Johnson-Thompson in heptathlon medal hunt after first day

Defending champion Katarina Johnson-Thompson said she feels "excited" to resume her bid for a third world heptathlon title after putting herself into medal contention in Tokyo.

Johnson-Thompson will begin the final day of the competition in third place on 3893 points, with American Anna Hall leading the standings at the halfway stage (4154 points) ahead of Ireland's Kate O'Connor (3906 points).

Belgium's Nafi Thiam, who beat Johnson-Thompson to Olympic gold last year, is sixth (3818 points) after ranking eighth across Friday's concluding 200m races.

The heptathlon resumes with the long jump on Saturday morning (03:35 BST), before the javelin (11:00) precedes the deciding 800m (13:11).

"It was a tough timetable today, I'm not going to lie. Normally we have the full day to spread out the events but it was back-to-back-to-back, which shows in the 200m times for everyone," Johnson-Thompson told BBC Sport.

"A solid first day for me, I've had a lot worse and I've had a lot better. I just need to go home and recover and come back tomorrow.

"My day two has got better in recent years, two of my best events are day two so I'm excited for tomorrow."

Johnson-Thompson was just 36 points away from gold at Paris 2024 - equating to roughly a two-second difference in the 800m - but still celebrated the end of her wait for an Olympic medal with silver at her fourth Games.

On Friday, she returned to the stadium where she suffered Olympic heartbreak four years ago, when her medal ambitions were ruined by a calf injury sustained during the 200m.

Johnson-Thompson told BBC Sport she was not seeking redemption in the Japanese capital, where she ended day one only 12 points down on the tally she achieved on her way to world gold in 2023.

The problem, however, is that silver medallist Hall has amassed 156 points more than she had at this point two years ago.

Johnson-Thompson was delighted for British team-mate Jade O'Dowda, who won their opening 100m hurdles race in a personal best 13.34 seconds, ahead of Johnson-Thompson in a season's best 13.44.

She was relieved to stay in the competition with a clearance at 1.86m with her third and final attempt, ensuring she matched Hall, as Thiam cleared 1.89m.

And she signed off with the third-fastest 200m time, behind Hall and fellow Briton Abigail Pawlett, who recovered from a nasty fall at the end of the 100m hurdles to end the day 14th (3698 points) - one place above Jade O'Dowda (3696 points).

Thiam, who has split the past four world golds with Johnson-Thompson, could not assert herself on the opening day following a build-up disrupted by a disagreement with Belgian Athletics.

The 31-year-old's federation have rejected her claims that she was blocked from joining the team camp before the championships for refusing to sign its code of conduct.

Great Britain's Keely Hodgkinson and Georgia Hunter Bell will meet in the women's 800m final on Sunday after the two training partners continued their seamless progress through the rounds.

After Olympic 800m champion Hodgkinson and Olympic 1500m bronze medallist Hunter Bell both won their heats on Thursday, they safely finished inside the top two automatic qualification places in their respective semi-finals.

Hodgkinson won her heat in one minute 57.53 seconds, while Hunter Bell crossed the line behind Kenya's defending champion Mary Moraa.

They will attempt to become the first British athletes to secure a one-two at a global championships since Christine Ohuruogu and Nicola Sanders in the women's 400m in the Japanese city of Osaka, 18 years ago.

Hodgkinson is the favourite, having ended her wait for a first global title last summer and returned from a 12-month injury-enforced absence to clock the fastest time in the world this year.

"I'm happy to be in my fifth world finals in a row. I'm really happy to do that and be in contention for another medal," Hodgkinson said.

"This would mean more to me than last year, just the journey here makes it that much sweeter.

"It's so difficult to get here anyway, and then to come here and perform, especially off the year that I've had - I'm just grateful to be running and want to put together a performance I'm proud of. I want to be able to say I left it all out there."

George Mills progressed safely to the final of the men's 5,000m on Sunday by finishing fourth in his heat.