Katarina Johnson-Thompson on the comeback which saw her crowned heptathlon queen again
From “spectator” to centre stage. Katarina Johnson-Thompson went from feeling like she had been on the outside looking in at Oregon 2022 to becoming the world heptathlon champion for the second time at Budapest 2023.
Fate had seemed to be conspiring against her, with injury upon injury continually thwarting any ambition she might have held of building on that first global gold from Doha 2019. Back in May, however, she finished second at the prestigious Hypomeeting in Götzis with a score of 6556, her best since breaking the British record with 6981 in Qatar.
An epic battle with America’s Anna Hall began to unfold in Hungary. Johnson-Thompson sat in second overnight after finishing the first day of competition with the fastest 200m of the field in 23.48.
She then moved into the lead following the long jump before a javelin PB of 46.14m meant she could dare to dream. Every sinew was stretched in the final event, the 800m, as the Liverpool Harrier took almost two seconds from her PB to clock 2:05.63 and win by 20 points from Hall with a tally of 6740.
Very much back in training under the guidance of coach Aston Moore, the AW British Female Athlete of the Year gave us her thoughts on a performance she treasures.
Katarina Johnson-Thompson (Getty)
What’s the first word that comes to mind which would sum up your 2023?
Resurrection.
What’s the first image that comes into your mind when you think of this year?
The scoreboard showing 46m in Budapest after my javelin.
What were your expectations at the start of the year? What would you have been happy with at that point?
The path I’m on is towards the Olympics next year. That is the target that Aston and I set but I’ve always said to myself I want to be in the fight for a medal come the last event so although this year was a step in the process, I did want a medal.
Katarina Johnson-Thompson (Mark Shearman)
You said in Budapest that the real low point was Oregon 2022 where you didn’t feel like a contender. How difficult was it to put yourself through all of the training again to see if you could come back?
Yeah, it was difficult and it was a process. Aston really helped with that. He turned the process into small, digestible blocks so it became a case of just completing certain tasks or sessions or blocks of training and then we moved onto the next thing.
Was there a moment which gave you that glimmer of hope…
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