The women's heptathlon at the 2024 Summer Olympics was held in Paris, France, on 8 and 9 August 2024. This was the 11th time that the event was contested at the Summer Olympics. Nafissatou Thiam became the first women ever to win the gold medal in heptathlon three Olympics in a row.[1]
Summary
This was the 11th appearance of the heptathlon event, having appeared in every Olympic athletics programme since 1984. The event featured the entire podium from the previous edition, as well as the podium from the two most recent world championships. Reigning Olympic champion Nafissatou Thiam was aiming to become the first woman to successfully win three Olympic heptathlon titles. Reining world champion Katarina Johnson-Thompson was looking to win her first Olympic medal, after finishing off the podium in the past three editions. Other medal contenders were double world indoor champion Noor Vidts, who finished fourth in the previous edition, returning Olympic silver medalist Anouk Vetter and multiple world-medalists Anna Hall.
Day one
In the first event, the 100 m hurdles, Annik Kälin of Switzerland recorded the fastest time. Her time of 12.87 s was a personal best. Additionally, Kälin was the only athlete to record a time under 13 seconds. The top 3 was rounded out by American Taliyah Brooks and Noor Vidts, the latter also running a personal best. Johnson-Thompson, finishing in eight, recorded a season's best.
Drama came in the second event, the high jump, for American Chari Hawkins, who had three failed attempts at her opening height of 1.71 m. This meant that she had scored 0 points in the event and that winning a medal became virtually impossible for her. Nevertheless, she decided to continue her heptathlon after this event. For the longest time, it was a three-way battle between Thiam, Johnson-Thompson and Hall. Thiam was the first of the three to go clear at 1.92 m. Johnson-Thompson and Hall both recorded two failures on their first two attempts. On her third attempt, Johnson-Thompson cleared the bar, whereas Hall did not. This meant that Johnson-Thompson would continue with Thiam on the next height, 1.95 m. Ultimately, both women recorded three failures at this height, meaning both women were awarded the same amount of points. Lower in the standings, Kälin and Vetter both recorded season's bests.
The heptathlon continued in the shot put. Thiam extended her winning streak, recording a season's best of 15.54 m, almost half a meter clear of second place finisher Vetter. Vetter recorded a distance of 15.07, which was the only other distance to cross the 15 m mark. Vidts finished in third, with a distance of 14.57 m. Emma Oosterwegel, in fourth, and Johnson-Thompson, in fifth, both recorded personal bests.
The final event of the first day was the 200 metres.The event was won by Johnson-Thompson, who recorded a time of 23.44 s. Italian Sveva Gerevini and Dutchwoman Sofie Dokter rounded out the top 3. Thiam, who finished in 13th, recorded a seasons-best.
After the first day, Johnson-Thompson had the lead with 4055 points, 48 points ahead of second-placer Thiam. Hall rounded out the top 3, with a total of 3956 points.
Day two
The second day started with the long jump. The event was won by Martha Araújo, who took the win with a jump of 6.61 m in her final attempt. Kälin finished in second, just two centimetres behind the Colombian. Thiam, Vidts and Johnson-Thompson all followed, with just 1 centimetre separating the three of them. Vetter attained a small injury during the event, deciding to withdraw from the heptathlon after this event.
The penultimate event was the javelin throw. In the absence of Vetter, Thiam won the javelin throw, recording a season's best. Vetter's teammate Oosterwegel and Irish athlete Kate O'Connor rounded out the top 3. A bit lower down in the standings, Hall and Vidts both recorded personal bests.
The final event was the 800 metres. Prior to the event, Thiam had a 121-point lead over Johnson-Thompson. Despite this, the fight for the gold was going to be close, as Johnson-Thompson was a significantly better 800 meter-runner than Thiam. Vidts, Kälin and Hall were in 3rd, 4th and 5th place respectively.
At the gun, Hall immediately went to the front, creating a 5-meter gap with the rest of the field. Behind her, a chasing group formed of Johnson-Thompson, Vidts and Thiam respectively. At the bell, Hall recorded the fastest split time of 58.8 s. Johnson-Thompson and Vidts were behind her, recording a time of just over 1 minute. Thiam had fallen further to the back, meanwhile Hungarian Xénia Krizsán had joined Johnson-Thompson and Vidts in the chasing group. At the finish line, Hall claimed victory in the event. Johnson-Thompson finished right behind her in second, after distancing herself from the rest of the chasing group in the home stretch. After that, Vidts and Krizsán crossed the finish line. Thiam ended up finishing a few seconds later, in 9th place. Due to the fast-paced races, 9 out of the 10 first finishers recorded personal bests, with event winner Hall being the sole exception.
After the scores of the final event were calculated and added up, Thiam emerged victorious, with a total of 6880 points. Johnson-Thompson finished in second, just 32 points behind Thiam. With this victory, Thiam became the most successful athlete in Olympic heptathlon history, as she is now the only athlete with 3 gold medals in the event. Johnson-Thompson's silver medal meant she won her first Olympic medal at her fourth Olympics. Vidts claimed the bronze medal in a personal best of 6707 points, also winning her first Olympic medal. Rounding out the top 5 were Kälin and Hall.
Records
Prior to the competition, the existing world, Olympic, and area records were as follows:
* – Anouk Vetter retired after long jump and did not participate in the remaining events.
** – Sophie Weißenberg was injured in the warmups before the 100 metres hurdles and did not participate in any events.
