World Athletics Championship: Katarina Johnson-Thompson remains fifth after 800 metres
Katarina Johnson-Thompson ran a new PB in the 800 metres but still had to settle for fifth overall in the heptathlon.
Last Updated: 13/08/13 8:33pm
The 20-year-old Liverpool athlete went into the final event in contention for bronze, but despite a run of 2 minutes 07.64 seconds, she finished 28 points off the medals.
Her total of 6,449 points was a also her best-ever mark and it took four PBs and one national record from the athletes above her to keep her off the podium.
Ukraine's Ganna Melnichenko claimed the gold medal with a total of 6,586, 56 ahead of Canadian athlete Brianne Theisen Eaton.
Dafne Schippers set a Dutch national record to beat Germany's Claudia Rath and Johnson-Thompson to the final podium spot.
The 20-year-old had earlier put up fine performances in the two events on Tuesday morning and went into the closing 800 metres within touching distance of third place.
Johnson-Thompson is one of the strongest long jumpers in the multi-event world and proved that with a leap of 6.56 metres - a personal best and the second longest jump of the competition.
Weak links
That performance lifted her into fifth place overall but she was expected to drop back down the standings in the javelin, which along with the shot put is one of her weakest events.
"I know I let myself down in the high jump. That's where I should have got big points," Johnson-Thompson said of her poor performance in what is usually one of her strengths.
"It would have been a much easier race for me in the 800m, but I'm glad I've got that PB now in the 800m and I know I can always rely on that.
"But I can't let myself lose that many points in the throws. It's a bit embarrassing for me."
However she demolished her personal best with a throw of 40.86 metres in the final round, an improvement of more than two metres on her previous mark, to maintain fifth going into the 800m.
Britain's Andrew Osagie also failed to collected a medal as he came home fifth in the men's 800m final. Osagie ran 1:44.36 to finish just over a second behind winner Mohammed Aman, who passed American Nick Symmonds on the home straight.
Eilish McColgan, daughter of British running great Liz, was never in medal contention during the 3,000m steeplechase and eventually came home in tenth position.