Katarina Johnson-Thompson in fourth in Heptathlon after two events at World Athletics Championships in Budapest
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Updated 19/08/2023 at 14:00 GMT
Katarina Johnson-Thompson holds the fourth position in the heptathlon after the opening day of the World Championships in Budapest. She faced initial struggles, clocking 13.50 seconds in the 100m hurdles heat, but rebounded with a high jump clearance of 1.86m. American Anna Hall leads, while Laura Muir secured second place in her 1500m heat. Jazmin Sawyers struggled in long jump qualifiers.
Martin takes victory in 20km Race Walk at World Athletics Championships in Budapest
Katarina Johnson-Thompson sits fourth in the heptathlon after two events of the World Athletics Championships at the National Athletics Centre in Budapest.
The 30-year-old struggled during her 100m hurdles heat, registering a time of 13.50 seconds.
In the high jump, she managed to clear 1.86m, leaving her second in that event, and fourth overall with 2104 points. American Anna Hall leads with 41 points ahead of Johnson-Thompson.
Elsewhere, Team GB captain Laura Muir finished second in her 1500m heat, clocking a time of 4:03.50 behind the Netherlands’ Sifan Hassan. Katie Snowden and Melissa Courtney-Bryant also did enough to progress to the semi-finals on Sunday.
Faith Kipyegon, who is Kenya’s defending champion and the favourite for the event, won her heat in 4:02.62.
“Job done, I wanted to qualify with as little drama as possible," said Muir after the race.
“I was a little disappointed we weren’t in the rain. I would have been happy to crack on, but I know there’s a lot of electrical equipment and technical equipment, and the rain doesn’t suit everybody.
“It’s a fast track, I think it’ll be an exciting champs. As soon as I did a couple of strides, it felt nice. There’s always a bit of scrapping and spiking, but I felt comfortable."
Jazmin Sawyers only managed to finish 22nd in the long jump qualifiers with a best of 6.41m.
"I was feeling good but I just couldn't make it happen today," Sawyers said. "I think, if any athlete steps on the track, ready to compete, then they should be expected to do as they're supposed to.
"I've had a very disruptive prep with injuries but to me, if I was willing to stand out there, then I should have been ready to easily qualify for the final, and I should have been going for a medal.
"I've massively underperformed there. I know what I did wrong. I haven't been able to do any jump sessions for a while, and so it's stuff that I would have liked to have the time to work on. I was hoping I'd be able to work on it through the rounds, but I just didn't quite solve it in time.
"But to be honest, I don't want to stand there and make that excuse. It's not good enough. When we select a team as strong as this, with the intention of top-eight finishes, medal finishes, we should rise to that occasion as athletes.
"I've let a lot of people down there. Most of all myself. I really feel like I've let myself down."
The first medal of the games went to Spain's Alvaro Martin in the 20lm Race Walk. Silver went to Perseus Karlstrom, with Caio Bonfim in third.
HOW TO WATCH THE 2023 WORLD ATHLETICS CHAMPIONSHIPS?
You can watch live coverage of the 2023 World Athletics Championships on discovery+ and eurosport.com, with highlights and reaction on eurosport.com.
Eurosport 1 will broadcast 68 hours of live coverage while viewers watching on discovery+ and the Eurosport app won’t miss a minute of the live action throughout the nine days of competition.
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