In her first Olympic Games, Yemisi Ogunleye took a surprising, but well-deserved victory in the women’s shot put on Friday (9). It was also, perhaps surprisingly, Germany’s first athletics gold of Paris 2024.
In what developed into a great contest with Maddison-Lee Wesche, she trailed the New Zealander by just three centimetres for three rounds after the latter landed 19.58m in the second round. Then in the fifth round, Ogunleye snatched the top spot with an outdoor best of 19.73m, but Wershe immediately regained the lead with 19.86m.
But Ogunleye had the final word landing a 20.00m in the sixth round and this time, Wesche could not better her, finishing with 19.69m and silver. China’s Jiayuan Song won bronze with 19.32m.
It rounded off a superb breakthrough year for Ogunleye, who won silver at the World Athletics Indoor Championships Glasgow '24 in March and then bronze at the Roma 2024 European Athletics Championships.
Brilliant Battocletti wins silver as Hassan adds a second bronze
Nadia Battocletti ran a brilliant race to win silver in the women’s 10,000m behind Kenya’s 5000m winner Beatrice Chebet and in front of the Netherlands’ Sifan Hassan, who won her second bronze after finishing third in the 5000m on Monday (5).
In a cagey tactical race, there were still nine athletes in the lead pack at the bell, including the defending champion Hassan, Battocletti and Chebet.
The race to the finish started in earnest with 300 metres to go with Hassan making her presence felt on the outside. Meanwhile, Battocletti who had kept well in touch throughout had the energy to respond on the inside.
As the challenge from Ethiopians Gudaf Tsegay and Fotyen Tesfay and the US pair of Weini Kelati Frezghi and Karissa Schweizer faded, Battocletti burst into the home straight on the shoulder of leader Chebet.
For a tantalising moment, it looked like she might win gold, but she chased Chebet all the way to the finish for a glorious silver in a national record of 30:43.35, just 0.10 behind the Kenyan. Defending champion Hassan, who still has Sunday’s marathon ahead of her, finished in their slipstream in 30:44.12 for bronze.
It was the first time two European athletes had made it to the Olympic podium in the women's 10,000m since the first ever running of the event at Seoul 1988.
It also marked Italy’s first ever Olympic medal in the women’s 10,000m and rounds off a superb year for Battocletti, having won the 5000m/10,000m double in front of her home fans at the Roma 2024 European Athletics Championships in June.
She also finished fourth in the 5000m and was temporarily in bronze medal position, before Kenya’s Faith Kipyegon was reinstated after being initially disqualified, meaning a happy end to an emotional championships for the Italian.
Silver for Warholm
Norway’s Karsten Warholm made a gutsy attempt to retain his Olympic title in the men’s 400m hurdles, but he had to settle for silver on this occasion behind USA’s Rai Benjamin, reversing their placings from the Tokyo Olympics.
Running from his favoured lane seven, Warholm ran a typically committed race, leading through the first seven hurdles, pressing Benjamin in lane eight. But as they moved into the home straight, Benjamin has taken the initiative and pulled away to win in 46.46, 0.60 clear of Warholm, with Brazil’s Alison Dos Santos winning bronze in 47.26.
Chris Broadbent for European Athletics