Carolina Kluft looks set for two laps of honour tonight in the 800 metres race which will confirm her as Heptathlon World champion for a third time.
The Swede threw well in the Javelin, scoring 821 points for her season’s best 47.98m. It was the sixth best performance of the competition - middling by Kluft’s usual competitive standards - but enough to maintain a healthy advantage over Lyudmila Blonska.
The Ukrainian, after a 47.77m throw (earning 817pts), consolidated her silver medal position, but 142pt adrift of Kluft.
The race for the bronze medal, though, could be frantic.
Lilli Schwarzkopf topped the Javelin list wih a PB 54.44m throw for 946pts, propelling her up the standings to sixth overall, just ahead of German team mate Jennifer Oeser (42.10m/727pts).
But ahead of them, Austra Skujyte (LTU) had moved into bronze position thanks to her 52.63m throw (911pts).
The two Britons, both with problems in the Javelin, avoided complete disaster: Jessica Ennis threw two PBs, with a third-round 38.07m (630pts) keeping her in the hunt, now 43pts down overall on her team mate, Sotherton, whose best was a tentative 31.90m attempt for 513pts, and still the chance of a medal.
Skujyte will need to run within 4sec of Sotherton to keep herself in third place in the 800m.
Standings after six of the seven events:
1, Kluft 6105
2, Blonska 5963
3, Skujyte 5605
4, Sotherton 5568
5, Ennis 5525
6, Schwarzkopf 5514
Osaka 2007 News Team/sd
