Katarina Johnson-Thompson refused to get carried away despite remaining in gold medal contention at the World Championships.
The 2019 world heptathlon champion sits second, 93 points adrift of leader Anna Hall, after the first day in Budapest.
She still faces a battle to return to the global podium with the United States’ Chari Hawkins just five points behind and team-mate Taliyah Brooks a further 13 points adrift.
But, after an Achilles rupture in 2020, Johnson-Thompson remains cautiously optimistic.
She said: “I’m just seeing what I can do. Who would have predicted today?
“Sport is so unpredictable and especially heptathlon. That’s why I don’t like trying to think about what’s going to happen in the future. I’m just trying to take each event as it comes.
“It’s really close behind me as well. All I need to do is just keep knocking on the door, stay in the flow and who knows what can happen?
“I just want a medal. I’m definitely in amongst it.”
A storm postponed the action by an hour in the morning and forced Johnson-Thompson to wait.
The 30-year-old ran 13.50 seconds in her 100 metres hurdles heat, before clearing 1.86m in the high jump.
It left her fourth overall with 2104 points – 41 adrift of leader Hall – before the evening session.
A best of 13.64m in the shot put dropped her to joint fifth before victory in her 200m heat in 23.48s boosted her medal hopes heading into the second day.
She added: “Today has been one of the most gruelling days of heptathlon I’ve ever experienced. We are all feeling it and we’re all talking to each other and asking, why are we so tired?
“I think it was the delay, waking up at six, warming up and then being told ‘no, stop.'”
Zharnel Hughes, the fastest man in the world this year, clocked 10 seconds in his 100m heat ahead of Sunday’s semi-finals and final.
Hughes, the British 100m and 200m record holder, won his race while Reece Prescod, who pulled out of the relay squad earlier this week, qualified in third in his heat.
Eugene Amo-Dadzie, an accountant who is due back to work once the Championships finish, was second in his heat on his Great Britain debut.
The 31-year-old has taken annual leave to compete in Budapest and returns to work as a senior management accountant for property developer Berkeley Group on August 29.
“I’m on the world stage. I say to people who don’t really know track and field ‘I’m at the World Cup of athletics’ and they’re like ‘OK’,” he said, after running 10.10s.
“For me, that’s incredible because this is beyond a dream. I didn’t grow up dreaming to do this but, by the grace of God, I found myself doing this.
“I’ve had a lot of support from all the different accountant bodies. They’re like ‘yo, you’re putting accountants on the map’. We’re not just these boring stiff squares sat at the office typing away.”
Great Britain captain Laura Muir, who has endured a disrupted year after splitting from long-term coach Andy Young in March, was second in her 1500m heat in the morning session.
She clocked four minutes 03.50 seconds behind the Netherlands’ Sifan Hassan.
Kenya’s defending champion Faith Kipyegon remains the overwhelming favourite and won her heat in 4:02.62.
Great Britain’s Katie Snowden and Melissa Courtney-Bryant also progressed to Sunday’s semi final.
Muir said: “Job done, I wanted to qualify with as little drama as possible.
“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.
“I saw Sifan go past and I was expecting that but I was scared she would go and everyone would come. I kept looking up and saw there was a gap.”
In the men’s 1500m Josh Kerr, who won Olympic bronze in Tokyo, Neil Gourley and Elliot Giles all reached Sunday’s semis, with last year’s world champion Jake Wightman out with injury.
Jazmin Sawyers, the European indoor champion, finished 22nd in qualifying to miss out on the long jump final with a best of just 6.41m.
Jamaica's 4x400m women, T&T's men book tickets to Paris
Jamaica’s 4x400m women have also booked their place at the Olympic Games in Paris this summer by winning the second round heat at the World Relays in the Bahamas on Sunday. The same four women lined up for the heat with the difference being that Roneisha McGregor running the lead off leg, Charokee Young on the second leg, Ashley Williams on the third leg and Junelle Bromfield on anchor.
The changes proved effective as the Jamaicans ran away with the heat winning impressively in 3:38.54.
India is also on their way to Paris after they finished in second place in a time of 3:29.35.
The Netherlands (3:27.45) and Switzerland (3:28.30) are also through along with Belgium (3:26.79) and Spain (3:27.30), a national record.
Meanwhile, Jamaica’s men will have to find another route to Paris after finished fifth in their heat and failed to qualify.
Trinidad and Tobago, though, produced a brave performance to secure a place in Paris. The quartet of Asa Guevara, Jereem Richards, Che Lara and Shakeem McKay battled hard to hold off France and seal the the final qualifying spot. Brazil won the heat in 3:01.86 with the brave Trinidadians finishing in 3:02.39.
Jamaica and Trinidad women shine to book 4x100m relay spots in Paris
Jamaica continued their resurgence from a disappointing first day at the World Relays in the Bahamas when they won their heat in round two of the 4x100m relays to advance to book their tickets to Paris this summer.
Using the same foursome – Jodean Smith, Tia Clayton, Alana Reid and Remona Burchell - that ran on Saturday, changed their running order with Burchell and Reid – switching positions on the third and fourth legs.
The change worked like a charm as they sped to victory in 42.74 seconds to advance to the final and onto Paris.
Jamaica’s Caribbean neighbours, Trinidad and Tobago will also be in Paris this summer. The quartet of Taejha Badal, Reese Webster, Reyare Thomas and Leah Bertrand finished second in 43.54 to advance as automatic qualifiers to the Olympic Games.
Italy, who won the first heat in 42.60 and second-place finishers Côte d'Ivoire (42.63) as well as Nigeria (42.71), winners of heat three and Switzerland (42.75) are also off to the Olympic Games.
The Bahamas and Jamaica book 4x400m Mixed Relay spots in Paris
The Bahamas and Jamaica rebounded at the World Athletics Relays in the Bahamas, securing their places at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris this summer during round two of the 4x400m mixed relay heats on Sunday.
After a disappointing performance on Saturday, the Bahamas bounced back with a spectacular showing on Sunday, setting a world-leading time of 3:12.81 in the first heat. The Bahamian quartet of Steven Gardiner, Alonzo Russell, Shania Adderley, and Shaunae Miller-Uibo delivered a stellar performance, fending off tough competition from Jamaica, Japan and South Africa, to clinch victory and set a new national record in the process.
Jamaica also sealed their Olympic berth by finishing second in the heat with a time of 3:14.49, showcasing their strength in relay events with the quartet of Zandrian Barnes, Roshawn Clarke, Leah Anderson, and Janieve Russell.
In the subsequent heats, Germany emerged victorious in the second heat with a time of 3:13.85, securing their place in Paris. Switzerland also booked their Olympic spot by finishing closely behind Germany in a national record time of 3:14.12.
Great Britain and Northern Ireland secured their tickets to Paris by winning the third heat with a time of 3:12.99, followed closely by Ukraine in 3:14.49, earning the second qualifying spot from that heat.
SportsMax is the Caribbean sports channel of choice, committed to providing sporting content of the highest quality to the Caribbean, delivered by a team of highly innovative, passionate and qualified professionals.
(876) 619-7629
digitalmedia@sportsmax.tv
