PARIS — Team GB’s Katarina Johnson-Thompson got her bid for women’s heptathlon gold off to a positive start on Thursday, sitting in first place after two events.
Johnson-Thompson, who is the reigning world champion, is looking to emulate Jessica Ennis-Hill, who won gold at London 2012 and silver at Rio 2016.
It is Johnson-Thompson’s fourth Olympic Games, and she is still searching for her first medal although she arrives with her best chance yet.
Johnson-Thompson will be pleased after her first two events, recording her season’s best at 100-metre hurdles before going head-to-head in the high jump with gold-medal rival Belgium’s Nafissatou Thiam.
Thiam is a marginally better high jumper than Johnson-Thompson, but they both cleared 1.92 metres and could not go higher. It leaves the Brit slightly ahead of second-placed Thiam.
The women’s heptathlon continues on Thursday evening with the shot put and 200-metre events.
Johnson-Thompson made her Olympic debut as a 19-year-old at London 2012, finishing in 13th place. She improved to sixth overall at Rio 2016 amid a difficult spell in her career.
She achieved a breakthrough in 2019, becoming world champion for the first time in Doha, setting up expectations of a medal chance at Tokyo 2020, but she had to withdraw midway through the year-delayed Games with a calf injury.