05 August 2024 , 21:19
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Keely Hodgkinson, one of Team GB’s hot favourites for gold, has become Olympic champion in the women’s 800m.
The 22-year-old went into the games with a world-leading time for this year - and fulfilled that promise to take Britain’s first athletics Olympic gold for eight years.
She finished in 1:56.72, ahead of Ethiopia’s Tsige Duguma on 1:57.15 and Kenya’s Mary Moraa on 1:57.42.
Hodgkinson looked composed and in control from the start, comfortably holding her lead down the final straight.
She grabbed a union flag, hugged Britain’s World Athletics boss Sebastian Coe and high-fived fans on a lap of honour.
Speaking trackside, she said: "I’m super happy... I’m now the Olympic champion for the next four years and no one can take that away from me."
Hodgkinson had been focused on the top step of the podium after coming second in Tokyo three years ago and recently setting a new national record.
Her 800m success comes 20 years after fellow British runner Dame Kelly Holmes won gold in the same distance in Athens.
There was more Team GB glory on Monday evening as the women’s cycling sprint trio broke the world record three times on their way to gold in the velodrome.
It followed a silver and bronze for Joe Clarke and Kimberley Woods in the kayak cross earlier in the day, and a bronze in the mixed triathlon relay.
However there was heartbreak for pole vaulter Molly Caudery, the world indoor champion, who failed to make the final.
US gymnastics superstar Simone Biles also claimed more medals on Monday - but unusually they weren’t gold.
She won a silver in the floor final after landing outside the area twice, and finished fifth in the beam after an uncharacteristic fall.