Paris 2024: One Month On

Athletics 11 Sep 24

Paris 2024 had us all glued to our screens as we watched British athletes battle their hearts out for a place on the podium.

It’s hard to believe it’s been a month already since the closing ceremony of the Olympic Games, but the hustle has not stopped for our athletes.

Here are some of the highlights you might have missed.

Kerr continues to smash records

Josh Kerr described his Paris 2024 Olympic experience with the phrase: ‘A silver finish but the journey was pure gold’.

The 26-year-old carved his name into British middle-distance history when he crossed the finish line at the Stade de France second in the men’s 1500m final, in a time of 3:27.79, to successfully upgrade his bronze from Tokyo.

Yet as the curtain fell on Kerr’s second Olympic outing, the same could not be said for the hard miles the Scot has continued to put in to ensure his 2024 has in fact continued to be golden.

A month on from claiming his 1500m Olympic silver, Kerr won the 5th Avenue Mile race in New York for a second consecutive year and smashed the 43-year-old course record.

The Scot came home in a time of 3:44.03 - more than three seconds faster than the previous best time set by Sydney Maree in 1981 - just three days after finishing fifth in the 1500m at the star-studded Zurich Diamond League meet.

Asher-Smith and Bell impress at Diamond League

Dina Asher-Smith and Georgia Bell built on their Olympic medals with further success at the Lausanne Diamond League.

With Asher-Smith the first to carry the baton out of the blocks, Britain’s women’s 4 x 100m relay team stormed to a stunning silver in Paris and she continued her success with Diamond League victory in Lausanne.

She clocked a season's best 10.88 to take the win in the 100m and followed that up with a third-place finish in Zurich behind Olympic medallists Sha'Carri Richardson and Julien Alfred.

Olympic 1500m bronze medallist Georgia Bell added to the British buzz in Zurich, finishing second in the women’s 800m race in a time of 1:58.53, just behind Kenya’s Mary Moraa.

It is the second fastest time Bell has run over the 800m distance this season, after she clocked 1:56.28 at the London Diamond League - a time which ranks third in the world in 2024.

It followed up from another second-place finish in the 800m in Lausanne alongside third place in 1500m in Silesia.

Jack Draper keeping the Andy Murray flame alive

There was barely a dry eye in the house when Sir Andy Murray took his final bow as a professional tennis player alongside Dan Evans after the pair were knocked out of the Olympic men’s double’s at Roland-Garros.

But Jack Draper, who made his Olympic debut in Paris, provided the antidote during his stunning US Open run which saw him progress all the way to the semi-final stage - a lifetime best performance at a Grand Slam.

The 22-year-old also solidified his position as British number one by reaching the world's top 20 for the first time in his career.

Draper’s run included a huge victory over 10th seed Alex de Minaur and despite missing out on a spot in the final after a three-set defeat to eventual winner and world number one Jannik Sinner, the youngster admitted his run of form has only fuelled the flame for the future.

“I’ve still got a lot to work on, “ he said. “But there’s no reason why I don’t belong at the top of the game. I proved that to myself this year. My goal now is to put myself in front of the top guys on a regular basis.”

Ros Canter continues fairytale summer

Britain’s equestrian eventers took their place at the top of the podium when they successfully defended their Tokyo title to claim team eventing gold at the iconic Château de Versailles.

Alongside Tokyo champions Laura Collett and Tom McEwen was a new face - current world number one Ros Canter - whose fairytale summer has continued since her return.

Over the weekend, Canter was successful at the prestigious Defender Burghley Horse Trials, a five-star competition regarded as one of the toughest in the world, adding a first Burghley crown to her ever-expanding eventing CV.

Having helped Team GB record the lowest-ever team total in Olympic eventing history, Canter set a few records of her own at Burghley, recording the second-lowest dressage score in the event’s 43-year-history.

She followed this up with a successful cross-country run on a course regarded as the toughest endurance test in the world, and a clear show jumping round on the final day, to force her rivals to battle for second.

Evie Richards races to short track world title

Mountain biker Evie Richards, who finished fifth in Paris, delivered a ferocious performance at the UCI Mountain Bike World Championships in Andorra.

The 27-year-old timed her sprint to perfection to become short track world champion, beating Olympic champion Pauline Ferrand-Prevot to the title.

Richards previously won cross country gold back in 2021 but was determined to return to the top of the podium after a concussion sustained in the run up to Paris dented her Olympic medal ambitions.

“I wanted to win so badly,” she said after winning the title in Andorra. “I’ve been training for three weeks at altitude so I knew if it would come down to a sprint, I’d be okay as I’d practiced it so much.

“I was just hoping that I could take it, but I really didn’t think it would happen. I just had to keep believing in myself.”

Yee and Taylor-Brown savour triathlon triumph

Alex Yee stole the show in Paris when he came from 14 seconds behind race leader Hayden Wilde to produce a golden sprint finish that will surely go down as one of the most iconic race comebacks in triathlon history.

The 26-year-old’s late burst ensured he upgraded the individual silver he won at his debut Olympics in Tokyo in 2021 but Yee wanted the sweet taste of victory to continue beyond Paris.

The Olympic champion continued his winning ways when he crossed the line first at the Boston event of the Supertri League, beating Wilde for a second time this summer in an almost identical finish to Paris.

Yee is not the only Brit who has been cooking up a post-Olympic storm on the triathlon scene however, as Georgia Taylor-Brown pipped Olympic champion Cassandre Beaugrand to win the London Supertri race.

The British star, 30, finished sixth in the individual race in Paris but this victory became her second in the 2024 league after also topped the podium in Chicago.

The result means Taylor-Brown leads the rankings with two legs of the league left to go.

Sportsbeat 2024