A world record, a dancing crowd and that glorious purple track - Olympic athletics starts in style
The Stade de France was in full-on party mode on a rip-roaring first day of athletics at Paris 2024.
The festivities began even before the sporting action, with a dance cam capturing the very best moves from across the stadium.
But even the greatest mover couldn’t entertain the crowd as much as the athletes from across the world who made their debuts on that one-of-a-kind purple running track everyone is talking about.
Read on for the best moments from day 1 of athletics at Paris 2024 and find out just what the athletes thought about it.
Faith Kipyegon, Josh Kerr and Laviai Nielsen on the roof-raising Paris crowd
Faith Kipyegon has been there, done that and got the Paris 2024 t-shirt in the world of athletics. Yet even she couldn’t hide her excitement at the sound of the roaring crowd that lined the stands of the Stade de France.
“It was really great! To be cheered from the word go to the finish was just amazing,” the two-time Olympic champion and world record holder in the 1500m told Olympics.com after making her bow in the 5000m. “This crowd was just perfect, we’re looking forward to the final.”
Britain’s 1500m world champion Josh Kerr echoed Kipyegon’s sentiments as he eased to victory in the first round of the metric mile.
“It feels incredible to have a crowd this big and to go after it in front of all of them,” he said. “We’ve got some big battles and head-to-heads coming up and hopefully, we can keep entertaining this huge crowd.”
Team GB’s 4x400m mixed relay team made a blistering start to these Games as they won their heat to progress to Saturday’s final.
“This is what the Olympics should feel like, this is what I’ve dreamed of my whole life and I’m going to embrace it all,” said a delighted Laviai Nielsen who ran the second leg for GB in the thrilling mixed-gender race.
The British foursome team stormed through day 1 by setting a new national record of 3:10.61. But that wasn’t the only record that fell on the first day of athletics.
More on that, later
The viral purple track: an icon in the making
Originally built for the 1998 football World Cup, the Paris 2024 version of the Stade de France has become a viral sensation because of one stand-out feature: the purple track.
Winding around a dark green plot of grass where the athletics field events and rugby sevens competition have already been taking place, the purple track has become a favourite talking point for fans and athletes alike.
“The track’s purple which is so much fun!” said a beaming Dina Asher-Smith, Britain’s 2019 world 200m champion. “And the crowd’s just great, isn’t it? It’s just amazing to be at another Olympic Games.”
Another Olympics this may be but the iconic nature of the venues has made these Games unique and, let’s face it, breathtakingly cool.
“I really enjoyed the purple track,” said Kipyegon with a smile beaming from her face. “I think it’s my first time to run on a purple track so I really enjoyed it.”
There probably aren’t many athletes as well-travelled as Kipyegon, but even she has never seen anything quite like this before.
Stars shine brightest on day one of Paris 2024 athletics
Of course, it wouldn’t matter at all what colour the Stade de France track was if the athletes didn’t perform.
And by golly did they perform.
The morning session gave Paris 2024 its first glance of a rising superstar as the USA’s Sha’Carri Richardson set down a marker of 10.94 to win her round 1 heat in the women’s 100m.
The sight of the American jumping up and down with her arms in the air to hype up the crowd was one of the highlights of the day.
In truth, it didn’t take much to motivate this crowd as they raised the roof in the stadium - even if it had no actual roof covering it today.
The women’s 5000m saw Kipyegon get off to a blistering start with victory in her heat, which also included the Netherlands’ Sifan Hassan who took the first steps on her astonishing attempt at an Olympic triple that includes the 5000m, 10,000m and - yep, you heard it right - the marathon.
Ukraine’s Yaroslava Mahuchikh and Australia’s Nicola Olyslagers shone in the women’s high jump, Canadian world champ Ethan Katzberg thrilled in the hammer throw, Britain’s Keely Hodgkinson sauntered through the 800m, and the first gold medal of the Games was awarded to Uganda's Joshua Cheptegei in the men's 10,000 metres. That rapid run of 26:43.14 also happened to be an Olympic record.
And we even witnessed a world record as the USA stormed to victory in the 4x400m mixed relay.
On. Day. One.
One thing's for sure, this track isn’t just purple - it’s also super fast.
At the end of the night, the crowd sang along as Gloria Gaynor's disco hit "I will survive" was blasted out of the stadium speakers. And as people danced in the stands, you got the feeling that athletics at these Games is going to be one heck of a party - Paris 2024 style.