With golden spikes on his feet, Josh Kerr only has one colour on his mind in Paris.
The world 1500m champion looked all class as he eased through his 1500m heat on the opening morning of track and field action at the Stade de France.
He hugged the back of the field until 300m to go, when he surged through to win in a time of 3:35.83. He will be joined in the semi-finals by team-mate Neil Gourley, though George Mills will need to go through the repechage after finishing outside the top six in his heat.
Kerr's potential final showdown with Norway's Jakob Ingebrigtsen is one of the most eagerly awaited events at these Olympics but he was not getting ahead of himself.
"The track was definitely quick," said Kerr, who won the world title in Budapest last year and Olympic bronze three years ago in Tokyo.
"The goal here was just to stay relaxed and be confident in my fitness and I think I did that.
"Everyone gets really angsty in these first rounds because of all the build-up, the hype and it’s a big stadium with lots of people, so 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, and it was a reassuring thing."
Gourley needed a sprint finish to book his place but claimed he could have no complaints with his preparations.
"Physically I am in the best spot I’ve ever been in," he said.
"The last few worlds I have gone in carrying something. So it is the first time I’ve come in with a clean bill of health. That’s based on the work I’ve done in training, which doesn’t mean everything, but it’s a strong positive indicator."
Daryll Neita ✅
— BBC Sport (@BBCSport) August 2, 2024
Imani Lansiquot ✅
Dina Asher-Smith ✅
All three @TeamGB sprinters are through to the semis in the women's 100m. 🙌#BBCOlympics #Olympics #Paris2024 pic.twitter.com/cP5e92s0Hk
All three 100m women came through their first races to progress to Saturday's semi-finals, with Daryl Neita clocking a 10.92 season's best. She will be joined in the next round by Dina Asher-Smith and Imani-Lara Lansiquot.
"I’m in great form," said Neita. "To me it’s just about execution at this championships and really believing in myself and just going for it. It’s a stepping stone for tomorrow.
"I've got the first run out the way and almost got a personal best. I'm staying composed and focussed on the next round."
However, there was disappointment for Morgan Lake who didn't make the women's high jump final. Her best clearance was 1.88m, four centimetres outside the required qualifying standard.
Three years ago Lake reached the Olympic final in Tokyo but was forced to withdraw through injury.
"Obviously not at all what I wanted, it has not been the best season after last year," she said.
"I’m still not sure why that is. I was focusing on the final before I had even qualified for it, which is something I should be used to now. This is my third Olympics and I know every round matters. I was playing around with the maths and I thought I’d done enough to go through, but it turns out it wasn’t.
"I felt really good coming into this. I’d jumped 1.95m last week. I knew what it would take. I still haven’t processed what went wrong."
Sportsbeat 2024