Kate O'Connor in silver medal position with only one heptathlon event remaining

By Rachel Steinberg, PA, Tokyo

Ireland's Kate O'Connor is in the silver medal position with only one heptathlon event remaining at the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo.

Heading into the final 800-metre race, O'Connor has 5,743 points, behind the American Anna Hall.

Taliyah Brooks is in third place, while Britain's Katerina Johnson-Thompson sits in fourth place.

Olympic champion Nafi Thiam decided to withdraw from the competition, where she had been sitting eighth.

Thiam’s pre-championship build-up had been marred by a row with her federation.

She told Belgian newspaper DH Les Sports+: “It was difficult from the beginning. I tried to fight, to go through these difficulties, but clearly it does not follow. I have trouble explaining it myself.

“Clearly my body is not happy. I don’t want to do anything stupid, because I think that now, finishing would be for the principle.”