British sprinters cruise through womens 100m heats but theres disappointment for high jumper Morgan Lake who fails to make final

A full stadium, vibrant support, great weather and a super-fast purple track helped propel British female sprinters into the semi-finals on Friday (Aug 2) at the Paris Olympics.

In contrast to the empty stands at the previous Olympics in Tokyo, the Stade de France was packed for the opening session of track and field at the 2024 Games. It means a lot, said Dina Asher-Smith, who clocked 11.01 (1.0) for second in her heat behind Ewa Swoboda of Poland, who ran 10.99.

Tokyo was just strange for many reasons, Asher-Smith added, and I think Paris with a full crowd and only being an hour or so away its really special. There are so many British fans in the crowd it really made my heart warm, and it adds to this amazing energy and atmosphere that the athletes can feel.

Such was the size of the crowd, Asher-Smith failed to pick out her parents in the crowd. But she added: We feed off this kind of energy. Youve been in stadiums when its electric and thats ultimately thats what you want as a competitor, and it did feel really good this morning and feeling the cheers and excitement!

The speed of the track was shown when Daryll Neita won her heat in a seasons best of 10.92 (1.5). Marie-Josee Ta Lou of the Ivory Coast was the quickest of all, though, in the eighth heat as she clocked 10.87 (0.8) ahead of Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryces 10.92.

Almost a PB! said Neita, after finishing a couple of hundredths of a second outside her best. I feel great. Coming into the Games it is just about trusting myself, staying composed and just being Daryll Neita and Ill be fine.

Reigning world champion ShaCarri Richardson of the United States, meanwhile, ran 10.94 (0.1) to win her heat comfortably.

Asher-Smiths and Neitas team-mate, Imani Lansiquot, also progressed with 11.10 (1.2) for third in her heat. Twelve months ago she had false started in her heat at the World Championships, too. The demons of Budapest are gone! she smiled.

There was disappointment for Morgan Lake, though, as the Briton went out of the high jump in qualifying with a best of 1.88m.

Obviously not at all what I wanted, said Lake, who went over 1.83m and 1.88m first time before failing at 1.92m.

It has not been the best season after last year. Im still not sure why that is. I was focusing on the final before I had even qualified for it, which is something I should be used to now.

This is my third Olympics and I know every round matters. I was playing around with the maths and I thought Id done enough to go through, but it turns out it wasnt.

I felt really good coming into this. Id jumped 1.95m last week. I knew what it would take. I still havent processed what went wrong.

READ MORE: Paris 2024 coverage

Six athletes jumped 1.95m to lead the qualifiers, including world record-holder Yaroslava Mahuchikh of Ukraine and Australian duo Nicola Olyslagers and Eleanor Patterson.

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