Paris Olympics: Mary Moraa, Lilian Odira & Vivian Chebet out to punch tickets to 800m final

World champion Mary Moraa will hope to inspire team-mates Lilian Odira and Vivian Chebet into the 800m final at the Paris 2024 Olympics on Sunday night

World champion Mary Moraa will lead her compatriots Lilian Odira and Vivian Chebet in seeking tickets to the 800m women’s final on Sunday.

Moraa qualified for the semi-final after finishing second in her heat in a race in which she slowed down in the final stretch but she will have to be spot on to avoid an upset in Sunday’s semi-final.

The world champion is Kenya’s biggest hope for a gold medal over the distance, seeking to return a medal that the country last won through Pamela Jelimo at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

Kissi Express’ is hot favourite in Heat 1 of the race that will gun off at 9.35pm Kenyan time.

After Moraa’s race, it will be the turn of Chebet to punch her ticket to the final. Chebet qualified to the semi-final via the repechage after a not-so-impressive run in the first round and cannot afford a repeat of such a performance.

She has to get her strategy right to ensure Kenya has a full set in the final which will increase the chances of winning a medal in the race.

Following them will be Odira who will square it off with another favourite in Keely Hodgkinson of Great Britain in Heat 3.

Odira showed great quality to sprint to the finish line and manage second place in the first round and a repeat of a similar performance, or better, will be required for her to clinch a place in the final.

It has been a meteoric rise for the mother of one who finished fourth at the African Games early this year and also equaled her personal best of 1:58.83 in the first round.

rise once the US Open of 2024 is taken into consideration, and she currently holds a commanding lead as the world No. 1 ranking. In the event that she advances to Saturday’s final and wins, world No. 2 Aryna Sablenka can catch up. She faces Navarro in her semifinal match; this is the first time in Navarro’s career that she is a last four competitor in a major competition. Navarro, who was born in New York City, had never advanced past the first round of her home tournament before, but she is now one match away from making her major league debut.

In the final, the St. Lucian speedster stormed through a fast start and never let go of the lead as she crossed the finish line in a new Personal Best (PB) and National Record (NR) of 10.72s (-0.1m/s).

Richardson settled for the silver medal in 10.87s, while her training partner Melissa Jefferson claimed the bronze medal in 10.92s.

Alfred’s prominent success in Paris against the fastest woman in the world threw her country into ecstasy as they celebrated their first Olympic gold medallist