Olympics LIVE: Noah Lyles ‘out of Paris 2024’ with Covid as Katarina Johnson-Thompson chases heptathlon gold

Team GB continue their Olympic medal hunt on Friday as they look to grab medals in athletics, relays and track cycling at Paris 2024.

The day begins with Katarina Johnson–Thompson in action as she looks to put a string of back Olympic luck behind her in the women’s heptathlon. She begins the day in the lead, on 4055 points ahead of the long jump event.

Back at the Stade de France, GB have medal hopes in both the men’s and women’s 4x100m relay finals, which begin at 6.30pm. Amber Anning has an individual medal hope too, in the women’s 400m final.

A champion will be crowned in the men’s 400m hurdles, with the athletes with the three fastest times in history all facing off in that final.

Early in the evening, hosts France will take on Spain in the gold medal match in the men’s football. From 9.50pm, boxer Imane Khelif fights for gold against China’s Yiu Lang.

Noah Lyles believes his Olympics are over after testing positive for Covid before his 200m final last night, where he claimed bronze before leaving the track on a wheelchair.

The American had aspirations of winning four gold medals at the Olympics and the next leg of his plan would have been in the 4x100m relay on Friday night. The 4x400m relay is then scheduled on Saturday night.

Lyles, however, said in an Instagram post that the 200m “will be the end of my 2024 Olympics” – the American said that it was up to the coaches of the 4x100m to make a decision on whether he competes after describing himself at around “90 to 95 percent” for the 200m.

“First I want to thank God for getting me through this entire Olympics! Second I want to congratulate [Letstile Tebogo and Kenny Bednarek] and everyone else on an amazing Olympic 200m final. Finally I want to thank everyone for the supportive messages.

“I believe this will be the end of my 2024 Olympics. It is not the Olympic I dreamed of but it has left me with so much Joy in my heart. I hope everyone enjoyed the show. Whether you were rooting for me or against me, you have to admit you watched, didn’t you? See you next time.”

Noah Lyles raced in the men’s 200m final at the Olympics and won the bronze medal before revealing he had competed with Covid.

The American, who won gold in the men’s 100m final on Sunday evening, said he had tested positive on Tuesday but decided to enter Thursday night’s race.

Lyles was attempting to complete the sprint double by winning 100m and 200m golds but finished third, beaten by Botswana’s Letsile Tebogo and American teammate Kenny Bednarek.

Lyles said his performance was “affected” by Covid but was “proud” of his efforts to win bronze while battling Covid.

Laura Muir and Georgia Bell both saw themselves through to Saturday’s 1500 metres final after securing top six finishes from the first semi at Stade de France.

Muir, the Tokyo 2020 silver medallist, was leading the pack with 300 metres remaining when Kenya’s Faith Kipyegon made her move, extending her lead as she stormed to the finish in 3:58.64.

Remarkable refugee trailblazer Cindy Ngamba believes boxing her way to a historic Olympic medal can serve as a beacon of hope for millions of others battling adversity across the world.

The Cameroonian-born fighter, who is based with GB Boxing in Sheffield, became the first ever Refugee Olympic Team athlete to achieve that feat last night as her inspirational run came to an end at Roland-Garros.

Ngamba was unable to overcome Panama’s Atheyna Bylon as she went down on a 4:1 semi-final verdict to bank bronze despite another lion-hearted performance in the French capital.

Katarina Johnson-Thompson declared “it’s not over yet” but admitted she was delighted with day one of the Olympic heptathlon competition after finishing top of the pack.

The reigning world champion enters day two with a combined 4055 points, 48 more than Belgian rival and defending Olympic champion Nafissatou Thiam and 99 ahead of the United States’ Anna Hall, Thursday’s third-place finisher.

Johnson-Thompson set a personal best in the shot put of 14.44, cleared 1.92m in the high jump – her highest in five years – and ran a season’s best 13.40 in the 100m hurdles.

Jade Jones insists she has never taken performance-enhancing drugs, after it was revealed that the Olympic taekwondo fighter refused to take an anti-doping test in December.

The 31-year-old, who won Olympic gold medals in London and Rio de Janeiro, was cleared of fault by the UK Anti-Doping Agency (Ukad) in a verdict issued shortly before the Games, after she presented an unspecified medical condition in mitigation.

Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone tore another chunk off the 400m hurdles world record in a stunning defence of her Olympic crown at the Stade de France in Paris.

The race was billed as a showdown between the American and her Dutch rival Femke Bol, the only two women in history to break the 51-second barrier. But McLaughlin-Levrone was on another plane, winning gold in 50.37 sec, well clear of the rest.

In doing so she shaved nearly three tenths of a second off the record mark she set at the US trials in June. Few athletes have ever delivered physics-defying brilliance with the consistency of McLaughlin-Levrone, who has now run the fastest time in history in all of her last six major championship finals.

Arshad Nadeem has watched Pakistan’s sports system crumble around him and still lifted it to unimaginable heights.

Nadeem is his country’s first Olympic champion in 40 years, winning gold in the men’s javelin with an Olympic record.

Pakistan last won an Olympic title in men’s field hockey at LA 1984, dominating that sport before astroturf replaced grass and they fell away.

That is emblematic of the withering of Pakistan’s sporting infrastructure and the Games has shown just how far they have fallen behind – until now.

So lightning does not strike twice. Noah Lyles stormed from behind to win gold in the 100m on Sunday night but was given no chance to do so in the 200m final by Botswana’s Letsile Tebogo in a major upset at the Stade de France. Tebogo had time to thump his chest as he crossed the line in a new personal best of 19.46 seconds, ahead of the USA’s Kenny Bednarek and with Lyles in third, a bronze adding to his 100m gold.