England’s Katarina Johnson-Thompson is on the brink of heptathlon gold at the Commonwealth Games.
The 25-year-old leads by 174 points with just the 800 metres remaining at the Gold Coast’s Carrara Stadium.
She won the long jump on Friday morning before throwing 40.46m in the javelin and will be expected to wrap up the title in the final event.
The Liverpudlian admitted she was not at her best on the first day but she still looked comfortable in Australia.
She held a 126-point lead overnight after the first four events and stretched it to 225 after winning the long jump with a leap of 6.50m – 42 centimetres down on her personal best.
.@JohnsonThompson is still leading the heptathlon with 1️⃣ event to go, while @niamhemerson remains just outside the medal places in 4th.#TeamAndCountry pic.twitter.com/i0fsVmWzvM
— Team England (@TeamEngland) April 13, 2018
It was cut when she threw 40.46m in the javelin compared to Canadian Nina Schultz’s effort of 43.11m.
Johnson-Thompson admitted on Thursday she would need to “fight” for the title as she was feeling tired following the quick turnaround from the World Indoors.
Johnson-Thompson had set herself a 2018 target of two golds and another medal from the World Indoor Championships, Commonwealth Games and August’s European Championships.
She is close to adding the Commonwealth title to the pentathlon crown she won in Birmingham in March.
But there will be questions raised about the standard of competition, with Schultz – who is second – placed 40th in the world.
Johnson-Thompson is also yet to face world and Olympic champion Nafi Thiam, Carolin Schafer and Anouk Vetter – who completed the top three at last year’s worlds – this year.
England team-mate Niamh Emerson sits fourth.