Katarina Johnson-Thompson made a confident start to her bid for a maiden Olympic medal with her best high jump performance in five years at the Stade de France.
The two-time world champion began with a season’s best 13.40s in the 100m hurdles before clearing 1.92m in the high jump, enough to take her to the top of the standings after two of seven events.
Belgium’s Nafi Thiam, who won gold in Rio and Tokyo, matched Johnson-Thompson’s high jump effort and sits 24 points behind the 31-year-old going into the evening session.
This is the Liverpudlian’s fourth Olympics and she laid down a marker over the sticks in the opening event of the competition.
Lining up in lane six, Johnson-Thompson looked comfortable throughout and eased home behind Poland’s Adrianna Sulek-Schubert, with Jade O’Dowda a place further back in a season’s best 13.53s – the third-quickest time the Olympic debutant has recorded in her career.
In the high jump, Johnson-Thompson recovered from brushes with the bar at 1.86m and 1.89m to clear them at the second attempt.
With Thiam having cleared 1.92m, the pressure was on the Brit to match the reigning champion and she did so at the third attempt, slapping the landing mat with delight after her successful clearance.
She was unsuccessful in three attempts at 1.95m – a distance she last cleared on her way to winning the first of her World Championship golds in Doha in 2019 - but so was Thiam, ensuring Johnson-Thompson holds a slender advantage heading into the evening session.
Dowda cleared 1.80m and sits ninth, with shot put is next up at 6.35pm (BST) and 200m to follow at 7.55pm.
Sportsbeat 2024