Britain's Hodgkinson storms to 800 metres glory

PARIS : Britain's Keely Hodgkinson delivered a command performance to win the gold medal in the Olympic 800 metres on Monday and claim her first global title.

Ethiopia's Tsige Duguma won silver in a stunning Olympic debut, with Kenya's Mary Moraa taking bronze.

The fastest in the world over the distance this year, 22-year-old Hodgkinson took the lead halfway through the first lap and comfortably held off an attack from Duguma to finish in one minute 56.72 seconds.

Hodgkinson had arrived in Paris on a high and was heavy favourite to win gold. She set a new personal best of 1:54.61 in London three weeks ago, a result that made her the sixth-fastest woman of all time over two laps.

"It's something that I've dreamed of so much it hasn't actually sunk in yet," Hodgkinson told reporters.

"The crowd was just absolutely incredible, it felt like a home Olympics for me. It just made the moment super special and I'm super happy," she added.

Hodgkinson had said she was excited to "just let myself go for it" in the final, and she did just that, unleashing a fierce kick in the last straight to see off Duguma.

She had tears in her eyes as she crossed the finish line and became the first Briton to win Olympic 800m gold since Kelly Holmes in 2004.

Hodgkinson won silver in Tokyo when she was just 19, and had high hopes of victory in Paris after also taking silver in the 2022 and 2023 world championships.

For 23-year-old Duguma it was a stunning Olympic debut. She looked to be a threat to Hodgkinson with 200m to go, and pipped world champion Moraa to finish in 1:57.15, a personal best.

Moraa took bronze with 1:57.42, three-tenths of a second behind.