Gold for Uganda star

World record holder Cheptegei wins the 10,000 meters!

Joshua Cheptegei

(Bild: AFP)

What a great first day of Olympic athletics in the Stade de France: at the very end, 27-year-old world record holder Joshua Cheptegei from Uganda won the 10,000 meters in a new Olympic record time of 26:43.14 minutes! 66,500 spectators celebrated the Olympic winner exuberantly for several minutes. These are going to be festive days of athletics here ...

500 m before the finish, Cheptegei launched the decisive attack, took the lead and never relinquished it. Overjoyed, the three-time world champion knelt down on the track and then cheered with the national flag. In Tokyo he had won gold in the 5000 m, now he won the 10,000 m, one of the great Olympic classics, ahead of Berihu Aregawi (ETH/26:43.44) and Grant Fisher (USA/26:43.46).

World record in the mixed relay
The USA's mixed relay team set the first athletics world record of the Games in the 4 x 400m. Shamier Little, Isabelle Whittaker, Quincy Wilson and Bryce Deadmon set the new record in the first preliminary heat in 3:07.41 minutes. The quartet improved the world record set by the US relay team in 2023 by 1.39 seconds.

Dream performance from Bryce Deadman, Shamier Little, Vernon Norwood and Kaylyn Brown

(Bild: Associated Press)

Neugebauer in the lead
Germany's star Leo Neugebauer leads the decathlon after the first day with 4650 points. He had the following individual performances: 100 m 10.67 (+1.4) - long: 7.98 (-0.5) - shot: 16.52 - high: 2.05 - 400 m: 47.70. Ayden Owens-Delerme follows with 4608 points

A few more highlights: The women's 100 m preliminaries already produced top times non-stop. Marie Josée Ta Lou from Côte d'Ivoire, who ran the fastest preliminary time ever at the Olympic Games in Tokyo with 10.78 seconds, was also the best in the preliminary heats in Paris, this time in 10.87 seconds, followed by Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce (JAM/10.92). Eight sprinters remained under 11.00 seconds in the preliminary heats. In the women's 800m, Tsige Duguma (ETH) won the fifth heat in 1:57.90, the fastest preliminary time in Olympic history. All of the favorites advanced confidently here - led by Great Britain's Keely Hodgkinson, who won her preliminary heat in 1:59.31.

Noah Lyles

(Bild: AFP/2024 Getty Images)

Fuchs with Lyles in the preliminaries
 About the allocation of the Austrians on Saturday: Markus Fuchs was placed in the third preliminary heat (12.13) in the 100m. Superstar Noah Lyles (USA) will also start in this heat. Raphael Pallitsch, who finished eleventh in his 1500 m preliminary heat, will compete in his hope heat at 19.15. The top three will reach the semifinals on Sunday.