HISTORIC GOLD PUTS KJT ON TOP OF WORLD
Katarina blows away champion Thiam to leap into record books
AFTER all the squirming and falling and doubting and fouling, the Kat finally let herself out of the bag. The marvellous secret Katarina Johnson-Thompson kept hidden all this time was that she really was capable of being the best in the world.
Incredible, really. Astonishing. And bordering on the inconceivable. Not only because she has struggled so often with the aches of her body and the nags of her past results, but because she had to beat one of the giants of women’s sport to do it.
That being the great Nafi Thiam, the Olympic gold medallist from Belgium and now, as of last night, the former world champion.
It had been more than three years since 25-year- old Thiam (below) last lost a heptathlon, right back to May 2016, and by all sensible predictions that wasn’t about to change.
But then she got taken apart, bit by bit, seven shades beaten out of her across seven events by a woman who said as recently as May that she felt like an ‘impostor’ among the elite.
If what Dina Asher- Smith achieved a night earlier was a fine rendition of a script, then the number Johnson-Thompson did on Thiam was a glorious tale of the unexpected.
The winning margin was 304 points, secured by an 800 metres personal best of 2min 7.26sec, but the damage was done long before that final event. It was inflicted by sustained attacks of the highest quality, with further personal bests in the hurdles and, bogglingly, both the shot put and javelin.
Where once it was quipped that she was a danger to herself with those latter instruments, JohnsonThompson has learnt to throw respectable distances in the past two years and so, with only the 800m to go, she was 137 points clear. In English, that’s a nine- second advantage over an athlete, Thiam, whose personal best at the distance is eight seconds slower. In plainer English, game over.
Johnson-Thompson’s final tally was a remarkable 6,981 points. The British record, set by Jessica Ennis-Hill at London 2012? 6,955.
Winning in Doha will never carry the same tariff as what Ennis-Hill achieved as the face of a home Olympics, but by all other metrics the 26-year-old deserves to avoid those comparisons. After all the injuries from 2014 to 2016, and all the flopped performances from 2015 to 2017, KJT is out of that shadow, a slog of a decade on from winning the world junior title. She used to be a cruel punchline; now she is the reigning Commonwealth champion, world indoor champion, European indoor champion and, wonderfully, world champion. ‘I don’t know what to say,’ she said. ‘It doesn’t feel real. It is amazing. I have had good scores before but never all those personal bests in one heptathlon. It has all come together at the right time. It is amazing.’ The nuts and bolts of the win were desperately impressive. Her 13.09sec run in the hurdles and 13.86m throw in the shot sat with a season’s best 23.08sec in the 200m and a very strong 1.95m clearance in the high jump.
Those opening four disciplines put her on 4,138 points, 96 clear of Thiam, who always comes on strong on day two.
This time, however, having had calf and elbow problems all year, she didn’t. She was a mix of good and decent all day and by her standards, that is mediocre to poor. A World Championships calls for personal bests and she had none.
Johnson-Thompson started day two by leaping 6.77m in the long jump — her best ever under the fatigue conditions of a heptathlon — while Thiam managed only 6.40m, well down on her best. That opened the lead to 216 points and the question was how much of it would bleed out during the javelin.
But Thiam managed only 48.04m, 11m short of her best, and Johnson-Thompson threw a personal best of 43.93m. She had met the challenge, battered it and then she battered it some more with another lifetime mark in the 800m.
Only the hard of feeling wouldn’t be delighted for her after her battles. She was a mess after blowing a medalwinning position with three long jump fouls at the Worlds in 2015, and she capitulated amid injury to sixth at Rio 2016 having held bronze through five stages. Her physical and mental robustness was written off.
But how premature. And how wise that move to France in 2017, away from the comforts provided by her mother in Liverpool. The lift has been remarkable and so have the gold medals, though none had come against Thiam. That has now been settled.
With Laura Muir going through to the 1500m final last night, more gold might yet come to the British team. But it will be hard pressed to rival this one for shine.