The duel is on.
Billed as a clash between Great Britain’s Jessica Ennis-Hill and Katarina Johnson-Thompson, the pair lead the way after the first day of the heptathlon at the IAAF World Championships in Beijing.
Olympic champion Ennis-Hill is back in the major events after giving birth last year and it is like she has not been away.
She is first overnight by 80 points with 4005 from teammate Johnson-Thompson, the European Indoor pentathlon champion, and Nadine Visser, of the Netherlands, third with 3871.
As Ukraine’s defending champion Hanna Kasyanova did not start, Visser led after the first event, the 100m hurdles, with 1153 after her run of 12.81 as she beat Ennis-Hill (12.91) and Canada’s Brianne Theisen-Eaton (12.98).
Then Johnson-Thompson, who was stuttering on her run-up, could not believe it as she went over at 1.89m to win the high jump having run a personal best of 13.37 in the hurdles.
No other athlete cleared that mark but Ennis-Hill (1.86m) was second best on countback and that was enough to put her in front after two events (2192) from Johnson-Thompson (2162) and Visser (2131).
Belgium’s Nafissatou Thiam was 10th but she really made an impression in the third discipline, the shot put, with a brilliant personal best of 15.24m in the second round.
Ennis-Hill was back in 15th with 13.73m but she remained in front overall with 2968 from Thiam with 2934 and Nadine Broersen, of the Netherlands, with 2930. Johnson-Thompson was ninth with 2854, despite a personal best of 12.47m.
But the last heat of the 200m changed the picture again as Johnson-Thompson (23.08) won from Ennis-Hill (23.42) and Visser (23.78). They were the top three on times and the trio ended day one on top in that order.
'I am really happy to be in this position right now,' said Ennis-Hill.
Johnson-Thompson said: 'The 200m is always good for me. With the shot put pb, it has been a good day one.'
Jimmy Vicaut was the most impressive European sprinter as he reached the semi-finals of the 100m with the third best time overall (9.92) as he won heat five and he will be joined in the semi-finals by French teammate Christophe Lemaitre (10.24) and Britain’s Chijindu Ujah (10.05) among the other Europeans.
In the 400m hurdles, Russia’s Denis Kudryavtsev was second in qualifying with a personal best (48.51) and Switzerland’s European champion Kariem Hussein (49.08) also made it through, while Bulgaria’s Gabriela Petrova (14.44m) was first in the triple jump qualifying.
Pavel Fajdek, the defending champion, is the clear favourite in the hammer and the Polish star reached the final with the best throw in the qualifying competition.
A distance of 77m was the mark to guarantee a spot in the final and Fajdek achieved 78.38m with his second attempt after 76.46m with his opening effort.
Britain’s Nick Miller (77.42m) was second best overall with Russia’s Sergey Litvinov (76.79m) third as Hungary’s Olympic and double European champion Krisztian Pars (75.37m) make it through in ninth.
Poland’s Krystian Zalewski did not just find himself in the quickest of the three heats of the 3000m steeplechase but it was race including Kenya’s Ezekiel Kemboi, the double Olympic champion who is chasing his fourth successive world gold.
And it worked to his advantage as he qualified for the final (8:25.10) in fourth as Kemboi won (8:24.75).
Britain’s Laura Muir (4:05.53) was the fastest of six Europeans to progress into the semi-finals of the 1500m after three heats which ended in drama for her teammate Laura Weightman. She fell as she crossed the line in qualifying (4:06.13) and ended with a cut above her right eye.
In the men’s 800m, Spain’s Kevin Lopez was the best of the Europeans with the third fastest time (1:46.06) with European champion Adam Kszczot, of Poland, progressing with the ninth quickest (1:46.62).