The excitement at the Olympic Stadium was taken a notch higher on Day 2 of Track and Field events at the Rio 2016 Olympics in Brazil, as several Champions emerged in their respective events.
Jamaica’s Elaine Thompson stunned a STACKED field to race to GOLD in the women’s 100m, clocking an impressive 10.71s to put paid to teammate Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce’s dream of becoming the first ever woman to win three consecutive 100m titles at the Olympics.
Great Britain’s Mo Farah put up a spectacular performance to retain his 10,000m GOLD from London 2012, overcoming a tripping incident to finish ahead of the pack yet again.
Belgium’s Nafissatou Thiam upstaged a strong field that included the defending champion Jessica Ennis-Hill, and World Indoors GOLD medallist Brianne Theisen Eaton, to clinch the first global title of her career. She also set a National Record (NR) in the process.
US Long Jump title holder Jeff Henderson was the man to beat in his event, dethroning London 2012 GOLD medallist Greg Rutherford to extend his dominance to the world stage.
The stage has been set for one of the most anticipated events in Track and Field at the Olympics. The trio of Kirani James, LaShawn Merritt and Wayde Van Niekerk all qualified for the final of the men’s 400m on Saturday, and each of them will be gunning for the Olympic title on Sunday.
One of the impressive performances in the men’s 400m semis was put up by Botswana teenager Karabo Sibanda who qualified for the final ahead of his older teammate and former African Champion, Isaac Makwala.
