Tue. Nov 5th, 2024
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KATARINA JOHNSON-THOMPSON narrowly missed out on heptathlon gold to defending champion Nafissatou Thiam but still took silver in Paris.

The Brit, 31, earned her first Olympic medal after an impressive 800 metres in the final event on Friday night.

Katarina Johnson-Thompson claimed her first Olympic medal in the heptathlon

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Katarina Johnson-Thompson claimed her first Olympic medal in the heptathlonCredit: Reuters

It comes after she finished 13th at London 2012, sixth in Rio and then had a DNF in Tokyo due to injury.

But she put in a stunning performance on day one of the heptathlon at the Stade de France to lead with three events to go.

And while she failed to stop Belgian Thiam from securing a third successive Olympic gold in the heptathlon, a silver medal will be much consolation.

Here is how it unfolded in the final three events on Friday.

LONG JUMP

She placed fifth in the long jump - the first event on Friday

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She placed fifth in the long jump – the first event on FridayCredit: PA

Johnson-Thompson placed fifth in the long jump with a distance of 6.40 metres.

Thiam jumped one centimetre further to secure third place.

JAVELIN

She threw a season's best in the javelin but it was still only good enough for 11th place

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She threw a season’s best in the javelin but it was still only good enough for 11th placeCredit: Getty

Historically Johnson-Thompson’s weakest event, she threw a season’s best of 45.49 metres for 11th place.

But Thiam showed her strength in this one as she threw 54.04 metres to take the event victory and extend her overall lead to 121 points.

800 METRES

Johnson-Thompson needed to beat Thiam by around eight seconds to overhaul her and claim gold in the final event.

And while she destroyed the Belgian in the two-lap race, she could only open up a six-second gap as she had to settle for silver.

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Team GB’s gold medal haul from the 2024 Olympics in Paris

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