Paris Olympics 2024: Mary Moraa settles for Bronze in women's 800m final as Great Britain's Keely Hodgkinson reigns supreme

Mary Moraa has secured a bronze medal in the women’s 800m at the Paris Olympics, clocking 1:57.42 to finish behind Keely Hodgkinson and Tsige Duguma.

Passing the 400m mark, Mary Moraa looked comfortable running behind Great Britain’s Keely Hodgkinson. Ethiopia’s Tsigie Duguma surged past Moraa with a few meters to the finish line to claim the silver medal.

Hodgkinson claimed the win, improving her silver medal from the delayed 2020 Tokyo Olympics where she finished second behind Athing Mu.

Going to the final, Moraa had her work cut out as she was going to lock horns with her serial rivals including Keely Hodgkinson and Tsigie Duguma who defeted her in the first round.

However, she has been majestic this season, losing only two 800m races where she finished second at the Prefontaine Classic and the Kenyan Olympic trials.

Mary Moraa started her Olympic campaign on an impressive note. Competing in the fifth heat in the women’s first round, Moraa finished second behind Ethiopia’s Tsigie Duguma.

The reigning world champion sailed through to the semifinal where she won her semifinal, clocking a stunning 1:57.86 ahead of another Ethiopian, Worknesh Mesele who finished second in 1:58.06.

Going to the final, Moraa was Kenya’s sole representative to deliver the gold medal last won at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing by Pamela Jelimo. Her compatriots Lilian Odira and Vivian Chebet were eliminated in the semifinal.

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Odira was off to a great campaign in the women’s first round where she stopped the clock in 1:58.83 to finish third in the race won by Jamaica’s Natoya Goule-Toppin. In the semifinal, she struck a personal best time of 1:58.53 for a fourth-place finish to lock her out of the final.

On her part, Chebet faltered in the first round after finishing fifth and had to redeem herself in the repechage round where she fought hard for a second-place finish. She failed to live up to the billing in the semifinal where she clocked 1:59.64 to finish eighth.