Canada’s world number one Brianne Theisen-Eaton lay in fifth place.
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Britain’s Katarina Johnson-Thompson was a disappointing sixth with 6,523 points. But reflecting on Sunday, she said was proud and happy to have won the silver medal and now it was time for a break, for celebrations, and to think about the future.
“I knew I had to beat her [Thiam] by about 10 seconds, and when I found that out after coming off from the javelin, I just thought, “oh god, that’s so much”, added the Briton.
It comes as Team GB hopes for a repeat of Super Saturday from London 2012 as track and field champions Greg Rutherford, Mo Farah and Jessica Ennis-Hill aim to defend their titles.
Ennis-Hill, 30, said she was still undecided on when to retire.
“It will be a bit of a decision I have to make for myself so maybe it’s time for me to be a bit selfish and make some choices for me”.
Asked directly whether Rio was her last competition, she replied: “Possibly, yeah”.
The 30-year-old said she had nearly made up her mind over her future, but wanted to take her time over such a “huge decision”. “I don’t want to cry on TV but these years have been awesome so just really proud”.
Kenya’s Ferguson Rotich also progressed to the semi-finals, a day after the International Olympic Committee opened disciplinary proceedings against him and Kenyan coach John Anzrah, who was allegedly caught providing a urine sample for a drugs test on behalf of the athlete.
Thiam’s rise has been rapid and staggering.
Ennis-Hill suggested the unusual timings of the events on Friday may have affected her performances.
The 24-year-old Australian won gold in the 4x100m freestyle relay final on day one, but her only remaining chance of an individual medal comes in Saturday’s 50m showpiece. Not what she would have wanted but still fantastic from @J_Ennis.
“She clearly won’t do another Olympic Games in 2020”. Interestingly enough, there was only a 10-second difference between Thiam and Ennis-Hill’s Personal Best’s, so we knew it would be a long shot for Ennis-Hill to take Gold.
Nafi Thiem of Beligum leads the pack with 5,018 points after recording a personal best 6.58m in the long jump.
Meanwhile, Johnson-Thompson’s chances of bronze bit the dust after a sub-par 6.51m leap in the long jump and a bad performance in the javelin.
Solid results in the 100m hurdles and high jump propelled her 72 points ahead of her nearest rival.
As mentioned, Johnson-Thompson is renowned for her innate ability in the jumping aspects of the Heptathlon. And yet for her brilliant athleticism, success in both events still eludes her. It was her third fastest time since winning in London.
The timetable at the athletics, with much longer gaps than normal between morning and evening sessions for the sake of American television, hampered the heptathletes. Not many people were getting PBs apart from Thiam and it showed because she won.
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“I have to make a big decision about what I’m going to do”.
