Johnson-Thompson in medal hunt before heptathlon decider

Defending champion Katarina Johnson-Thompson will race for a fourth global medal in the heptathlon's concluding 800m at the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo.

Two-time world champion Johnson-Thompson will line up for the two-lap event at 13:11 BST in fourth position, after falling one place from third in the javelin.

The British 32-year-old is on 5,578 points - 84 points behind third-placed American Taliyah Brooks and 165 points behind Ireland's Kate O'Connor, who is on course for silver.

Johnson-Thompson has an 800m personal best which is 8.5 seconds quicker than Brooks', whom she will need to beat by about six seconds to get bronze.

American Anna Hall, with the fastest 800m time in the field, is 122 points clear of O'Connor and is poised to win her first global heptathlon title.

Briton Jade O'Dowda is eighth but team-mate Abigail Pawlett did not start the javelin after suffering a nasty fall during Friday's opening 100m hurdles event.

Earlier on Saturday, three-time Olympic champion Nafi Thiam withdrew from the competition.

Belgium's Olympic champion Thiam ended the penultimate session in eighth place - however her coach later confirmed that she would not continue.

"I withdrew her from the competition," said Michael van der Plaetsen, according to Belgium's national press agency.

Thiam, who has split the past four world golds with Johnson-Thompson, had a disrupted build-up to the championships amid 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, relating to a sponsor conflict.

Prior to her withdrawal, Thiam told Belgian newspaper DH Les Sports+: "It was difficult from the beginning. I tried to fight, to go through these difficulties, but clearly it does not follow. I have trouble explaining it myself.

"Clearly my body is not happy. I don't want to do anything stupid, because I think that now, finishing would be for the principle."

'Hard to get going' - but Johnson-Thompson in medal contention

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 behind Thiam 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, was that silver medallist Hall amassed 156 points more than she had at this point two years ago.

Johnson-Thompson won her first Olympic medal in Paris last summer

Johnson-Thompson was delighted for O'Dowda, who won their opening 100m hurdles race in a personal best 13.34 seconds, ahead of her British team-mate 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 in the high jump, ensuring she matched Hall, as Thiam cleared 1.89m.

And she signed off on day one with the third-fastest 200m time, behind Hall and fellow Briton Pawlett, who recovered from a nasty fall in the 100m hurdles.

There was a sense of what might have been for Johnson-Thompson in the long jump, after she marginally fouled on a much bigger leap with her third and final attempt.

Returning to action on Saturday night, she managed a javelin best of 41.91m, ranking 16th overall in what is typically one of her weakest events.

Hall's 800m personal best of 2:01.23 equates to 1097 points - which would give her a final total of 6,962.

Johnson-Thompson ran 2:04.90 (1041) on her way to Olympic silver last year, which would put her on 6,619 points and in bronze medal position based on personal best times.

That is better than O'Connor (2:10.46 - 958 points) and Brooks (2:13.39 - 916 points), who would theoretically finish second (6,701) and fourth (6,578) respectively.

Hodgkinson and Hunter Bell take aim at British one-two

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.