Katarina Johnson-Thompson set three new private bests and ran the ‘easiest 800m’ of her life to win gold on the World Athletics Championships. Now, all that eludes her is an Olympic medal…
By Miriam Walker-Khan
Final Up to date: 19/12/23 10:20am
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Heptathlon world champion Katarina Johnson-Thompson displays on a memorable 2023, her work as an envoy for the Liverpool FC Basis and her ambitions forward of the Paris Olympics
Heptathlon world champion Katarina Johnson-Thompson displays on a memorable 2023, her work as an envoy for the Liverpool FC Basis and her ambitions forward of the Paris Olympics
In August, Liverpool’s Katarina Johnson-Thompson received the second heptathlon world title of her profession on the World Athletics Championships in Budapest.
However going into the Championships, the British record-holder for heptathlon says she felt like an underdog.
“I entered that competition really believing in myself,” Johnson-Thompson advised Sky Sports activities Information. “I knew I was in good shape and I could do well. But I didn’t really get written up in any of the articles pre-Champs, I didn’t even get put on the GB poster going into it from World Athletics.
Katarina Johnson-Thompson is focusing on Olympics success in Paris subsequent summer time
“It was a kind of issues. I used to be like, ‘oh I am simply not even thought of as a competitor anymore.”
Johnson-Thompson said overcoming that feeling and being so focused in the two-day, seven-discipline event was something that “completely drained” her.
“But it surely was one thing that needed to be achieved,” she said. “To get that perception in myself, it was purely due to the staff I had round me.”
The 30-year-old says the more people believe in her, the more she believes in herself, and feeling like she wasn’t considered a top competitor going into Budapest motivated her to win the World Championships and show people “you do have to consider in me”.
“That is one thing I have been attempting to vary my entire profession – the insecurity,” she said. “I am hopefully going into Paris with everybody’s perception again, and hope for me to have this comfortable Olympics. I need to take that vitality and develop with that vitality of individuals wanting me to do effectively.”
‘It’s been a hard few years’
In Budapest, Johnson-Thompson recorded personal bests in the javelin, shot put and 800m. Impressive at any point – let alone after rupturing her Achilles in 2020 and tearing a calf muscle in 2021 at the Tokyo Olympics, which forced her to withdraw.
“It has been a tough few years. However I am simply so comfortable I used to be in a position to claw again kind and my aggressive spirit and all the things that it wanted to win that medal,” Johnson-Thompson said. “I nonetheless actually cannot put it into phrases. However I’ve nonetheless acquired that feeling of gratitude, happiness, pleasure, simply all the things that comes with what occurred.”
So it’s no surprise that going into an Olympic year, the goal is to stay injury free.
Katarina Johnson-Thompson is a back-to-back heptathlon gold medallist at the World Athletics Championships
An Olympic medal is the only thing that eludes Johnson-Thompson, and although 2024 will be her fourth Games, she’s already had her fair share of Olympic heartbreak. At Rio in 2016, Johnson-Thompson finished in sixth place, but in Tokyo, a devastating calf injury she suffered in the 200m crushed her hopes of an Olympic medal.
So how does she feel in the lead up to Paris 2024?
“I am not excited about an Olympic gold,” she said. “I’ve spent the final two Olympic cycles excited about an Olympic medal. It by no means went my approach. And I feel the very best or most mature factor to make use of my expertise with is simply ensuring I get there wholesome.
Johnson-Thompson took sixth within the Rio Olympics and did not end the occasion in Tokyo
“I’m just taking it day by day, week by week. And I don’t know if that’s a coping mechanism and I’m just lying to myself now because it is such an important moment in my life. But at the minute, I’m completely chilled, just trying to be the best I can be each day in training and then get there healthy.
“My coach at all times says he’ll prepare me to win an Olympic medal or a world medal. However on the day that athletes resolve which order that is going to be and that utterly calms me. Budapest was such a contented bonus a 12 months early that has given us a lot confidence going into Paris now that we’re doing the proper factor.”
Plus, she now has the experience of three Olympic Games to take with her to Paris. And competing with the best of the best is something Johnson-Thompson has always been used to after growing up with 2012 Olympic champion Jess Ennis-Hill.
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Jessica Ennis-Hill discusses how women’s sport kits can affect athletes’ confidence, and admits she felt self-conscious at times during her career
“Since I used to be 19 I have been competing towards the very best rivals in heptathlon in historical past,” she added. “In 2012, Jess taught me a lot expectation. After which she taught me a lot once more in 2016 about rivalry and stress.”
Although current Olympic champion Nafi Thiam did not compete in Budapest due to injury, the current depth of the heptathlon goes far beyond the Belgian. Just 20 points beyond Johnson-Thompson at the World Championships was Anna Hall, a 22-year-old from the USA.
“Nafi’s taught me about consistency. She’s one of the crucial persistently nice heptathletes of our era and we have had some battles previously. You’ll be able to by no means depend out Nafi.”
Giving back
Johnson-Thompson is also focused on staying healthy off the track. In 2020, the lifelong Liverpool FC fan partnered with the LFC Foundation, becoming an official ambassador – a unique role that she shares with fellow ambassador, Jurgen Klopp.
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Olympic heptathlete and Liverpool fan Katarina Johnson-Thompson discussed her love of the Reds ahead of their draw with Manchester United earlier this month
Her work with the Foundation also works with Johnson-Thompson’s own academy to financially support local young people to allow them to do sport.
“Anybody who is aware of me is aware of how a lot I like LFC. It was the primary sport I used to be uncovered to,” she said. “It has been an excellent partnership and it is a good time to increase into faculties.
“The partnership came about when Covid happened and I was struggling to get into the tracks and to train. I was worried about a generation of lost athletes who didn’t have the opportunity to have a career, because athletics has given me my whole life. If I wasn’t an athlete I don’t know what career path I would have gone down.
“So it is about giving again for me, I had assist all at completely different phases of my profession. So I simply need to assist youngsters in that kind of age the place it could be fairly simple for them to simply drop out of the game.”
