Johnson-Thompson leads Olympic heptathlon

Great Britain’s Katarina Johnson-Thompson leads the Paris 2024 heptathlon after four events as she seeks a first Olympic medal.

The two-time world champion roared with delight after throwing a personal best in the shot put of 14.44m on Thursday evening, before clocking 23.44 seconds in the 200m to move back above rival Nafissatou Thiam.

Johnson-Thompson, 31, has 4,055 points – a narrow lead of 48 over Belgium’s two-time reigning Olympic champion Thiam, with American Anna Hall 99 behind the Briton.

The heptathlon concludes with the long jump (09:05 BST), javelin (from 10:23) and 800m events (19:25) on Friday.

Johnson-Thompson led the standings after making a superb start to the competition.

Producing season’s-best performances in the 100m hurdles and high jump, she led Thiam by just 24 points, with 33 points separating the three pre-competition gold medal favourites.

The shot put represents one of Johnson-Thompson’s weaker disciplines but she displayed her gold-medal credentials by launching the best throw of her life to ensure she would limit her losses to superior thrower Thiam.

The 29-year-old Thiam edged ahead by matching her personal best with an unmatched 15.54m.

But Johnson-Thompson, in the event which brought a heartbreaking end to her podium bid in Tokyo three years ago, finished the opening day strongly to reclaim top spot.

On her brilliant effort in the shot put, Johnson-Thompson said: “That was entirely for Denise Lewis sitting in the BBC studio.

“Probably the best thing I’ve ever done in my career – and I’ve jumped 1.98m [for high jump]. That topped everything. A little 14m shot put.

“I’m in really good 200m shape so that was really frustrating. I was aiming for as close to 23 seconds as possible but it’s the heptathlon, [I was] very tired at the end of the first day so I’ll take it.”

The reigning world champion called her second global heptathlon triumph in Budapest last year “the best day of my life”, having completed a remarkable turnaround in her career.

Following the maiden global success in 2019, Johnson-Thompson overcame a career-threatening Achilles rupture only to suffer injury heartbreak in the 200m at the Tokyo Olympics.

Last year, in the absence of the injured Thiam, she took world gold ahead of Hall to set herself up perfectly for the chance in Paris to at last claim an Olympic medal.

Johnson-Thompson’s combined total currently stands at 4,055 points, with Thiam on 4,007 and Hall at 3,956.

Here’s what would happen if all three matched their personal bests from here…

Long jump (from 09:05 BST)

Johnson-Thompson PB: 6.93m (1,202 points)

Thiam PB: 6.86m (1,187 points)

Hall PB: 6.74m (1,141)

Javelin- (from 10:23 BST)

Johnson-Thompson PB: 46.14m (822 points)

Thiam PB: 59.32m (1,065 points)

Hall PB: 45.75m (815 points)

800m (19:25 BST)

Johnson-Thompson PB: 2:05.63 (1,064 points)

Thiam PB: 2:11.79 (961 points)

Hall PB: 2:02.97 (1,110 points)

Totals

Also on Thursday, Great Britain’s two-time global medallist Laura Muir and Georgia Bell both qualified for the final of the women’s 1500m.

Drawn in the same semi-final, Bell finished second in three minutes 59.49 seconds, just behind Kenya’s two-time reigning Olympic champion Faith Kipyegon (3:58.64), with Muir comfortably through in fourth (3:59.83).

Team-mate Revee Walcott-Nolan ran a personal best time of 3:58.08 but that was not enough for her to progress.

The women’s 1500m final takes place at 19:15 BST on Friday.