GOLD PUTS KATARINA ON TOP OF THE 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 the 25-year-old lost a heptathlon, right back to the Hypo-Meeting in Gotzis in May 2016, and by most sensible estimations, she is the most formidable competitor of any gender in athletics.
But then she got taken apart, bit by bit, seven shades beaten out across seven events by a woman who as recently as May said she felt like an ‘impostor’ among the elite.
If what Dina Asher-Smith achieved a night earlier was a fine procession of the predictable, 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 run of 2min 7.26secs, but the damage was done long before that final event.
It was inflicted by sustained attacks, with personal bests in the hurdles and, bogglingly, both the shot put and javelin.
Where once KJT was a danger to her toes and ears with those latter instruments, she 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, in Thiam, whose personal best at the distance is eight seconds slower. In plainer English, game over. Johnson-Thompson’s final tally was 6,981 points. The British record, set by Jessica Ennis-Hill at London 2012 was 6,955. Winning in Doha will never carry the same tariff as what Ennis-Hill did as the face of a home Olympics, but by all other metrics, she deserves to avoid those comparisons.
After all the injuries from 2014 to 2016, and all the flopped performances from 2015 to 2017, she is out of that shadow. She used to be a cruel punchline; now she is the reigning Commonwealth champion, world indoor champion, European indoor champion and, wonderfully, world champion.
The nuts and bolts of the win were mightily 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.
Combined, those opening four disciplines put her on 4,138 points — uncharted territory for her and fourth in the all-time standings for a first-day score in a heptathlon. Crucially, she was 96 clear of Thiam, but leading after day one is nothing new for the Brit because those first few events have always favoured her.
The surprise came from the margin, which was heavier than usual, and the subdued nature of Thiam’s performance. The champion has had calf and elbow problems this year and all through the first day on Wednesday it showed.
She was a mix of good and decent all day and by her standards, good and decent is mediocre to poor. A World Championships calls for personal bests and she had none.
Into day two and the trend continued. Johnson-Thompson managed 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, a full 11 metres short of her best. Johnson-Thompson, meanwhile, threw a personal best of 43.93m. She had met the challenge and battered it.
Only the hard of feeling wouldn’t be delighted for her, given all that has happened since she won the world junior title in 2009. She was a mess after blowing a medal-winning position with three long jump fouls at the Worlds in 2015, and she capitulated from second place to sixth at the Rio Olympics.
She had a reputation, in blunt terms, as a bottler. 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. So she still spoke of doubting her place among the very best. Those doubts can now leave.
And there could be more gold on its way, with Laura Muir easing through to the 1500m final, which is tomorrow night.
The Scot said: ‘These girls are fast, a 4:01 there for a semi-final, I’m really happy to run that time.
‘I’m so happy to be back and am confident with my body. It is a good confidence boost, we have got a couple of days now. It’s gives me a lot of confidence knowing I can run that sort of time feeling comfortably.
‘It’s so hard coming back from injury but I’m so happy to be here, be competitive and I’m looking forward to the final.’
Fellow Scots Neil Gourley, Jake Wightman and Josh Kerr all progressed to this evening’s 1500 metres semi-finals.