Georgia Bell’s sensational 1500m performance delivered one of three bronze medals for Great Britain amid a party atmosphere on the final night of track and field at Paris 2024.
Bell had given up on her Olympic dream when she quit athletics in 2017, but the 30-year-old broke the British record with a time of three minutes 52.61 seconds on her Games debut, as Faith Kipyegon won a third successive title.
That excitement was followed by success for both the men’s and women’s 4x400m quartets, which ensured GB won a medal in every relay event.
It took Team GB’s total medal haul at the Stade de France to 10 – twice as many athletics medals as they achieved in Tokyo three years ago – with the women’s marathon to come on Sunday.
The men’s 4x400m quartet featuring Alex Haydock-Wilson, Matthew Hudson-Smith, Lewis Davey and Charlie Dobson set a European record of 2:55.83 as they earned bronze behind the United States and runners-up Botswana.
That third-place achievement was matched 10 minutes later by Victoria Ohuruogu, Laviai Nielsen, Nicole Yeargin and Amber Anning, who clocked a British women’s national record of 3:19.72 as the USA again took gold, this time ahead of a Netherlands team anchored by the fast-finishing Femke Bol.
It marked a fifth relay podium result for GB, who won women’s 4x100m silver and men’s 4x100m bronze on Friday, following mixed 4x400m bronze last week.
And it contributed to the team’s highest athletics medal count at an Olympics for 40 years, since 16 were won by GB athletes at Los Angeles 1984.