What Katarina Johnson-Thompson needs to do to win heptathlon gold in 800m ahead of Nafissatou Thiam - how can KJT win?
By Rhys Jones
Updated 09/08/2024 at 14:57 GMT+1
Katarina Johnson-Thompson will race for Olympic gold in the heptathlon's 800m event on Friday evening as she sits in second place and 121 points behind Belgium's Nafissatou Thiam. The Brit was ahead going into the second day of events before Thiam made a huge javelin throw to take the lead. Here are all the details on what the Team GB star needs to clinch gold.
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Video credit: TNT Sports
Katarina Johnson-Thompson is eyeing Olympic gold in Paris as she enters the final event of the heptathlon on Friday night.
KJT will race in the 800m following the morning session, in which she finished second and 121 points behind two-time defending Olympic champion Nafissatou Thiam at the Stade de France.
Belgium's Thiam tops the standings with 5,924 points ahead of the Briton's 5,803, while Switzerland's Anna Kaelin is in third on 5,694.
Johnson-Thompson needs to run eight seconds quicker than the Belgian to win gold and avoid more Olympic heartbreak.
Thiam was trailing the Brit by 45 points until she made a monstrous 54.04m javelin throw to take the lead.
HOW can johnson-thompson take gold?
It will be a tall ask for the 31-year-old Liverpudlian, and she will have to race like her life depends on it, but ultimately Olympic glory is not out of her reach yet.
She needs to beat Thiam by about eight seconds in the 800m to take the gold.
KJT's personal best in the 800m is 2:05.63, about six seconds faster than Thiam’s best of 2:11.79 which she ran at the European Championships in Rome this year.
Those times on Friday evening would net Johnson-Thompson 1,064 points, and Thiam 961, giving the latter the gold.
Johnson-Thompson would therefore need to run almost 8.5s faster than Thiam to bridge the gap in the overall standings.
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She has not competitively run the 800m this year and her form and condition is not known regarding that event.
Should she not win gold, she should still be able to hang onto silver. Kaelin's personal best in the 800m is 2:13.73, short of the Briton's 2:09.35.
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Video credit: TNT Sports
WHEN DOES JOHNSON-THOMPSON COMPETE?
The final event of the heptathlon, the 800m, will begin at 19:25 UK Time, live on Eurosport and discovery+.
discovery+ is the streaming home of the Olympic Games, and the only place you can watch every moment of Paris 2024 this summer
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