Britain’s heptathlon champion Katarina Johnson-Thompson ran the fastest 800 metres of her life to win Olympic silver, while her women’s 4 x 100 metres relay team missed out on gold by just 0.7 seconds after a final handover error.
A shocking performance in the 800m, the final of the seven events, saw the 31-year-old become a two-time world champion and achieve a thrilling redemption after multiple Olympic disappointments.
In the sprint relay, the British women’s team edged the US to the finish line, while in the men’s 4×100 metres the US favourite missed a touchdown to take the bronze medal behind Canada and South Africa.
But it was Johnson-Thompson, known as KJT, who had the Stade de France riveted as she attempted to complete the 800 meters in about eight seconds faster than Belgium’s Olympic gold medallist Nafissatou Thiam, who in a dramatic moment appeared to slip but held her own.
Johnson-Thompson put all her heart and soul into the race and, on a slippery track made by an early morning drizzle in Paris, fell just a few seconds short of her target time, but her performance still deserves to be listed alongside Jessica Ennis-Hill and Denise Lewis as Britain’s Olympic heptathlon greats.
She said: “I can’t put it into words but it’s such a relief and I’m so happy to have an Olympic medal to add to my collection. It was the only medal I didn’t have so it’s been so hard to get back here.”
Johnson-Thompson said her boyfriend, former hurdler Andrew Pozzi, had been hinting at a celebratory meal. “He wants to go to a restaurant and I think he’s planning a fancy meal,” Johnson-Thompson said. “One of the restaurant owners called me and said, ‘That’s my restaurant. See you tomorrow,’ so it’s going to be a fancy meal.”
Earlier in the day, a teenager known as “The Terminator” won a shock Olympic gold medal for Great Britain in men’s sport climbing, before Team GB’s sprinters prepared for an exciting final night of athletics on Saturday.
When 19-year-old Toby Roberts won the Bouldering & Lead title in Paris after the favourite, Japan’s Sorato Anraku, failed, the Le Bourget climbing centre rang out with cheers chanting his name.
“I’m speechless. I just couldn’t believe it at that moment knowing I’d won the gold medal,” said Roberts, whose nickname was given to him after Arnold Schwarzenegger after his determination at the wall.
The competition combined rounds of “challenges,” in which climbers had to complete four rock “challenges” on a 4.5-metre-high wall within a time limit, with “leads,” in which climbers had to climb as high as possible in one attempt.
“I’ve been training for this moment my whole life and now I’ve just won,” said Roberts, from Elstead, Surrey.
The gold medal in the women’s madison velodrome went to the Italian team of Chiara Consoni and Vittoria Guazzini, while Great Britain’s Elinor Barker and Nia Evans won the final double points sprint to take silver. Jack Carlin, 27, from Paisley, won the bronze medal in the men’s bicycle sprint.
Two-time world champion Johnson-Thompson suffered an injury in Rio, according to his Olympic teammates. Jessica Ennis Hilland coming off a traumatic injury-plagued Tokyo Olympics, this was the race she had aimed for, but it was always expected she would struggle to win gold.
Johnson-Thompson’s personal best before Friday night was 2:05.63, just over six seconds faster than Thiam’s 2:11.79. She needed 8.9 seconds to make her dream come true. She set a new PR of 2:04.90 to Thiam’s 2:10.62, just under six seconds behind.
After a string of disappointing competition results – 13th in her debut in 2012, sixth in 2016 and failing to finish in Tokyo – it was time for her to add another title to her two World Championships, two Commonwealth Championships and a silver medal at the European Championships. But the top step of the podium seemed just out of reach.
She said: “I can’t complain. Nafi has set a new personal best and is probably the best of all time. I’m lucky to have such a great rivalry with one of the best of all time. I’ve set a new personal best too. That’s all I can ask for from myself.”
The heroics in front of a raucous crowd followed a new personal best from Max Virgin, who has been compared to a young Sebastian Coe or Steve Cram, who led the British runners to book a place in Saturday’s 800m final in 1:43.50.
The 22-year-old virgin from Halifax said being pressure-free going into what is likely the biggest race of her life worked to her advantage.
Olympic 400m silver medallist Matt Hudson-Smith said he believed he could win a second medal in Paris after his 4x400m team, along with Charlie Dobson, Sam Reardon and Toby Harries, qualified in the second-best time behind the US team.
Hudson Smith, 29, from Wolverhampton, said: “I’m really excited. It’s been an incredible two days but we’re now stepping up a gear in our quest for a medal. I want to try and become a two-time Olympic medallist. We can win it. We’ve got the team, the mentality and the coaching staff – let’s make history. With this team we can do anything. We can do the British Record, the European Record and even the World Record if we put our all into it.”
For the first time on the U.S. team was 16-year-old Quincy Wilson, who qualified for the preliminaries and became the youngest Olympian in track and field history.
“It was an amazing moment,” Wilson said. “I had my mom, my dad, my sister, my grandmother, my grandmother’s sister and a lot of family in the stands.”
Great Britain’s women’s 4x400m team of Lina Nielsen, Jody Williams, Hannah Kelly and Yemi Mary John reached the final in 3:24.72, raising hopes of a podium finish. “We’re all in really good shape so I don’t think there’s any doubt we’ll be fighting for the top spots, maybe even a shot at first place,” said Nielsen, 28, from London.
In the final Seine swim, Hector Pardoe and Toby Robinson, who came sixth and 14th in the men’s 10km, said they hoped London would be motivated to clean up the Thames. Robinson, 27, from Wolverhampton, said it would “inspire the next generation of young swimmers to try open water.”
