Katarina Johnson-Thompson saw her chances of Olympic heptathlon gold begin to slip away after the javelin competition at Stade de France.
The Liverpudlian began day two at the top of the table, and retained her place after landing 6.40 metres in the long jump to retain a narrow 45-point advantage over the rest of the field.
The four-time Olympian threw a season’s-best 45.49 metres in the javelin, but double-defending champion Nafissatou Thiam landed a mammoth 54.04 for a season’s best of her own.
Johnson-Thompson’s two attempts were the second and third best javelin throws of her life, but Belgium’s Thiam now holds a 121-point lead with 5924 points heading into the final event, Friday evening’s 800 metres.
That means the Briton has an uphill battle that may be too difficult to climb, Thiam’s points lead translating to an advantage of, according to a stadium announcement, around eight seconds for the final race.
Johnson-Thompson is stronger than Thiam in the 800 metres, but her personal best 2:05.63, set last August, is closer to six seconds over Thiam’s 2:11.79, set this June.