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Katarina Johnson-Thompson has had to settle for silver in the women’s heptathlon at the Paris Olympics after failing to overturn a sizeable deficit in tonight’s 800m finale.
The Team GB star, 31, went into the race 121 points behind two-time Olympic champion Nafi Thiam, from Belgium, and had to win the contest by eight-and-a-half seconds or more.
While possible, the task required Johnson-Thompson to run the race of a lifetime on a wet surface under the lights of the Stade de France.
But the Brit was only able to gain a six second lead over her fierce rival, leaving her painfully short of a gold once again.
Johnson-Thompson had been top of the heptathlon standings heading into day two of the event after winning the 200m race in front of a raucous crowd at the Stade de France on Thursday.
Katarina Johnson-Thompson has had to settle for silver in the women’s heptathlon
The Team GB star went into the race 121 points behind two-time Olympic champion Nafi Thiam
But the Brit was only able to gain a six second lead over her fierce rival (pictured)
She then further solidified her lead during the javelin with a season-best throw of 45.49m on her third attempt that established a strong gap at the top of the standings.
However, a nervous wait for Thiam to throw quickly turned into a disaster for Johnson-Thompson when her Belgian rival produced a monster 54.04m opening effort.
Liverpool-born Johnson-Thompson then faced the prospect of needing to make up a huge eight-second time deficit in the evening’s 800m race.
Friday had initially got off to the perfect start with Johnson-Thompson winning the long jump and starting with a strong opening javelin throw of 44.64m which was the highest amongst competitors following first attempts.
Her second effort produced a rare error from the 31-year-old as officials showed a red flag for stepping over the throwing line before she corrected with a huge third attempt.
But, the javelin is one of the strongest disciplines for double-Olympic champion Thiam who immediately produced a season-best throw of her own with a first throw of 54.04m that was over eight metres clear of Katarina Johnson-Thompson’s best effort.
Katarina Johnson-Thompson’s quest for Olympic gold had suffered a huge blow in the javelin
Johnson-Thompson maintained a steely focused look today as she refused to break a smile
The massive throw moved the Belgian star onto 939 points, overtaking her Team GB rival who remained on 818 points following her three respectable attempts.
Thiam’s second effort was similarly shown a red flag, but it made little difference to her overall control in the heptathlon as Johnson-Thompson watched on.
She then threw a 52.56m effort on her final attempt that gives her an overall lead of 121 points in the heptathlon heading into the evening’s 800m race.
