Thoughts on the First Morning of Athletics

This is Stuart Weir’s first piece on the track and field portion of the Olympics in Paris, and he is loving that track and field has started!

Thoughts on the first morning

Forget the other sports! The Paris Olympics really got underway today! The Stade de France (Capacity of 80,000) was close to complete. While the 100 meters in the decathlon is hardly the most exciting event in the program, the atmosphere was fantastic the moment the action started.

Dina Asher-Smith probably spoke for many when she said: “Tokyo was just strange for many reasons, and I think Paris with a full crowd is really special. There were so many British fans in the crowd. It made my heart warm, adding to this amazing energy and atmosphere that the athletes could feel. We feed off this kind of energy. You’ve been in stadiums when it’s electric, and that’s ultimately what you want as a competitor, and it did feel perfect this morning and feeling the cheers and excitement!”

When the morning programme includes the first round of the men’s 1500, which will lead into one of the most watchable finals this week, a preliminary round, and a first round of the women’s 100, a men’s hammer throw, and women’s high jump qualification, and three rounds of the decathlon, you are onto a winner.

We all know that the women’s 100 meters will be between the new generation of Sha’Carri Richardson and Julian Alfred. Unfortunately, they forgot to tell Marie-Josee Ta Lou-Smith, who was fastest in 10.87, or Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, in her fifth Olympics, who was second quickest. The semi-finals and finals are on Sunday evening.

The new structure of the 1500 needs a bit of getting your head around. 18 athletes have qualified for the semi-finals but have yet to be eliminated. All those who did not finish in the top six in one of the prelims go into the repechage from which they will have a second opportunity to make the semi-finals, albeit while running on a day when the direct qualifiers are resting. World Champion Josh Kerr controlled and won his race, putting down a marker. His biggest rival, Jakob Ingebrigtsen, also qualified comfortably, finishing third in his race.

One person left scratching his head was the British runner George Mills, who was 10th in his race. But his time of 3:36.00 would have won the third heat and given him second place in the first and, therefore, under the old system, would have given him qualification for the semi-finals on time. Now he has to run again in the repechage to see if he can advance to the semi-finals. I will only judge the new system once we have seen more.

Kerr commented: “The track was definitely quick. The goal here was to stay relaxed and be confident in my fitness; I think I did that today. Everyone gets really angsty in these first rounds because of all the build-up and the hype, and it’s a big stadium with lots of people, so I just made sure I stayed relaxed, and when it was time to go, I put the burners on …maybe a little bit too hard. I thought everyone was going to be battling with me. But I felt exactly how I thought I would, which was reassuring”.

It’s easy to forget how hard it was for athletes to compete in an empty stadium In Tokyo. The crowds in Rio were also often disappointing. The first morning in Paris was magnificent in atmosphere, crowd, and performance. The games have truly begun.