A stupendous finale to the Paris 2024 Olympic Games track and field programme at a packed Stade de France on Saturday (10 August) saw history made as Kenya’s Faith Kipyegon won a third women’s 1500m title, while the United States won both 4x400m titles, setting an Olympic record of 2:54.43 in the men’s event and a North American record of 2:15.27 in the women’s.
New Zealand’s Hamish Kerr defeated Shelby McEwen of the United States in the first jump-off in a men’s Olympic high jump final, while Norway’s Jakob Ingebrigtsen responded to an earlier defeat – the loss of his 1500m title – with victory as he proved imperious in the distance at which he has won the last two world titles, the 5000m.
Kenya’s 20-year-old Emmanuel Wanyonyi, inspired by compatriot and world record-holder David Rudisha, became the youngest winner of the men’s 800m in Olympic history as he reversed his defeat by Marco Arop in last year’s world final to take gold ahead of his Canadian rival in a personal best of 1:41.19.
Home athlete Cyrena Sambela-Mayela earned France’s first track and field medal of the Paris 2024 programme on the final day in finishing second to Masai Russell of the United States in the 100m hurdles, while Japan’s world javelin champion Haruka Kitaguchi added Olympic gold to her collection.
The USA’s 4x400m victories consolidated their position at the top of the track and field medals table with a total of 34, including 14 golds. Kenya was a distant second with a total of 10 including four golds, ahead of Canada, with a total five and three golds, while Spain and Norway, with two golds each, were respectively fourth and fifth.
Kipyegon, with something to prove after being beaten to the 5000m gold by fellow Kenyan Beatrice Chebet, embraced history by becoming the first woman to win three Olympic titles in a single track discipline – in her case, the 1500m, at which she set the world record of 3:49.04 in this same city on 7 July.
The 30-year-old ran a perfectly controlled race, taking over the lead at the bell after Ethiopia’s early leader Gudaf Tsegay had dropped away, and finishing comfortably clear in an Olympic record of 3:51.29, breaking the mark of 3:53.11 she set in Tokyo three years ago.
Australia’s Jessica Hull took silver in 3:52.56 while Britain’s Georgia Bell set a national record of 3:52.61 for bronze.
The concluding men’s event, the 4x400m, ended with the stirring sight of two Olympic champions –400m hurdler Rai Benjamin and Botswana’s 200m winner Letsile Tebogo – duking it out over the final leg.
Benjamin, more accustomed to this distance, kept the lead, crossing in an Olympic record of 2:54.43 after running an anchor leg split of 43.18. For the man who had never won a global title, Paris is golden.
Tebogo gave his all as he clocked 43.08 to bring Botswana silver in an African record of 2:54.53, with bronze going to Britain, for whom individual silver medallist Matthew Hudson-Smith ran the second leg, in a European record of 2:55.83.
