Ava John - heptathlon
Ava loves athletics and competes in lots of events. She will be reporting on the heptathlon for us at the Olympics! Thanks Ava!
The heptathlon. The ultimate test of an athlete. Covering two days,athletes compete in seven disciplines. On day one 24 athletes compete in the 100m hurdles,the high jump,the shot put and to conclude the 200m. Then the second day consists of long jump,javelin and to finish the whole event an 800m. Sounds exhausting,doesn’t it ?
The long awaited Heptathlon began with the nail-biting 100m hurdles where rhythm is key. The top three fastest hurdlers were Kendall Williams from the US-12.97 for 1,129 points, Marthe Koala from Bulgaria-13.07 for 1,114 points and Anouk Vetter, the 2016 European champion, from the Netherlands-13.09 for 1,111 points
Reigning Olympic champion Nafi Thiam from Belgium had run 13.54 for 1,044 putting her currently in 15th position and reigning world champion Katarina Johnson-Thompson from Great Britain, who has been plagued by injury this year, put out a great performance in the hurdles of 13.27 for 1,084 placing her in 7th position.
Then onto the high jump, another nerve wracking event. The top three highest jumpers were Nafi Thiam who cleared an amazing 1.92m for 1,132 points; Erica Bougard who cleared 1.86m for 1,054 points; and Katarina Johnson-Thompson cleared 1.86 for 1,054 points.
After two events Nafi Thiam was leading with 2,176 points followed by Erica Bougard who had 2,157 and then Katarina Johnson-Thompson with 2,138.
The shot put, which is very much a power event, was next up. There were some incredible throws and the top three were Odile Ahouanwanou who threw 15.45m for 891 points, Anouk Vetter threw 15.29m for 880 and Annie Kunz threw 15.15m for 871. As you can see shot put is one of the lower scoring events points wise however there was a bit of a shake up on the leaderboard. Nafi Thiam still led with 3,052 points but followed by Anouk Vetter of the Netherlands with 2,969 points and Noor Vidts of Belgium with 2,931.
Then the 200m took place to conclude day one. The three athletes who recorded the best times were: Marie Vicente who clocked 23.50s for 1,029 points, followed by Noor Vidts with a time of 23.70s for 1,010 points and Anouk Vetter with 23.81s gaining her 999 points. Unfortunately Katarina Johnson-Thompson had to pull out due to injury but I know she’ll be back stronger than ever soon!
At the end of day one there was quite a shock on the leaderboard. Nafi Thiam, the favourite,was bumped down to 3rd position with 3,921 points behind Noor Vidts (3,941) and Anouk Vetter (3,968)
After a good night's sleep, the athletes were back in action on day two. The first event was the long jump with some great performances. The furthest jump was performed by Nafi Thiam who leapt 6.60m (1,040 points) followed by Kendall Wiliams who jumped 6.57m (1,030 points) and then Anouk Vetter with 6.47 (997 points)
Anouk Vetter continued to lead after the long jump however this time followed by Nafi Thiam and then Noor Vidts. Following the long jump came the penultimate event-the javelin. A crucial way to gain points before the make or break 800m.
The furthest throw came from Nafi Thiam who threw a huge 54.68m, however she was closely followed by Emma Oosterwegel with 54.60m and Carolin Schafer with 54.10m. Going into the last discipline Anouk Vetter was still leading however she was only 13 points ahead of Nafi Thiam.
The 800m, the last event to what would have been an exhausting two days for these athletes.
The three fastest times were performed by 3 women who had not come top three in the other events but showed brilliant grit in their final effort. The quickest was by Xenia Krizsan who completed it in 207.65 who just pipped Adrenna Sulek and Verena Mayr who both crossed the line in 2:07.92.
However the battle for a medal continued and, when the results came in, it was jubilation for reigning olympic champion Nafi Thiam who had beaten Anouk Vetter by 3 seconds with a time of 2:15.98 to her 2:18.72 to claim the gold medal. In the bronze medal position was
Emma Oosterwegel who ran 2:11.09.
GOLD: Nafi Thiam with 6,791 points
SILVER: Anouk Vetter with 6,689 points
Bronze: Emma Oosterwegel with 6,590 points
What an exciting and action packed heptathlon,with some amazing performances and inspirational achievements. Thank you very much for reading this report and I hope it widened your knowledge on the heptathlon.