Phoebe Gill's 2024 Paris Olympics debut began with a successful passage in round one.

The St Albans Athletics Club youngster, just 17-years-old, has had a stunning season so far, leaping to the forefront of the nation's consciousness after clocking one minute 57.86 seconds in May, breaking a 45-year-old European U18 record in the process.

She then won the national championships in June to book her ticket to France.

She was in heat three in the Stade de France and needed to finish in the top three to qualify directly for the semi-finals.

And she did just that with a very mature run, easing through on the home straight to finish third in a time of 1:58.83, behind Ethiopia's Worknesh Mesele and Renelle Lamote of France. 

The semi-final begins at 7.35pm on Sunday.

She will be joined by British team-mates Jemma Reekie and favourite Keeley Hodgkinson, both of whom won their heat, Reekie in 2:00:00 and Hodgkinson in 1:59.32.

The repecharge round is tomorrow morning (Saturday) beginning at 10.20am.

Another St Albans athlete, Lizzie Bird, steps onto the track for the first time on Sunday when she runs in the first round of the women's 3,000m steeplechase.

That is at 9.05am with the final coming on Tuesday at 8.14pm.