Georgia Bell unleashed her dream kick to overtake Ethiopia’s Diribe Welteji and claim Olympic 1500m bronze while the legendary Faith Kipyegon claimed her third consecutive title.
Kipyegon’s Olympic record of 3 minutes and 51.29 seconds proved a blessing beyond the pain in the race for his rivals, as the Kenyan dragged the train of medal hopefuls to reveal the time. And Bell capitalized to claim a British record of 3 minutes and 52.61 seconds, nearly four seconds better than his previous best mark, finishing just five hundredths of a second behind Australia’s Jess Hull in silver.
Bell trains alongside newly crowned Olympic 800m champion Keely Hodgkinson and has now completed an amazing journey from leaving the sport in 2017 to rediscovering her passion for running in 2021.
“I don’t know if I’ve ever been this happy,” Bell told BBC Sport. thinking that if I was brave enough and got stuck in, I could make something special.
But while there was joy for Bell, it was miserable for Laura Muir, with the Scot 0.24 seconds from the podium after a tactically mature performance to sit off the sizzling pace and use strength to reel in her rival.
“Faith Kipyegon and I have been together in the global finals since 2015, I know her very well – she’s amazing,” Muir said. “Not just for our event but the sport was great to see and Jess (Hull) won her first medal as well, I was really close to her and obviously Georgia (Bell) did well too.
“It was a great podium – it’s a shame I wasn’t there, but I really enjoyed the podium, they were all great girls.”
The 1500m provided Kipyegon with redemption after he was interrupted by his teammate Beatrice Chebet in the 5000m and the 30-year-old’s scream at the finish line suggested that he exorcise his demons in a thrilling race.
Team GB, Alex Haydock-Wilson, Matthew Hudson-Smith, Lewis Davey and Charlie Dobson, added bronze in the 4x400m relay in an outstanding European record time of 2 minutes and 55.83 seconds.
Ahead of us was a sensational battle for gold between the United States and Botswana, as 400m hurdles champion Rai Benjamin held off a blistering pace from Letsile Tebogo in an impressive final leg to improve his Olympic record to 2 minutes and 54.53 seconds.
And the British women repeated the trick in the women’s race, which was won by a dominant United States led by Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone from behind the world record in the 400m hurdles, sending the fastest relay in 47.70 seconds.
Behind America, Femke Bol won silver for the Netherlands, but Amber Anning finished the project started by Victoria Ohuruogu, Laviai Nielsen and Nicole Yeargin in 3 minutes and 19.72 seconds, one of the three national records behind Team USA, to deny Ireland a medal.
In a flurry of relays, Hamish Kerr of New Zealand won gold in the men’s high jump, beating Shelby McEwen of the United States by a jump, while defending champion Mutaz Barshim took bronze.
Joining Kipyegon in erasing his regrets from his previous event at Paris 2024 is Jakob Ingebrigtsen, who had a heartbreaking experience in the 1500m after being left off the podium.
5000m gives him more comfort with closing speed assets, rather than a glimmer of weakness for speedsters, such as the newly crowned champion Cole Hocker, down in the 1500m. The naïve strategy of his rivals allowed him to dominate the field again, quickly moving forward and passing Hagos Gebrhiwet with 200m to go and putting 12m on the rest of the field to win by 1.5 seconds in 13:13.66.
Now the question is whether Ingebrigtsen can take revenge in the 1500m or what he looks to add records and flashy times for his 5000m medal. It was an impressive bronze for Grant Fisher, with the US star repeating the trick from the 10000m to finish behind Kenya’s Ronald Kwemoi.