Jessica Ennis-Hill leads heptathlon after solid first day

Jessica Ennis-Hill was firmly on track to retain her Olympic heptathlon title as she led the field by 72 points after the first day in Rio, but '˜Super Saturday' almost lost one of its key players as Greg Rutherford survived a major scare in the long jump.

Jessica Ennis-Hill will start Day 2 of the heptathlon in the lead

Rutherford kept his hopes of retaining his long jump title alive by the skin of his teeth as he scraped into the final on his last qualifying attempt.

The 29-year-old left himself on the brink of a shock elimination by fouling his first two efforts before pulling out a leap of 7.90 metres on his third and final jump to go through in 10th place out of 12 qualifiers.

Rutherford’s leap also kept the chance of a repeat of ‘Super Saturday’ on track, with his fellow London 2012 gold medallists Mo Farah and Jessica Ennis-Hill also bidding to defend their crowns in Rio today.

Katarina Johnson-Thompson had a shocker in the shot put

In the heptathlon, Ennis-Hill’s team-mate Katarina Johnson-Thompson’s hopes of challenging for her crown were dealt a major blow by a woeful performance in the shot put as she lay 100 points behind her compatriot in fourth place after four events.

Ennis-Hill will head into the second day of competition on 4,057 points, 101 down on the same stage at London 2012.

With three more events to come today - the long jump, javelin and 800 metres - the 30-year-old from Sheffield is well-placed to make history by becoming the first British woman to retain an Olympic title in athletics, an incredible achievement two years after the birth of her son Reggie.

Ennis-Hill and Johnson-Thompson was being talked up as a British head-to-head that could draw comparisons with the days of Seb Coe and Steve Ovett but the mouth-watering prospect of a titanic tussle for gold between the two heptathletes now looks unlikely to materialise.

Katarina Johnson-Thompson had a shocker in the shot put

Johnson-Thompson was visibly upset at the end of a day which had seen her perform brilliantly in the high jump, but the heir to her team-mate’s multi-eventing throne is still very much in medal contention, though, trailing second-placed Nafissatou Thiam of Belgium by only 28 points.

It could have been so much better but for that dreadful shot put showing.

The 23-year-old could only manage a best throw of 11.68m. The event is the Liverpool athlete’s weakest by far, but this was still a well below-par performance, given she has thrown a personal best of 13.14m this year.

She rectified the situation by clocking the fastest time in the 200m, her 23.26 seconds edging out Ennis-Hill’s 23.49secs, but was still left playing catch-up on her team-mate.

Ennis-Hill had to settle for a best throw in the shot of 13.86m, down on her best this year of 14.29m.

But Canada’s world No 1 Brianne Theisen-Eaton was struggling as she lay in sixth place overall, 186 points behind the leader.

The day started so promisingly for the British pair - and Johnson-Thompson in particular after she produced a British record clearance - and equal world heptathlon best - of 1.98m in the high jump.

It was some statement of intent from an athlete who was left distraught at last year’s World Championships in Beijing when three fouls in the long jump dashed her medal hopes. She will now be hoping her shot woes have not done the same.

Her team-mate, the defending champion, also got off to a flying start, clocking 12.84s in the 100m hurdles and then clearing 1.89m.

It was her third-fastest time since London 2012 - and her fastest in a heptathlon since then - and her best high jump since before the last Olympics.

Johnson-Thompson had clocked 13.48 over the hurdles, 0.11s down on her best this year, but a solid enough time given the rainy conditions at the start of the morning.

The Britons were hit by a wall of noise on their first morning of London 2012, a teenage Johnson-Thompson saying ‘wow’ at the roar which greeted her introduction.

There was no chance of that at a near empty Olympic Stadium for the start of competition here, even if the British fans were the ones making the most noise.

There looked to be barely a couple of thousand spectators in the 56,000-capacity venue when the action got under way in the morning and at the start of the evening session it was less than a fifth full as poor crowds continues to be an issue at these Games.

Elsewhere, Matthew Hudson-Smith clocked 45.26 to qualify for the semis of the 400m in third place, but there was agony for European champion Martyn Rooney, who retained hope of going through as a fastest loser following a time of 45.60 until the last of the seven heats knocked him out.

“It was awful, it’s just embarrassing,” was Rooney’s honest verdict.

Michael Rimmer qualified for the 800m semi-finals, but Elliot Giles, the European bronze medallist who has been troubled by hamstring issues, went out.

Ireland’s Mark English joined Rimmer in the next round.