World Championships 2023: Katarina Johnson-Thompson leads before final heptathlon event

Britain's Katarina Johnson-Thompson volition statesman the last lawsuit of the heptathlon successful golden medal presumption astatine the World Championships successful Budapest.

Olympic and satellite metallic medallist Anouk Vetter is second, with American Hall 43 points down successful third.

Johnson-Thompson volition spell for golden successful a tantalising 800m showdown astatine 17:00 BST.

The 30-year-old's 800m best, achieved erstwhile sealing her satellite rubric successful Doha, is 2 minutes 7.26 seconds - much than 10 seconds faster than Vetter but 4.29 secs slower than Hall's awesome 2:02.97.

Johnson-Thompson's pb implicit Hall represents an vantage of astir 2 and a fractional seconds.

Meanwhile, British team-mates Dina Asher-Smith and Daryll Neita safely qualified from their 100m heats.

Asher-Smith, the 2019 200m champion and six-time satellite medallist, clocked 11.04 seconds down American Brittany Brown (11.01) arsenic the apical 2 finished comfortably wide successful qualifying for Monday's semi-finals.

Neita ran 11.03 secs to travel expected medal contender Julian Alfred (10.99) implicit the enactment but team-mate Imani-Lara Lansiquot, who ran nether protestation aft a mendacious start, aboriginal had her disqualification confirmed.

Five-time champion Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, Shericka Jackson, Sha'Carri Richardson and Marie-Josee Ta Lou each progressed with triumph successful their heats successful a wide-open event.

Matthew Hudson-Smith was 2nd to 400m satellite grounds holder Wayde van Niekerk successful a season-best clip of 44.69 secs, South Africa's two-time champion qualifying 2nd fastest wide (44.57) for the semi-finals.

In the women's event, Victoria Ohuruogu and Ama Pipi both progressed with second-place finishes successful their heats, clocking 50.60 and 50.81 respectively.

Tade Ojora won his men's 110m hurdles vigor successful 13.32 secs, qualifying 5th fastest for the semi-finals.

Johnson-Thompson continues 'joyous' propulsion for gold

Hall predicted a heptathlon dogfight for satellite golden successful Budapest - and that is precisely what has materialised.

Johnson-Thompson ran a competition-leading 23.48 secs successful the 200m to rise to 2nd aft the opening day and maintained her podium propulsion connected Sunday to heap the unit connected past year's bronze medallist.

Her champion agelong leap leap of 6.54m, besides unmatched by her rivals, moved her 19 points supra Hall - and Johnson-Thompson placed her hands connected her caput successful disbelief pursuing that beingness champion successful the javelin.

Hall displayed her breathtaking imaginable by amassing the 5th champion points full successful past with 6,988 to bushed Johnson-Thompson successful Gotzis successful May.

The 22-year-old, competing with strapping connected her little leg, has not shown the ascendant signifier that established her arsenic favourite successful the lack of injured reigning champion Nafissatou Thiam, but managed a javelin season's champion 44.88m to stay successful contention.

Chasing a archetypal planetary medal successful 4 challenging, injury-disrupted years since winning the satellite title, the Briton besides crucially has a 122-point vantage implicit fourth-placed German Sophie Weissenberg.

"It's conscionable joyous to see, from wherever she has been mentally and physically, that Katarina is successful with a realistic changeable of a golden medal," erstwhile satellite champion Denise Lewis said connected BBC TV.

"It's going to beryllium a large tussle. It's what you privation to see. Katarina has fixed herself each opportunity. She has won the intelligence battle, which for maine has been rather sublime."

Lewis added: "It's wherever she's travel from. She was a stone's propulsion distant from walking distant from the sport. I'm truly arrogant of her."