Nine Australians were in action in the opening session of athletics at Stade de France.
Highlights were Nicola Olyslagers and Eleanor Patterson qualifying for the Women’s High Jump Final and Bree Masters progressing to the semi-finals of the Women’s 100m – the first Aussie woman to do so in 24 years.
Women's high jump – Nicola and Eleanor soar into final
The auto standard for the final was 1.97m but eventually 1.95m would be sufficient to progress.
In pool A, Eleanor placed second requiring two attempts at 1.92m, before going clean over 1.95m to clinch a finals berth and a season’s best.
“I'm really happy with how today went, you know, pretty clean and concise,” Eleanor said.
“Fantastic to be able to get a feel of what the surface is like and feel an amazing crowd. I did not expect the crowd to be absolutely stacked. It was wildly electric and I'm excited for the final.”
Nicola compiled a clean sheet in pool B clearing 1.88m, 1.92m and 1.95m to progress to the final as number one in her pool.
The Tokyo silver medallist has cleared a personal best and Australian Record of 2.03m this season and comes to Paris after a good training block and into the Olympics injury free.
“I can say my foot's good, so if I can get over 95, I'm sure in the next few days, hopefully we can get higher,” Nicola said.
“After the Paris Diamond League, I had a fantastic training block, which from Stockholm Diamond League to Paris Diamond League in that month, there was one jump session, in the entire session, the entire block.
“But for this one, we've been able to jump consistently every week and be hitting the heights that I was doing out there today for the final.”
The Women’s High Jump Final is 3:50am AEST Monday morning.

Women’s 100m Heats – Bree through to semis and Ella is fast
Bree Masters ran brilliantly to place third in heat one to automatically qualify for the semi-finals with 11.26s (+0.1), behind the winner USA’s current world champion Sha'carri Richardson.
It was Bree’s third fastest time ever and she is the first Australian woman to reach the semi-finals since Melinda Gainsford-Taylor at Sydney 2000. Only Melinda and Raelene Boyle have run faster at the Olympics for Australia.
“I'm a bit speechless. I went in 6th fastest and then came out third. I'm so wrapped,” Bree said.
“The one goal to come here was to have fun and try and make that semi-final and also run the best I possibly can and I run a season's best. So hopefully a PB in the semi.”
The Australian was excited to be drawn next to the American World Champion.
“I spoke to her in the call-room. I let her know when to put her bibs on because she couldn't understand when to get ready to get full race ready,” Bree said.
“Like pants off, bibs on. She was really cool. She's got a great personality and I really enjoyed racing her.
“I don't think I was intimidated at all. I just wanted to really enjoy the moment and be relaxed. I knew if I was that's how I race best.”
Ella Connolly was also on point, running 11.29s (+1.5) for sixth in her heat. Her run on the purple track in Paris was her fastest time internationally. She was ranked 33rd in the heats.
“Look, it was a great experience. I ran my fastest time this year at the Olympics, so I can't be too disappointed,” Ella said.
“I was hoping for a little bit more, obviously, a little bit disappointed, not getting through to the semis. But I've got a week to sort of recoup and get ready for the relay.
“We've got four girls in individual events, so it shows that Australian sprinting is really on the up, which is exciting. Obviously, my teammate Bree is through to the semis, which is a really good sign also.
“Bree's a good friend of mine, also a teammate in the relay, so it's exciting.”
Men's 1500m heats – Aussie trio to now race repechage
All three Australians missed automatic qualification in the Men’s 1500m heats. All get another chance in the repechage at 3:15am on Sunday morning.
In heat one Olli Hoare was 13th in 3:39.11. The Commonwealth Games champion who had shown good form in Europe before the Games was well positioned early but when the pace changed he couldn’t immediately respond and then got checked several times and lost touch from the top-6.
“It was pretty physical out there but that’s just racing,” Olli said.
“I wasn't able to close that last 300, 200 and just felt pretty sleepy out there. When you have that kind of field for a first round, it was pretty brutal.
“The best positive out of that race was that we got the nerves out of the system. It wasn't my day, so just have to reassess with my coach and then move into the repechage and we try and get a top three spot.”
Stewy McSweyn took the initiative to lead in heat two, before the moves came with 450m to go. He got boxed in and then didn’t have the pace or the room to go around down the final straight, placing 11th in 3:36.55.
“Obviously with the repechage we'll see if we can bounce back, but today was disappointing,” Stewy said.
“I feel like I ran my race. I just didn't close as well as I was hoping. But we live to find another day, so hopefully we can turn it around tomorrow. It's going to be one hell of a story if we can turn it around from the repechage.
“I'm going to be there tomorrow. Anytime I wear the Aussie green and gold, I want to do us proud. I have a lot of family and friends here, so I want to put in a better performance and keep the championship in the 1500m going.”
Adam Spencer was in the best position of the Aussies to get a top-six place to make the semis but again he didn’t have the kick in the final 300m in a stacked heat. Adam was eighth in heat three, 3:37.68.
“I would have loved to have gone straight through the semis, but the quality of the Olympics is unreal at the moment. Only 18 guys get through,” Adam said.
“I like to sit in and make a big move. The last 300, last 200, the last hundred. I thought I was in for a chance. I mean, I was actually pretty happy with today, but I'm excited to go again tomorrow night.”
Decathlon – Ash and Daniel not firing early
In the Decathlon, Tokyo bronze medallist Ash Moloney got away to a solid start clocking 10.56 (+0.8) in the 100m to rank fifth at the start of the gruelling two-day campaign.
As he battles ongoing issues with patella tendinitis, things didn’t go to plan in the long jump, after his safe opening leap of 7.05m, he didn’t register a distance on his second attempt, then ran through on his third effort.
In the shot put, Ash was below his best, nailing 13.40m on his opening attempt. The 24-year-old is placed 19th (2,479 points) after three events.
Daniel Golubovic made his Olympic debut in the green and gold in Paris, and he was loving the crowd and atmosphere before he got down to business.
Not a quick sprinter, Dan started strongly with 11.32s in the 100m. He was a little below his best with 6.60m in the long jump. He was then threw 13.89m in the shot put, which is well down on his best, to be ranked 22nd (2,233 pts).
The men will contest the high jump and 400m in the next session to complete their opening day.
Seven more Aussies in action in evening session
Also in action in the evening session in Paris will be Rose Davies, Izzi Batt-Doyle and Lauren Ryan who run the 5000m round one. Lauren in heat one (2:10am) and Rose and Izzi in heat two. First eight in each heat (Q) advance to the final.
Taryn Gollshewsky throws in Group B of Discus qualification from 4:20am. Taryn’s season best is 60.96m and the automatic qualifying distance for the final is 64.00m or top-12 from qualification.
There are six heats of the Women’s 800m with Catriona Bassett (heat 4), Abbey Caldwell (heat 5) and Claudia Hollingsworth (heat 6) needing to place in the first three to advance to the semi-final (Q), all others advance to the Repechage Round.
Andrew Reid and David Tarbotton