Nafissatou Thiam of Belgium has won the gold medal in the women’s heptathlon event, ending Jessica Ennis-Hill’s reign as she settled for silver.
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Before the heptathlon, Ennis-Hill had expected her British rival, Katarina Johnson-Thompson, and the Canadian Brianne Theisen-Eaton to be her main challengers.
The Sheffield athlete went into the final event, the 800m, needing to run 9.47 seconds quicker than Thiam to make up a deficit of 142 points. “She has to decide, ‘Am I satisfied, am I happy?'”.
The complication for Ennis-Hill is that the next World Championships are in London. “I want to make sure it’s the right one”.
She was 100 points behind her compatriot in fourth place after four events.
That handed Ennis-Hill a 72-point overnight lead. She didn’t medal, either.
“When I came off after the javelin I spoke to Toni (Minichiello – her coach) and said ‘What have I got to do?'”
It’s likely retirement for Britain’s Jessica Ennis-Hill after just being edged out the gold medal.
Andrews finished just one place behind Pavey in 16th as she saved her best ever performance for the world’s biggest stage and set a personal best of 31:35.92 while Potter crossed the line in 34th place in a time of 33:04.34.
As for Ennis-Hill it could be the end of the road for her career.
Thiam is strong in the javelin, the penultimate event, with a personal best four metres longer than Ennis-Hill’s.
Ennis-Hill, who came back from having a baby to win the world title past year, led overnight but Thiam sneaked into a five point lead after a personal best 6.58 metres with her final attempt in the morning long jump.
“It’s going to be a tough decision, I’m going to go away and think about it”, she said.
‘I just had to go for myself, ‘ said Ennis-Hill. “It’s celebrations not commiserations, ‘ she said”.
“I think it’s a mix of thinking back to the last few years”, she added.
“But I gave it everything I’ve got so I am not walking away wishing I had done this or that because I didn’t everything I could over these two days”.
In their history, Puerto Rico have only managed to claim eight Olympic medals – and never gold.
The day started so promisingly for the British pair – and Johnson-Thompson in particular after she produced a British record clearance – and equal world heptathlon best – of 1.98m in the high jump.
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A remarkable head-to-head between Johnson-Thompson and Thiam saw them propel each other to a new Olympic Best in the heptathlon, with them both eventually bowing out at 1.98m (1211 points) after three failures at 2.01m.
