Paris 2024: Katarina Johnson-Thompson ‘in a great spot’ but wary of Tokyo repeat - ‘Always in the back of your mind’
Updated 09/08/2024 at 00:59 GMT+1
Katarina Johnson-Thompson was delighted with her performance across day one of the women's heptathlon as she looks to win an elusive Olympic medal. The 31-year-old Brit leads after four of seven events from Belgium's defending champion Nafissatou Thiam. Johnson-Thompson is a two-time world champion but endured heartbreak in Tokyo when a calf injury during the 200m event forced her to withdraw.
Watch sensational leap from KJT as she clears her highest mark in five years
Video credit: TNT Sports
Great Britain’s Katarina Johnson-Thompson is one day and three events away from landing an elusive Olympic medal – but scars of past heartache still remain ahead of her date with destiny.
Johnson-Thompson leads on 4,055 points from Belgium’s two-time defending champion Nafissatou Thiam after four events of the women’s heptathlon at the Paris 2024 Games.
Only the long jump, javelin and 800m stand between her and something she has yet to experience in her career, standing on the podium at the Olympics.
The 31-year-old is a two-time world champion but has enjoyed little success on this, the grandest of stages.
She finished 13th at London 2012 as a teenager and then sixth in Rio four years later before having to withdraw after suffering a calf injury during the 200m event in Tokyo.
That, Johnson-Thompson admits, was tough to come back from, but she did so emphatically to claim the world title in Budapest last year.
This is the one she really wants, though, so it is little wonder that nagging doubt is still lingering.
“It’s always in the back of your mind, it took me a year to get over that going into Eugene 2022 [World Championships],” Johnson-Thompson told Eurosport after day one of the women's heptathlon.
“It was just a little flicker of ‘oh remember what happened last time before you were on your marks’ so yeah, I’m in a great spot and I’m healthy and happy and pushing, it’s all I can ask for really.”
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Watch dazzling run as McLaughlin-Levrone smashes her own world record in 400m hurdles
Video credit: TNT Sports
Johnson-Thompson began her quest for a medal with solid performances in both the 100m hurdles and high jump before excelling in the shot put, typically one of her weaker events.
And she moved ahead of Thiam with an assured 200m run to close out a day she was delighted with.
She added: “That’s probably one of my best day-one scores in a long time and a PB in the shot put, which is probably my favourite thing that I’ve ever done in my whole career - over 14m, and the high jump again, great to be back over the 90s so can’t complain.”
Johnson-Thompson suffered a serious Achilles injury in 2019 that disrupted her preparation for Tokyo 2020 before her Games was ended in devastating fashion.
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But she seems to have arrived in the French capital in something like peak physical condition. Still, given the bruising nature of the heptathlon, nothing can be taken for granted.
It is something GB diving superstar turned Eurosport Olympic pundit Tom Daley spoke about on Bonsoir Paris at the end of day 13.
“She's going to have to focus on her recovery,” Daley said. “I don't know whether she's going to be doing compression pants, ice baths, sour cherry juice, which helps with anti-inflammatory.
“It seems that she's got her peak just right because as athletes you work all year through so many different training cycles with strength and conditioning and power then going into explosive power and it seems that she's got that exactly right and she is in a perfect position to do really well tomorrow.”
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