Johnson-Thompson finishes strongly

Katarina Johnson-Thompson cleared 1.83 metres in the high jump
12 August 2013

Katarina Johnson-Thompson, Britain's heptathlon hope at the World Championships in the absence of the injured Jessica Ennis-Hill, closed the day sixth in the standings in Moscow.

The 20-year-old started the day promisingly, only for a poor performance in the shot put, one of her worst disciplines, to see her fall back.

Johnson-Thompson responded brilliantly and ended the day with a personal best 23.37 in the 200m, finishing the evening with 3739 points.

"The day has been mixed emotions as it always is with the heptathlon," she said.

"I had a good start in the hurdles with 13.48, and I was quite happy with where I finished in the 200m, it was just the high jump and shot put that let me down."

Meanwhile, Perri Shakes-Drayton demonstrated her medal credentials in the women's 400m hurdles with a confident run, pulling comfortably clear of defending champion Lashinda Demus of the United States and Russia's Olympic gold medallist Natalya Antyukh.

The Londoner won her heat in 54.42 to progress as easily the fastest qualifier.

But her rival for the gold, Czech Zuzana Hejnova, also looked impressive, able to slow to a jog metres from the line such was her lead to win in 55.25.

Shakes-Drayton is aiming to make up for the agony on missing out on a place in the Olympic final in her home city by following in the footsteps of Sally Gunnell and taking the world crown.

She said: "It felt good, it was relief - I'm through without anything happening. I knew I was more than capable of making it through, but it's just pure relief.

"I just need to rest and recover properly and tomorrow's another day."

Scotland's Eilidh Child, also enjoying the season of her life, went through to the semi-finals after finishing second in her heat in 55.17, and Meghan Beesley made it a full contingent in the next round by also coming second in 55.45.

Asha Philip will not have a chance at 100m glory as the 2007 World Youth Championships gold medallist could only finish seventh in the semi-final, with a time of 11.35 secs.

"I'm slightly disappointed in myself," Philip told the BBC. "I came here to run a PB but I didn't achieve it. But it's a learning curve, I'm learning all the time."

Meanwhile, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce hammered home Jamaica's sprinting dominance by hurtling to 100 metres gold.

A day after fellow Olympic champion Usain Bolt powered to the men's title, Fraser-Pryce blew away her opposition to win in 10.71 seconds, the fastest time in the world this year.

Sporting pink hair extensions to match her pink spikes, the pocket rocket exploded out of the blocks as if fired from a cannon and was away and gone before the rest of the field had a chance to react.

Murielle Ahoure of the Ivory Coast took silver in 10.93secs to become the first African woman to win a medal in the women's sprints at the World Championships. The American defending champion Carmelita Jeter was third in 10.94s.

New Zealand's Valerie Adams won her fourth straight world title in the shot put with a throw of 20.88m, beating Germany's Christina Schwanitz into silver, with China's Gong Lijiao third.

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