Nafissatou Thiam in the heptathlon high jump at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games (© Getty Images)
Not long after Almaz Ayana broke the world record in the 10,000m, a world best fell in the heptathlon high jump.
Belgium’s Nafissatou Thiam and Britain’s Katarina Johnson-Thompson had clear cards up to and including 1.92m. Johnson-Thompson then sailed over 1.95m on her first try, while Thiam needed three jumps to succeed.
With the bar at 1.98m, Thiam was the first to go clear, adding one centimetre to the world heptathlon best she set at the 2014 European Championships. Johnson-Thompson had one failure but then successfully negotiated the height on her second attempt, breaking the British high jump record in the process.
Event leader Jessica Ennis-Hill was also pleased with her performance. The world champion cleared a season’s best of 1.89m – her second-best jump at a global championships – to keep alive her hopes of retaining her Olympic title.
World indoor champion Brianne Theisen-Eaton looked to be in danger after two failures at 1.86m, but she nailed the height on her third attempt to secure her best ever clearance at a major championships.
Akela Jones of Barbados cleared 1.89m. Although it was nine centimetres shy of her outright PB, she is still on course to produce a lifetime best in the heptathlon.
After two events, Johnson-Thompson leads with 2264, 12 points ahead of Thiam. Ennis-Hill is third with 2242, Jones is fourth with 2217 and Theisen-Eaton is fifth with 2151.
Thiam will likely move into the overall lead after the next event, the shot put, but the British duo could pull back the deficit in the final event of the day, the 200m.
Jon Mulkeen for the IAAF
