“Katarina Johnson-Thompson’s quest for the heptathlon gold medal is fraught with difficulties. With just one event left, she lost ground to her opponent, Nafissatou Thiam of Belgium, after the second day.
Before the 800-meter event on Friday night, Johnson-Thompson was 121 points behind Thiam. In the sixth event of the tournament, the javelin throw, Thiam had taken the lead with a season-best effort. Annik Kälin, a Swiss athlete, finished third after putting on excellent performances in the long jump and javelin.
Johnson-Thompson, who recaptured her global title in Budapest last year, will need to finish eight seconds ahead of Thiam in the final race to earn the gold.
After the javelin, Thiam, the gold medallist in Rio and Tokyo, trailed Johnson-Thompson by 45 points. In the javelin competition, Johnson-Thompson finished first with a season-best throw of 44.64 meters, earning her 757 points and putting pressure on Thiam. Her third throw, at 45.49 meters, achieved a new personal record, even though her second attempt was a foul.
With the knowledge that she needed to do well in her stronger events, Thiam threw an incredible 54.04 meters, almost a meter beyond her season record. The first throw had given her a significant advantage over her competition, and even though her second attempt was fouled and her third throw only measured 52.56 meters, it made little difference.
On the second day of the heptathlon, Johnson-Thompson, 31, showed bravery despite encountering some challenges in the morning’s opening event, the long jump.
With a personal best of 6.92 meters in this event, Johnson-Thompson’s first jump was only 4.65 meters. She recorded her second leap, which went to 6.04 meters, with a hint of discontent. She did, however, make a strong leap of 6.40 meters on her third attempt. Thiam closed the deficit between them from 48 to 45 points with a leap of 6.41 meters.
Johnson-Thompson led by 48 points at the beginning of the first day, followed by Thiam in second place with 4,007 points and American competitor Anna Hall in third place with 3,956 points. The British competitor set personal records in the shot put and high jump and seemed to be enjoying herself while competing with composure and confidence on the opening day.
‘It was a good day, a excellent day—one of the finest I’ve had in a long time,’ she remarked at the end of the first day. There were some excellent indicators and some fantastic happenings. I’m rather pleased with it.
Her 48-point advantage at the beginning of the second day, though, “really doesn’t mean anything,” she added. ‘I’m happy I performed well in my events and worked on my shortcomings,’ she continued. Nothing is finished yet; tomorrow is a new day.
Despite having to withdraw from the European Championships in Rome earlier in June, her experience in these events has been flawless.
Even if she takes home the silver, it will still be a noteworthy accomplishment because, despite not having reached her Olympic potential, she is a seasoned athlete with two world medals, two Commonwealth titles, and a silver from Europe. She placed sixth in 2016 after finishing 14th in her debut games in 2012, and an injury prevented her from competing in Tokyo in 2021.
Thiam will become unquestionably one of the best athletes of the modern period if she wins her third gold in a row.
