reining world champion Kimberley Woods fell to third in the women's kayak final after a mistake at the halfway point. Credit: PA

Woods, who is the reigning world champion and blazed through the quarter and semi-finals looked set to dominate the final as well.

After an initial lead at the halfway point, a mistake caused her to fall to third.

Triathlon

Britain also secured its third medal in the triathlon as Beth Potter claimed bronze in the mixed relay on Monday morning.

It won the inaugural Olympic title in the format in Tokyo and looked in a very strong position when individual bronze medallist Beth Potter began the last leg in the lead.

But Potter could not match the pace of Germany’s Laura Lindemann on the final sprint, just losing out to Taylor Knibb of the United States in a photo finish.

The joint effort by Potter Alex Yee, Georgia Taylor-Brown and Sam Dickinson saw the UK win its first medal on Monday.

Team GB have been targeting numerous other medals across different sports with a wealth of talent and numerous world champions in their respective fields representing the UK.

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Athletics

Dina Asher-Smith and Darryl Neita have qualified for the 200m final but will face tough competition from the USA's Gabby Thomas, who has the fourth-fastest time in history at 21.60 seconds. Bianca Williams did not qualify.

Team GB star Keely Hodgkinson is up in the final of the women's 800m, and she will be hoping to go one better than the silver medal she claimed at Tokyo 2020.

Hodgkinson will compete at around 8.45pm on Monday and heads into the contest as the fastest qualifier.

Gold medalist Rebeca Andrade (centre) of Brazil, silver medalist Simone Biles (left) of the USA and bronze medalist Jordan Chiles. Credit: PA

Elsewhere, the US Simone Biles missed out on adding to the three Olympic golds in her Paris medal collection after a surprise defeat in the women's floor final.

During her tumble sequences, she stepped out the the floor area after landing - a mistake that while costly, was still enough to finish second behind Brazil's Rebeca Andrade.

It came about an hour after her beam final, in which Biles and half of the eight women in the field ended up falling off the beam. After losing her balance, Biles slipped to fifth.

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