Athing Mu was the defending champion and
2022 World Champion, but she tripped at the
US Trials and couldn't qualify. The 2024 world leader,
Keely Hodgkinson had reigned supreme in Europe indoors and out, but took silver at all other major championships since 2020, displaced by Mu in the World Championships of 2022, and in both the 2022 Commonwealth Games and in the 2023 World Championships by
Mary Moraa, though the latter had been the first time that Hodgkinson had beaten Mu at a Championship. Most of the remaining players apart from Mu had made it to Paris, but a number, notable Hodgkinson's Great Britain teammate
Jemma Reekie, failed to make the final.
Tsige Duguma started the final on the far outside, Lane 9. After reaching the break line, she cut sharply to lane one and the lead. As the other competitors merged, Hodgkinson joined the lead on the outside, with Duguma hugging the rail. Through the second turn Moraa moved in to Hodgkinson's outer shoulder. Coming onto the home stretch the first time, Hodgkinson took the lead, running on the outside of lane 1, Duguma on the inside and Moraa on the outside forming an arrowhead on the front. The three stayed largely in formation at the front until they went down the backstretch when Moraa moved ahead of Duguma and around the turn, up to Hodgkinson's shoulder looking to out-sprint her. Instead, Hodgkinson pulled away from the whole field down the home stretch to victory. Moraa couldn't keep up, but Duguma came back to sprint past Moraa before the finish for silver, with Moraa left with the bronze. Duguma's silver medal was the first for
Ethiopia in the history of the event. Hodgkinson's gold was
Great Britain's third gold, after
Ann Packer, 60 years before and
Kelly Holmes, 20 years previously. == Background ==