Katarina Johnson-Thompson has work to do at the European Athletics Championships after the first morning of action in Rome.
The heptathlete trails two-time Olympic champion Nafissatou Thiam by 143 points following the 100 metres hurdles and the high jump.
Johnson-Thompson, the reigning world champion, ran 13.66 seconds in the hurdles, more than half a second down on her personal best, before jumping 1.83 metres in the high jump.
That was well adrift of Belgian Thiam, who cleared 1.95m to take command of the competition. She is more than 100 points ahead of team-mate Noor Vidts, with Johnson-Thompson in fourth.
Two places behind Johnson-Thompson is fellow British athlete Jade O’Dowda, who cleared four successive heights at the final attempt to match her countrywoman with 1.83m.
On the track, Jemma Reekie led three British qualifiers into the women’s 1,500m final along with Georgia Bell and Katie Snowden, while Elliot Giles and Thomas Randolph reached the men’s 800m semi-finals.
Lawrence Okoye is through to the men’s discus final, Jacob Fincham-Dukes jumped 8.18m – only two centimetres short of his personal best – to progress in the men’s long jump and Lizzie Bird made the women’s steeplechase final.
