Nafissatou Thiam etched her name into athletics history as she clinched a historic third successive Olympic heptathlon title in Paris on Friday (9).
She wrapped it up in the 800m, after the penultimate javelin event had earlier in the day put gold firmly within her grasp.
Epic struggle for gold
The Belgian had been engaged in an epic struggle with the reigning world champion Katarina Johnson-Thompson throughout a thrilling competition, only getting an edge after a 54.04m throw to the British athlete’s best effort of 45.09m.
It gave her a 121 points advantage heading into the final event, a lead that equated to around 8.5 seconds over the two-lap distance.
Johnson-Thompson made a bold run for glory by running a personal best of 2:04.90. But, despite a slight stumble at 200m, the experienced Thiam kept the British athlete firmly within her sights and clocked a personal best of her own of 2:10.62.
It meant Thiam, nursing a patched up left knee which required stitches after cutting her knee with a spike in the long jump, totalled 6880 points for the title and having also won her third successive European gold this year at Roma 2024, her status as one of the sport’s all-time greats is secure.
Johnson-Thompson could also be thrilled with her efforts over two days, twice world gold medallist, this was the first time she has reached the podium in her fourth Olympics. She finished with 6844 points.
Thiam’s Belgian teammate Noor Vidts completed an all-European top three, running the 800m in 2:06.38 to finish with a personal best total of 6707, 68 points ahead of Switzerland’s Annik Kälin in fourth.
Chris Broadbent for European Athletics
