Josh Kerr, Sam Tanner & Kieran Lumb kick off Olympic track & field competition Friday morning...

The Olympic track & field competition opens at the Stade de France in Saint Denis, on the edge of the Paris city limits on Friday morning. Action technically gets underway Thursday morning with the men's and women's 20 kilometer walk through the streets of Paris.

Reigning world 1500 meter champion Josh Kerr (Paul Merca photo) of Great Britain and the Seattle based Brooks Beasts kicks off action at the Stade de France in the first of three heats in the 1500 at 2:05 am Pacific time (11:05 Paris time).

Among notables in his heat are Oliver Hoare of Australia, Narve Nordås of Norway, Cathal Doyle of Ireland, Mario García of Spain, and US Olympic Trials champ Yared Nuguse.

Former Huskies Kieran Lumb and Sam Tanner are in the final heat, which includes Australia's Adam Spencer, defending Olympic champ Jakob Ingebrigtsen of Norway, Reynold Cheruiyot of Kenya, and Neil Gourley of Great Britain.

The top six in each of the three heats (18 total) advance to the semifinals, while everyone else (with the exception of those who are DQ'd, don't start, or don't finish) will run in the repechage round on Saturday at 10:15 am Pacific time to claim one of the six remaining spots into Sunday's semifinals.

Three others with Washington ties will compete in Friday's evening session, starting with 2019 Washington alum Izzi Batt-Doyle, who runs in heat 2 of the women's 5000 at 9:36 am (6:36 pm local time), against a field that includes Beatrice Chebet of Kenya, Whittni Orton Morgan of Team USA, Laura Galván of Mexico, and Medina Eisa of Ethiopia.

The top eight from each of the two heats advance to the finals on Monday evening. Note that there are no repechage rounds in the 5000, 10000, and steeplechases, and there are no time qualifiers in the 5000.

While the 5000 heats are underway, former Washington State standout Charisma Taylor competes in group B of the women's triple jump. The top 12 from the two combined flights advance to Saturday night's finals.

Two time US national champion Nia Akins of the Brooks Beasts runs in the first round of the women's 800 at 11:12 am Pacific time (8:12 pm Pacific time). Akins is in the fourth of six heats, with the top three advancing to the semifinals on Sunday. 

Like the 1500, everyone not placing in the top three will be forced to run a repechage round on Saturday for the right to advance to Sunday's semifinals.

Akins is in the same heat as current world leader Keely Hodgkinson of Great Britain.

The start list for the Olympic track and field competition is available on the World Athletics microsite, which is available here.

In the United States, streaming is available on the NBCOlympics.com site or Peacock.tv ($).

The Friday morning session will also be shown live on E! starting at 1 am Pacific, while the evening session will be broadcast on E! starting at 9 am Pacific, and on NBC/KING5 in Seattle (check local listings for times of the NBC network broadcasts).

In Canada, Olympic action will be shown on CBC and streamed on CBC.ca.

NOTE: World Athletics contributed to this report.

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