Eilish McColgan proved doubters wrong by competing at her fourth Olympics

By Tom Harle at Stade de France

Eilish McColgan achieved her aim of proving the doubters wrong by competing at her fourth Olympics in the women's 10,000 metres.

On a magical night at a sold-out Stade de France that yielded three medals for Team GB, the 33-year-old showed remarkable resilience to make the start line having been told by doctors that she would be lucky to run ever again earlier this year after knee issues.

McColgan’s goal was to be competitive with the other European athletes in the race and she did that, finishing 15th in a time of 31 minutes 20.51 seconds.

"It was tough, I found it very tough," said McColgan. "I was obviously lacking in races.

"But I’m proud of myself. I made the start line and I finished it. It was a hard slog for me.

"I'm disappointed but my season isn’t over yet, I’ve got some road races that I’m targeting. I’ve still got a lot more to give."

McColgan was one of two Scottish athletes in the race with Inverness’ Megan Keith finishing 23rd in 33:19.32.

The 22-year-old was the last athlete to finish by well in excess of a minute and was roared home by an 80,000 crowd at Stade de France, with McColgan the only athlete to wait to give her a hug after she crossed the line.

Keith is now an Olympian after only having run her first track 10,000m in March.

She said: "That was the hardest 25 laps ever. I was very happy to finish tonight. I was happy to make the start line and even happier to make the finish line."

The race was won by Kenya's Beatrice Chebet in 30:43.25.

Thousands of British fans descended on Paris to watch Katarina Johnson-Thompson finally make the Olympic podium with heptathlon silver.

The two-time world champion has long had a difficult relationship with these Games, particularly painful in Tokyo when she tore a calf muscle in the 200m.

Johnson-Thompson carried a 121-point deficit into the decisive 800m, meaning she needed to beat Belgian rival Nafi Thiam by an improbable nine seconds.

She recorded a huge 2:04.90 personal best but Thiam, who very nearly fell after 200m, was just under six seconds behind and won her third Olympic gold.

Johnson-Thompson's final score across the seven events was 6844, the second best of her career, with a huge personal best in the shot put among a number of highlights.

“I'm just so relieved and so happy to add an Olympic medal to my collection," said Johnson-Thompson.

"It's the only one I didn't have. It's been so hard getting back to this point. In the lead up to this Games, all I've been saying is I wanted to have a chance.

"I can't complain, there was a chance of gold in that 800m but we both ran personal bests, so what more can you do?"

Team GB came close to gold in the women’s 4x100m relay but still continued their fine recent record in the event with a silver medal.

After a solid start from Dina Asher-Smith and Imani-Lara Lansiquot, a sloppy changeover between Amy Hunt on the third leg and anchor Darryl Neita left them with too much to do to overhaul USA in the closing metres.

Neita was closing on Sha’carri Richardson but crossed the line 0.07s behind the American, with Germany taking bronze.,

Having won bronze at Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020 and medalled at three of the last four World Championships, GB’s relay heritage continues to build.

“We’re all so proud and so happy,” said Asher-Smith. “We worked so hard for this. To be challenging not just for a medal but challenging for a gold is phenomenal.”

Zharnel Hughes ran a searing anchor leg to lift Team GB to bronze in a chaotic men’s 4x100m relay, their first medal in the event since gold at Athens 2004.

Hughes took the baton with GB in sixth place after legs from Jeremiah Azu, Louie Hinchliffe and Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake.

The 29-year-old, who withdrew from the 200m due to a hamstring issue, split a stunning 8.78s to lift Britain to bronze.

It was a redemptive strike for Hughes, Mitchell-Blake and Richard Kilty, who ran in the heat, with all three among the squad stripped of Tokyo silver due to CJ Ujah’s doping violation.

Gold went to Canada and South Africa took silver with favourites USA disqualified.

Azu said: "It's unreal. The champs didn't start great for me (after a false start in the 100m) so to leave with something, we wouldn't be in this position without each other, we trust each other. The boys put their trust in me to start us off again and it paid off."

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