Uganda's Joshua Cheptegei won the men's 10,000 metres gold medal at the Paris Olympics on Friday, the first track medal of the athletics programme.

The three-time world champion in the 10,000 metres made his move on the final lap and surged in the last 100 metres to cross the finish line in an Olympic record time of 26 minutes, 43.14 seconds.

Ethiopia's Berihu Aregawi took silver and American Grant Fisher claimed the bronze.

"Barely 16 years ago when I was watching the great Kenenisa Bekele win in Beijing, it was something that grew in my heart," said Cheptegei.

"I said, 'one day I want to be Olympic champion'. It is the most special day. I can’t describe the feeling. I’ve wanted this for a long time. When I took silver in Tokyo I was so disappointed. I just wanted to win the 10,000m."

Earlier, there was an explosive start to the Olympic track and field competition at the Stade de France when the United States mixed 4x400m relay broke the world record to qualify in first place for the final.

The quartet of Vernon Norwood, Shamier Little, Bryce Deadmon and Kaylyn Brown timed 3 minutes, 7.41 seconds, smashing the previous best of 3:08.80 set when the US won world gold in Budapest last year.

"We wanted to come out here and execute good hand-offs," said Norwood.

"We set the tone for the rest of the United States with that world record."

In the men's decathlon, Germany's Leo Neugebauer tops the standings with 4,650 points at the half-way mark, with the second part of the competition to be held the next day.

And Dutch long-distance star Sifan Hassan launched her audacious bid for an unprecedented Olympic treble with a confident performance in the opening round of the women's 5,000 metres on Friday.

The 31-year-old Olympic champion is aiming to become the first woman in history to win 5,000m, 10,000m and marathon gold at the same Olympics, emulating Czech great Emil Zatopek, who achieved the men's triple at the 1952 Helsinki Games.
(Agencies)