Katarina Johnson-Thompson takes heptathlon silver and her first Olympic medal

Katarina Johnson-Thompson laid it all on the line to secure heptathlon silver at the Stade de France for her first Olympic medal.

The Liverpudlian sat 121 points behind Belgian champion Nafissatou Thiam entering the final event, the 800 metres.

She faced a nearly impossible task, needing to beat Thiam by more than eight seconds to surpass her main rival.

Johnson-Thompson clocked a personal best 2:04.90, but it was not quite enough as she finished 36 points behind Thiam, who has now twice successfully defended her Olympic title.

Belgium’s Noor Vidts completed the podium.

Nine of the top 11 finishers clocked personal bests, while Hall equalled her season’s best 2:04.39.

The fast-paced final followed rainfall over the Stade de France, and in a moment of added drama Thiam at one point appeared to slip, but remained on her feet to finish ninth in 2:10.62.

A maiden medal has been a long time coming for Johnson-Thompson, who finished 13th on Olympic debut at London 2012, then sixth at the Rio 2016 Games.

The 31-year-old was then forced to pull out of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics after sustaining a calf injury in the 200 metres.

Johnson-Thompson began day two at the top of the table and maintained her place after landing 6.40m in the long jump to hold a narrow 45-point advantage over the rest of the field.

She threw a season’s-best 45.49m in the javelin, but Thiam landed a mammoth 54.04m for a season’s best of her own.

Johnson-Thompson’s two javelin attempts were the second and third best throws of her life, while on the first day of competition she set a personal best in the shot put of 14.44m, cleared 1.92m in the high jump – her highest in five years – and ran a season’s best 13.40 in the 100m hurdles.

British Olympic heptathlon debutante Jade O’Dowda finished 10th overall.

She said of the silver medallist: “She’s so inspiring.

“I was so lucky I got to watch it, literally in front of me. We spent the whole two days together, even the week, we’re sharing an apartment.

“So we go down to breakfast together, go to the track together, literally incredible.

“I’m so pleased for her, this is what she’s wanted, she’s wanted an Olympic medal and she gave it her all, there was literally nothing else she could’ve done.”

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