Katarina slays her demons to set up Jess showdown
KATARINA JOHNSONTHOMPSON claimed she had finally slayed her long jump demons after a supreme performance at the Anniversary Games hinted at an almighty battle with Jessica Ennis-Hill for Olympic heptathlon gold next month.
The 23-year-old, heralded as the heir to Ennis-Hill’s golden girl crown, has struggled to prove herself after crashing out of last year’s world championships with three fouls in the long jump.
Reduced to tears in Beijing’s Bird’s Nest stadium, she admitted that disastrous exit haunted her for months, but appears to have shrugged off the mental hangover just in time for Rio. She leapt to 6.84m yesterday, just shy of her 6.92 personal best.
‘I think I’ve slayed my long jump demons,’ she said. ‘The wind was changing a little bit but I know I can change things.
‘Last year I felt I couldn’t change anything in Beijing but I got a consistent set of good jumps out there.’
Crucially, Johnson-Thompson did not dip below 6.60m in any of the six rounds. ‘I feel I’m over my scars,’ she added.
Although the British duo talk down all suggestions of fierce rivalry, in three weeks they are likely to thrash it out for top honours inside Rio’s Joao Havelange stadium. Canadian Brianne Theisen-Eaton, who has the world-leading points tally, is the likely gatecrasher of an all-Brit party.
Ennis-Hill managed just 6.19m, weeks after leaping to a personal best of 6.63m in Germany, two years after the birth of son Reggie. On Friday she had raced another post-pregnancy personal best, running an astonishing 12.76sec in the heats of the 100m hurdles, her second quickest ever.
‘Obviously I’m not happy with that,’ said Ennis-Hill. ‘Friday was such a high and it dragged me back down. It just reminds me I’m not 100 per cent there.
‘Having jumped 6.60 a few weeks ago, I had hoped to jump that again and it’s beautiful conditions so it’s frustrating. But I hope to bring it all together in Rio.
‘The 100m hurdles was a real high,’ she added, ‘I wanted to run under 13. To run 12.76 is brilliant. Had I had two great events, I would have been sailing on a high and getting a bit carried away. It’s stressful but it’s fine. It will be OK.’ The pair were going head to head for the second time in a week after clashing in the javelin at a low-key meeting in Manchester on Tuesday evening. Ennis-Hill emerged top, throwing 46.09m, her best since 2013, while the young pretender lagged behind with a meagre 36.63m. But she bounced back with a 1.95m high jump on Friday, just 0.03m shy of her best. It remains to be seen if she can hit her enormous potential in seven events over two days, with her personal best of 6,682 points dating from June 2014, but it offered a big slice of hope.
She stopped shy of proclaiming it a perfect weekend. ‘Perfect would’ve been a few more centimetres in the high jump – but it’s a long way better than I’ve done this season. I just have to back myself now.
‘I want to make sure I put everything together. Those two events, yesterday and today, they’re what I always put on my scorecard. I’ve just got to go home, work on the other events and hope I head into Rio with no injuries. I feel like when I’m 100 per cent healthy I can do anything.’