PARIS -- Team GB's Katarina Johnson-Thompson won silver in the Olympic heptathlon on Friday, falling just shy of now three-time gold medallist Nafissatou Thiam of Belgium.
Johnson-Thompson needed to overcome a 121-point gap over Thiam heading into the final event, the 800-metres, which meant she would need to finish 8.5 seconds ahead of her to take gold.
There was a very brief moment where Thiam could have seen gold slip away when she was tripped after 300 metres, but she remained on her feet.
By the end, despite a personal best time of 2 minutes 4.90 seconds, Thompson was just pipped to gold as Thiam finished only just under six seconds behind her, also recording a personal best.
The Brit, who arrived as the reigning world champion, was hoping to emulate her former mentor Jessica Ennis-Hill, who won gold at London 2012 and silver at Rio 2016. Johnson-Thompson's silver medal is the first of her career at her fourth Games.
Day one ended with Johnson-Thompson having found some of her best form in years, with a season's best in 110-metre hurdles before matching Thiam in the high jump. She also put in a solid effort in the shot put before winning the 200 metres.
On Friday morning, Johnson-Thompson managed to jump 6.4 metres in Friday's long jump, just one centimetre shy of Thiam's effort of 6.41 metres.
The Brit then threw a season's best of 45.49 metres in the javelin throw, but she saw her lead disappear when Thiam threw a huge 54.04 metres, creating a lead that proved insurmountable.
"I can't even describe the words that this weekend has taken," Johnson-Thompson said. "I'm just so relieved, I'm so happy, so so happy to add an Olympic medal to my collection. It's the only one I didn't have. It's been so hard getting back to this point so I'm so relieved. I really don't know what to say at the minute, I'm so overwhelmed.
"In the lead up to this Games, all I've been saying is I wanted to have a chance. Obviously I wanted a medal, but I wanted a chance when I turned the line at the start of the 800 metres. I had a chance, I had an eight second, far off chance, but that's what this sport is, getting to that point and seeing who had it at the end. I can't complain.
"Nafi ran a PB and she's probably the greatest of all time. I'm so blessed to be having these big rivalries with one of the best of all time and I ran a PB myself and that's all I can ask of myself."
Johnson-Thompson made her Olympic debut as a 19-year-old at London 2012, finishing in 13th place. She improved to sixth overall at Rio 2016 amid a difficult spell in her career.
She achieved a breakthrough in 2019, becoming world champion for the first time in Doha, setting up expectations of a medal chance at Tokyo 2020. But she had to withdraw midway through the year-delayed Games with a calf injury.