She had to beat Thiam in the 800m by nearly 10 seconds and only just missed out with a season best performance.
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While Ennis-Hill took second spot on the podium, her compatriot and teammate Katarina Johnson-Thompson threw away her chance of a medal.
Johnson-Thompson finished in sixth place but said she hoped to be more consistent at Tokyo 2020.
“I want to have some time to relax with my family, see Reggie, go on holiday and just really think about everything”.
“I knew she was going to run hard for that gold medal and she wouldn’t let that kind of lead slip”.
Over halfway home, and Jessica Ennis-Hill is where she wants to be – on top.
Ennis-Hill said the unusually stretched competition timings had had an effect on performances, with 13 hours between the first and last events.
“With the shot I just lose my head a little bit, there’s no excuse for it, but I add that into my score now as though it’s expected”, she said. “But I’m so proud of what I’ve achieved over the last few years”.
Clocking 10.71 to miss her PB by just 0.01, she beat USA’s Tori Bowie and “pocket rocket” Fraser-Pryce, who clocked respective times of 10.83 and 10.86 for silver and bronze.
Thiam’s rise has been rapid and staggering.
“These were my second Olympics and to win gold at my first and silver here makes me so proud”.
But the Briton’s 800m best is nearly 10 seconds quicker, meaning she remains favourite for gold should she hold her nerve and form under this most intense pressure. Even three days ago the bookies thought she was a long shot, at 50-1, for gold.
It was the first Olympic heptathlon medal for Canadian athlete.
“But the reality was she was the best athlete over the two days and I did all I could to win gold. She has to decide, ‘Am I satisfied, am I happy?'”.
She opened up with an impressive 12.84 seconds 100 metres hurdles on a wet track, then cleared a season’s best of 1.89m – her second-best jump at a global championships – in the high jump.
The Belgian is nine years younger than the Briton and set five personal bests in seven events. Ennis-Hill finished behind Johnson-Thompson, after her abysmal shot put result, Johnson-Thomspon recorded a time of 23.26, taking her into fourth place overall behind Jones, Thiam and Ennis-Hill. And yet for her brilliant athleticism, success in both events still eludes her.
“I remember after London 2012, I couldn’t ever have imagined myself picking myself up for Rio and doing it all over again but I came here after four very different and interesting years and have come away with another Olympic medal”.
A repeat of London 2012’s “Super Saturday” is on the cards after Greg Rutherford held his nerve to qualify for the long jump final, but the mouth-watering prospect of a titanic tussle for gold between the two British heptathletes, which would have provided one of the highlights of the Games, looks unlikely to materialise. Not many people were getting PBs apart from Thiam and it showed because she won. “It’s a tough event and I’ve done it for so long… so… we’ll see”.
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A day of ups and downs for Johnson-Thompson. The timetable and sleeping didn’t help for everyone not just me. She has taken time off, suffered injuries, got married and had a son. Then it was freezing yesterday – so the performances weren’t really working for me.
