Olympics-Athletics-World champion Johnson-Thompson out injured, Vetter leads
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TOKYO — Heptathlon world champion Katarina Johnson-Thompson’s Olympic bid ended abruptly on Wednesday when she collapsed to the track during the 200 meters event, months after she suffered an Achilles tendon injury.
The Briton won her hurdles heat and cleared 1.86 meters in the high jump before pulling up in the fourth event, crumpling to the ground and grasping her right ankle as volunteers offered her a wheelchair to take her off the track.
Johnson-Thompson waved them away, bravely rising to her feet and hobbling to the finish line as the few onlookers inside the Olympic Stadium applauded her.
The Netherlands’ Anouk Vetter led through the first day of competition, with Belgium’s Noor Vidts second in the standings and her compatriot, defending Olympic champion Nafissatou Thiam, third.
The heptathlon will resume on Thursday, beginning with the long jump. (Reporting by Amy Tennery; Editing by Peter Rutherford and Ed Osmond )