Olympic track and field results: Champions Ennis-Hill and Rudisha off to great start

Defending champions Jessica Ennis-Hill and David Rudisha started on the right foot after the morning session on the opening day of track and field competitions at the 2016 Olympics.

The opening session of the Olympic track and field event saw defending champions Jessica Ennis-Hill and David Rudisha get off to a winning start at the João Havelange Olympic Stadium.

Defending heptathlon champion Ennis-Hill began her campaign by running the fastest time in the 100 M hurdles by almost two tenths of a second. The British athlete clocked 12.84 in her first event, 0.16 seconds quicker than her nearest opponent, Akela Jones of the Bahamas.

The strong start by the British athlete came at a halt in the second discipline, the high jump. Ennis-Hill’s modest effort of 1.89m was overshadowed by two athletes that produced world bests in the heptathlon. Great Britain’s Katarina Johnson-Thompson and Belgium’s Nafissatou Thiam came agonizingly close to becoming the first athletes in history to go over two meters. Instead, they had to settle for a 1.98m, a heptathlon record.

After two events, Johnson-Thompson leads the standings with 2264 points, followed by Thiam (2252 points) and Ennis-Hill (2242 points). The athletes will have the shot put and 200m sprint to participate in later today.

The men’s 800m heats saw Rudisha dominate proceedings. The current world and Olympic champion experienced little difficulty during his race, winning it in 1:45:00. Rudisha’s time was the quickest out of the seven heats as he strolled to the semifinals. There was bitter disappointment for 2012 silver medallist Nijel Amos, who appeared to be suffering from injury. Failing to reach his full speed, the Botswana athlete could only manage to finish seventh in his heat, ending his Olympic chances. Canada’s Brandon McBride looked strong during his heat, winning in 1:46:00. Carrying the hopes of America will be Boris Berian and Clayton Murphy, who made the list of 24 qualifiers.

Shot put queen Valerie Adams’ bid for a third consecutive Olympic gold medal got off to the best start possible as she threw 19.74m in her first attempt to qualify for the final. The New Zealand athlete finished first in qualifying and was one of only three athletes to throw over 19m. American duo Michelle Carter and Raven Saunders also qualified for the final.

The only disappointment to occur on a day when Almaz Ayana set a new work record, was in the men’s discus. Defending champion Robert Harting of Germany failed to reach the final only recording a 62.21m best. The German has thrown over 68m this year.