After almost breaking the pentathlon world record at the European Indoors in Prague in March, her training before the trials was near ideal until she suffered the misfortune of a quad injury. Now she has more golden thoughts on her mind.
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On paper, the pair are strong medal contenders, with Canada’s Brianne Theisen-Eaton the biggest threat.
Even at this stage it looks like gold will be between Ennis-Hill and Johnson-Thompson – and it could yet come down to the final event, the 800m, a prospect that leaves Johnson-Thompson both excited and fearful.
Prediction in the heptathlon can be a fiendishly tricky science. You know, he ran kind of slow in the first round, picked up in the semis, and he crushed it in the final. But it could all change in a eye-blink.
Women’s heptathlon times (BST) Sat – 2am hurdles: 3:20am high jump: 11:30am Shot; 1:15pm 200.
Ennis Hill, 29, said: “It is a challenge that both are relishing”. Scorching times for the 100m hurdles on the Bird’s Nest’s notoriously fast track quickly followed. But in the next heat all eyes were on Ennis-Hill.
Laura Weightman, the silver medallist at last summer’s Commonwealth Games, also did enough to progress, coming home sixth in her heat in 4:06.13 and fortunately appearing to emerge relatively unscathed from a heavy fall just after crossing the line. This time there was no knockout blow.
The 29-year-old is on 2192 points after the first morning session, with fellow Briton and medal threat Katarina Johnson-Thompson second.
Johnson-Thompson was in desperate trouble early on, failing twice at her opening height of 1.80m.
The Liverpool athlete admitted she was “really scared” when tipped by Ennis-Hill three years ago to be the athlete to beat in Rio.
After two events in the heptathlon, Canadian Brianne Theisen-Eaton was back in fifth place after a disappointing showing in the high jump, Saturday’s second event. “It was a lack of competition practice really. I had a bit of a faulty run-up so I’m happy that didn’t all end in tears”. My run-up was faulty and so I was glad to get over 1.89m in the end.
But the 29-year-old, who gave birth to her son Reggie last July, says she is determined to give him something to be proud of. Her husband Ashton Eaton is favourite for the men’s decathlon.
The two-day competition continues with the shot put and the 200 metres later Saturday.
Where Katarina Johnson-Thompson steered clear of her older team-mate “in case I got in the way of her focus” during the London Olympics, this time around the two will compete on a level playing field.
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Marial, who made headlines as the runner with no country when he ran at the 2012 London Olympics under the IOC flag because South Sudan was not a member federation, didn’t fly to China and wasn’t in touch with organizers, the IAAF said.
