Keely Hodgkinson lived up to her billing as pre-Olympic favourite by storming to an impressive gold in the women’s 800m, one of five medals won by Team GB on day 10 in Paris.

Hodgkinson produced a commanding performance to become the first British woman to win an Olympic 800m title since Dame Kelly Holmes in 2004, crossing the line in 1:56.72 to hold off a late push from Ethiopia’s Tsige Duguma.

The 22-year-old, who took silver in Tokyo and has also had to settle for second in back-to-back World Championships, grabbed the halfway lead and never relinquished top spot on her way to a career-defining victory.

Hodgkinson’s gold was one of two won by Team GB on Monday, with Great Britain breaking the world record multiple times in the women’s team sprint to claim a first cycling gold of the Games.

There were two medals won in the canoe slalom kayak finals, one silver and one bronze, with the triathlon mixed relay team also picking up bronze earlier in the day after initially thinking they had finished second.

Hodgkinson hails ‘incredible’ 800m success

Hodgkinson had been the heavy favourite heading into the Games, setting a world-leading time of 1:54.61 just over two weeks before the Olympics, with the Englishwoman pleased to go one better than her runner-up finish three years earlier.

“That was absolutely incredible,” Hodgkinson told the BBC. “I’ve worked so hard over the last year and you could see how much it meant to me as I crossed the line. I can’t believe I’ve finally done it.

“It means so much to me. And to do it here, where better? The audience was absolutely incredible, it felt like a home
crowd to me, so I’m super happy. I wanted to be up near the front anyway, probably quicker after the first lap, but doing the semi-final and the final back-to-back everyone was tired. It’s tough.

“I trusted myself, I could feel Mary [Moraa] coming at me down the back straight. But I showed composure and I got to the line first this time. I had a cheeky look at the screen just to make sure but you can’t do anything until you cross that line. I’m now the Olympic champion for the next four years and nobody can take that away from me.”

Where else were Team GB medals won?

Great Britain’s long-awaited return to the women’s team sprint battle at an Olympic Games ended with gold as Emma Finucane, Katy Marchant and Sophie Capewell broke the world record three times on a perfect night.

After failing to even qualify in this event since London 2012, Team GB set a new benchmark in every round, going fastest in qualifying at 45.472 seconds before posting 45.338 in the next round.

Team GB then registered a time of 45.186 seconds in the final, seeing them beat New Zealand by five-tenths of a second to claim Britain’s first ever Olympic women’s team sprint medal.

Elsewhere, Joe Clarke went into the men’s kayak cross as a heavy favourite, with three world titles to his name, but had to settle for second throughout in a relatively straightforward four-man final behind Finn Butcher of New Zealand.

That silver came moments after Kimberely Woods won bronze in the women’s event, having dropped from first to fourth after a mistake before the disqualification of Germany’s Elena Lilik.

The other medal saw Great Britain’s triathlon mixed relay team fall short in their bid to retain their Olympic title, with their result downgraded from silver to bronze after an administrative mix-up.

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.

What else happened in athletics?

Dina Asher-Smith bounced back from 100m heartbreak to snap up a place in the Olympic 200m final, finishing second behind American Gabby Thomas in her semi-final.

Asher-Smith – reduced to tears after missing out on Saturday’s 100m final – progressed with a time of 22.31 seconds, while Darryl Neita also made it through to the final after finishing second in the third semi-final.

Neita, who missed out on 100m bronze by just four-hundredths of a second, snapped up the second spot in 22.24 behind American Brittany Brown. Team GB’s Bianca Williams missed out despite posting her season best to finish fourth in her heat.

Sprinter Zharnel Hughes withdrew from the men’s 200m heats due to a hamstring issue, having skipped the European and British championships with a similar issue before failing to qualify for the men’s 100m final.

British medal favourite Molly Caudery crashed out of the women’s pole vault qualification session with a no mark, having elected to skip the 4.40m height attempt and then failing to clear all three tries at the 4.55m mark.

Caudery had earlier consoled team-mate Holly Bradshaw, the bronze medal winner in Tokyo, who also failed to progress – in her final Games – after being unable to make 4.40.

How did other Team GB hopefuls perform?

Team GB’s women’s hockey side have won medals at the last three Olympics, including a memorable gold at Rio 2016, although saw their hopes ended by a 3-1 quarter-final loss to the Netherlands.

Diver Andrea Spendolini-Sirieix qualified third for the women’s 10m individual final, which takes place on Tuesday, as teammate Lois Toulson finished 13th and narrowly missed out on the top-12 finish required.

Great Britain’s team jumping heroes Ben Maher, Scott Brash and Harry Charles will all have a shot at individual gold on the final day of equestrian action, having impressed in Monday’s qualifier, while Michael Beckett is in fourth going into today’s sailing medal race in the men’s dinghy.

Ellie Aldridge is second in the women’s kite, as John Gimson and Anna Burnet moved up to fourth in the mixed multihull. Toby Roberts and Hamish McArthur currently sit third and eighth after the boulder section of the men’s combined climbing semi-final.

How to follow the Olympics on Sky

Keep up to date with the action from the Paris 2024 Olympics across Sky Sports digital platforms and Sky Sports News every day between now and Sunday August 11.

Alongside live news blogs and updates as records are broken and medals won on skysports.com and the Sky Sports app, Sky Sports News will also have dedicated reporters on the scene in Paris during the Games to gather the latest news both inside and outside the arenas in France as well as reaction to the big moments from medal winners, coaches, relatives and pundits.

Launching this August, Sky Sports+ will be integrated into Sky TV, streaming service NOW and the Sky Sports app – giving Sky Sports customers access to over 50 per cent more live sport this year at no extra cost. Stream The new EFL season, Test cricket and more top sport with NOW.