British teenager grows up quickly to ensure Olympic 800m progress on her debut, as Hodgkinson and Reekie avoid any dramas at the first qualifying stage
Phoebe Gill spent part of the day before her Olympic debut looking a pictures of her “young self” running a primary school cross country race. Given that she is just 17, those days were really not so long ago.
And this impressive teenage talent did a huge amount of growing up in a very short space of time – 1:58.83 to be precise – at the Stade de France on Friday night (August 2) as she joined fellow Britons Keely Hodgkinson and Jemma Reekie in qualifying for the women’s 800m semi-finals of Paris 2024.
These opening heats were far more routine for her more experienced team-mates – Reekie cruising clear to win the opening race in exactly two minutes, while gold medal favourite Hodgkinson also avoided trouble in winning heat four in 1:59.31.
There was nothing routine about stepping on to that purple track for Gill, however. With the stands full and the spotlight on her in heat three, when the camera moved its way along starting line-up and lingered in front of her, the St Albans athlete caught sight of her face on the huge stadium screen and feared she might start to cry.
Taking a few deep breaths, a dose of positive self talk and “muttering a few swear words” helped, although it was hard for Gill to find any sense of calm when she hit the halfway mark in third place and saw it had taken just 57.6 seconds for her to get there.
At the 600m mark, she slipped to fourth – outside of the automatic qualifying places – and her mind began to whir towards having to deal with tomorrow’s repechage round. Yet she refused to let her composure slip and willed herself into the position she wanted, coming home behind the 1:58.07 of Ethiopia’s Worknesh Mesele and the 1:58.59 from Rénelle Lamote of France.
“We’re in a different league now,” admitted the British champion. “I’m so used to front running my races and not having to worry about people behind me but, with these professionals, you have to be adaptable and be on your game constantly so I’m happy that I was able to get third in this calibre of race.”
Gill’s maturity and composure off the track belies her tender years, too. She had mentally prepared herself for every eventuality, albeit she admits that in itself is something of an endurance test.
“I have to think through every situation in my head, which can cause me a lot of anxiety and I’m sure there are better ways to do it,” she said. “But I guess that’s what I always resort to because I try and think of every outcome – be it falling over or going off too fast – and that’s why I really had to stay calm when I got through that first lap and saw the time.
“It’s very emotional being out there. It’s my first time in that sort of arena and it’s the Olympics – it’s the best competition in athletics. Being in that call room and having that camera on me, it’s something new to me and it really reminds me that I’m in the top league now.
“I’m just very proud of myself – I was looking at photos of my young self yesterday running primary school cross country leagues and I think she [that girl] would just be so happy that I’m here in Paris at the Olympics because it’s a big dream of mine.”
Keely Hodgkinson (Getty)
Hodgkinson has been impressed by her young colleague and would not be surprised to see a trio of British athletes reaching the final. “I don’t see why not,” she said. “Amazing things happen at championships.”
The national record-holder and world leader progressed with the minimum of fuss during a stage she does not enjoy.
“[The heats are] worse than the final, to be honest,” she said. “In the final, you just give it everything but in the heats and the rounds you’ve got to contend with people giving it their absolute all, while you’re trying to save energy at the same time and making sure you don’t make any mistakes. I’m definitely glad to get that done.”
Jemma Reekie (Getty)
The fastest qualifier from the heats was Ethiopia’s Tsige Duguma in 1:57.90 as she edged out Mary Moraa, Kenya’s world champion, who ran 1:57.95.
Hodgkinson believes the combination of the huge Stade de France crowds and the pacy track surface could well combine to bring those times tumbling down in the coming days.
“It’s super quick,” she said of the track. “The warm-up track is made of the same [surface] and I was doing my warm-up strides and my legs were turning over so quickly and I was trying to slow down. I think that shows they’ve done an amazing job and hopefully it will lead to some fast times.”
The qualifying process for the women’s 5000m final also began in fine style, with a loaded opening heat that featured world record-holder Gudaf Tsegay, world champion Faith Kipyegon, European champion Nadia Battocletti and Sifan Hassan, who was taking the first steps in her bid to win the 5000m, 10,000m and marathon at these Olympics.
It was two-time Olympic 1500m champion Kipyegon who narrowly came out in top in a blanket finish where a top eight place would secure safe passage. The Kenyan clocked 14.57.56 to see off a late surge from Hassan (14:57.65), decked out in the striking oranje kit of the Netherlands and striking matching long compression socks.
(Getty)
Battocletti was given the same time as Hassan in third, with Margaret Kipkemboi of Kenya fourth in 14:57.10 and Tsegay fifth in 14:57.84.
Nozomi Tanaka of Japan, who had led for much of the latter stages after taking over from the early charge of compatriot Yuma Yamamoto, missed out on qualifying by less than a second, pipped by the American duo of Elise Cranny and Karissa Schweizer.
The second heat went to Kenyan 10,000m world record-holder Beatrice Chebet in 15:00.73 from Medina Eisa of Ethiopia (15:00.82), Australia’s Rose Davis (15:00.86) and Norway’s Karoline Bjerkeli Grovdal (15:01.14).
In the women’s discus, Valarie Allman wasted little time in qualifying for the women’s discus final, the defending Olympic champion getting the job done with her opening throw of 69.59m, well beyond the qualifying standard of 64.00m. Two-time Olympic champion Sandra Elkasević got closest to the American with a throw of 65.63m.
In the absence of the injured reigning champion and world record-holder Yulimar Rojas, Cuba’s Leyanis Pérez Hernández led qualifying for the women’s triple jump with a leap of 14.68m, followed by Jamaica’s Shanieka Ricketts (14.47m).
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