Katarina Johnson Thompson claimed she had yet to prove herself – then delivered the heptathlon performance of her life.
The Liverpudlian went into the Gotzis Hypo-Meeting so uncomfortable at being the headline act she complained of feeling an “imposter”.
Two days of competition later her billing looked entirely appropriate as the queen of the commonwealth trounced a high class field to win multi-eventing’s unofficial world championship by 337 points.
Johnson-Thompson racked up 6,813 points, 54 more than ever before, to set a world lead and go 18th on heptathlon’s all-time list.
(Image: Getty Images)
“I wanted to come out and put solid performances out,” said the 26-year-old. “I was just trying to relax. I didn’t overthink things.
“To get over 6,800 points is great. I’ve been wanting to get 6,800 for so long now so I’m so, so happy. This is my favourite place to compete in the world.”
Johnson-Thompson remains third-ranked behind Jess Ennis-Hill (6,955) and Denise Lewis (6,831) on the UK list. Nafi Thiam, the Olympic and world champion who missed Gotzis due to injury, boasts a best of 7,013 points.
(Image: APA-PictureDesk GmbH/REX)
But the unassuming Briton is undoubtedly the coming force. She pushed the Belgian all the way in last summer’s European Championships – and this will convince her she can go one better at the Worlds in Doha this autumn.
At the halfway point her lead was 177 points, courtesy of a 13.29secs 100m hurdles, 1.95m high jump clearance, 12.95m shut put and 23.21s for the 200m.
She was only warming up. She out-leapt the field with a 6.68m long jump yesterday morning before throwing a javelin further than ever before (42.92m).
(Image: Adidas)
The result was beyond doubt long before the 800m, but still Johnson-Thompson ran so hard in clocking 2:08.28 that she threw up at the finish.
“I can still see room to improve,” she later declared. Which is bad news for the rest, the best of whom were Latvia’s Laura Ikarniece (6,476) and Hungary’s Xeria Krizsan (6,469).
Laura Muir suffered a surprise defeat in the Westminster Mile, beaten into third place by Melissa Courtney.
