Rexburg's Chari Hawkins struggles in her Olympic debut

Chari Hawkins’ Olympic debut didn’t go exactly as planned Thursday.

The Rexburg native ended Day 1 of the heptathlon in 22nd place at Saint-Denis, France. The former Madison High School and Utah State standout, is currently last in the field among active competitors.

“I have never in my life been so … excited to do a heptathlon before,” Hawkins said in a social media post right before her warmups that morning. “The gratitude I feel is so overwhelming.”

The 33-year-old got off to a good start by taking fifth in the 100-meter hurdles with a time of 13.16 seconds. But that was followed up with a less than ideal showing in the high jump.

Less than two months after finishing second in the high jump at the U.S. Olympic Team Trials in Eugene, Oregon, she was the only athlete to no-height the event.

After successful jumps at 1.56, 1.59, 1.62, 1.65 and 1.68 meters, Hawkins failed to clear the 1.71-meter mark in three consecutive attempts, which included clipping the bar. So it resulted in her receiving no points.

Hawkins did bounce-back later that afternoon in the shot put and the 200-meter dash. She was 17th in the shot (13.64) and 15th in the 200 (24.49 seconds for 1,704 combined points. But at 2,804 total points, Hawkins still has her work cut out for her.

She is 723 points back of the next closest competitor and 1,152 from medal contention. Hawkins, who took second at the U.S. Olympic Team Trials, still has the long jump, the javelin and the 800-meter race Friday to try and make up some ground.

Great Britain’s Katarina Johnson-Thompson sits in first place with 4,055 points. Anne Hall, the reigning U.S. Olympic Team Trials champion, and Taliyah Brooks, who Hawkins beat back in June, are third and seventh, respectively.

Hawkins, who is the first Utah State athlete to compete in an Olympic games since James Parker in 2004, qualified for the games by recording a personal-best 6,456 points.