Keely Hodgkinson storms to 800m gold as Team GB pick up five medals on day 10
Joe Clarke won silver and Kimberley Woods bronze in the kayak cross, while Team GB were downgraded from silver to bronze in the triathlon mixed relay.
Great Britain picked up five medals on day 10 of the Paris Olympics.
Keely Hodgkinson claimed victory in the women’s 800 metres final while there was gold on the first day of track cycling for the women’s team sprint trio of Emma Finucane, Katy Marchant and Sophie Capewell.
Joe Clarke won silver and Kimberley Woods bronze in the kayak cross, while Team GB were downgraded from silver to bronze in the triathlon mixed relay.
We look back on another successful day in France for Team GB that has taken the overall total to 42 medals – 12 gold, 13 silver and 17 bronze.
Queen Keely the nearly woman no more
A silver medallist at Tokyo 2020 and a two-time runner-up in the World Championships, Hodgkinson finally got her hands on the gold all athletes covet most for her first global title.
The 22-year-old was an overwhelming favourite in the women’s 800m showpiece but the weight of expectation was no burden as she held off the challenge of Ethiopia’s Tsige Duguma and Kenya’s Mary Moraa to triumph.
Hodgkinson claimed Team GB’s first title on the track since Mo Farah’s 5,000m and 10,000m double at Rio 2016.
Sprinting to gold
Finucane, Marchant and Capewell made history as they claimed Britain’s first ever Olympic women’s team sprint medal.
Britain failed to even qualify in this event since London 2012 but they set a new benchmark in every round, culminating in the last of them a time of 45.186 seconds which saw them beat New Zealand by five tenths of a second.
“It doesn’t get much better than that,” said Marchant, the 31-year-old who flew the women’s sprint flag alone for Britain in Rio and Tokyo.
Kayak-cross captures the imagination
Clarke and Woods tamed the wild waters of the Nautical Stadium on the outskirts of Paris as they clinched silver and bronze medals respectively in the inaugural kayak-cross competition.
The discipline, which involves four racers trying to outdo each other down a helter-skelter 200 metre course, threw up controversy and disqualifications aplenty to the delight of the raucous 10,000-plus crowd.
Clarke, a three-time world champion, had to settle for second behind Finn Butcher of New Zealand while Woods took an early risk that failed to pay off and crossed the line last only to be promoted to a medal when Germany’s Elena Lilik was disqualified.
Photo finish downgrades GB
While Britain were unable to retain their title, they were able to claim a podium place – despite being demoted from silver to bronze.
Beth Potter crossed the line with American Taylor Knibb, just behind Germany’s Laura Lindemann, and Britain were initially given second only for a closer look at the photo finish to cause officials to realise their error.
There were no complaints from the British team, with individual gold medallist Alex Yee saying: “Of course there’s initially a little bit of confusion but I guess they just hadn’t fully seen the photo finish yet.”
Biles misses out
Simone Biles failed to add another Olympic gold to her Paris medal collection after she suffered a surprise defeat in the women’s floor exercise final.
At a packed Bercy Arena, Biles completed all her tumble sequences but she twice stepped out of the floor area after landing – mistakes which proved costly and resulted in a score of 14.133.
Biles does return to the US with three golds in her possession, having won the all around and vault titles, plus the team competition.
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