Great Britain’s Katarina Johnson-Thompson kicked off her heptathlon challenge at the World Championships in Doha with a huge personal best in the 100 metres hurdles.
The 26-year-old, who is expected to challenge favourite and defending champion Nafi Thiam, ran 13.09 seconds – smashing her previous quickest time of 13.29secs.
Four athletes went faster than Johnson-Thompson in the third and final heat.
A great start to proceedings for the Brits 🇬🇧 in Doha: ✅ @JohnsonThompson clocks 13.09s to win her 100m hurdles heat in the heptathlon✅ @sophiemac10 produces a PB (18.61m) to reach the women's shot put final#WorldAthleticsChamps pic.twitter.com/ShbJdtpi26 — Team GB (@TeamGB) October 2, 2019
America’s Kendell Williams led the way with 1,189 points after running 12.58, with Johnson-Thompson’s effort worth 1,111.
Thiam clocked 13.36 to lie 10th with 1,071 after the opening event.
The heptathletes compete in the high jump, shot put and 200m at the Khalifa International Stadium later on Wednesday.
Johnson-Thompson and defending champion Thiam went blow for blow in the high jump.
The pair both cleared 1.95m but could not go higher as they collected 1,171 points from the event ahead of the shot put, one of Johnson-Thompson’s weaker events.
