| Olympic Champion “Nafi” Thiam had just become only the fourth athlete ever to exceed 7000 points, and was a big favourite to win in London. The Belgian moved into the lead after the high jump, where she cleared 1.95, a height that was matched by Rodríguez as both equalled Carolina Klüft’s championshop best from 2003. The home favourite Johnson-Thompson dropped out of contention when she only cleared 1.80. A week later, she placed fifth in the individual high jump with 1.95. Had she done that in the heptathlon, she would have won a silver. Thiam dropped to second place only once, following the 200m, which Schäfer won with 23.58. The German led the Belgian 4036 to 4014 overnight, both women now out of the range of the pack headed by Rodríguez (3905). A long jump of 6.57 versus 6.20 for Schäfer put Thiam almost 100 points clear and a javelin throw of 53.93 extended ther lead to 172. She could afford to run only 2:21.42 in the 800m and still win easily on points, 6784 to 6696. Vetter took the bronze largely after a superb javelin of 58.41 which gained 214 points on the Cuban. Both set national record scores. |
