Medal a giant leap too far for KJT

KATARINA JohnsonThompson fell to the mat, put her head in her hands and went through a painfully familiar routine of regret and frustration.

Another major championships appears to have got away, this time because her most bankable discipline, the high jump, let her down so badly.

Johnson-Thompson (right) is ordinarily such a good jumper that her 1.98m clearance in the heptathlon at the Rio Olympics would have been good enough to win the high jump. Here, though, it all went wrong.

She cleared 1.80m and then next attempted 1.86m and dropped the bar three times, taking with it any realistic hopes of winning a medal, given she took 233 points fewer than she would have for matching her personal best.

Her day had actually started well, with a 13.33sec run in the 100m hurdles — just 0.04sec shy of her best. But the high jump sent her 162 points adrift of Nafissatou Thiam, the Olympic champion, and the shot put, her weakness, just made the task all the more unlikely.

Her best of 12.47m was only 24th in the field, leaving her way down in 13th after three rounds. With it, her quest for a medal on the global stage looks set to continue, having finished sixth in Rio and 28th in the Worlds in 2015. Given how well she performed in setting a personal best in the Hydro meet in Gotzis in May, questions have to be asked of her mental strength in the big moments. Elsewhere, Laura Muir progressed to the 1500m final after an excellent run of 4:03.64, placing second behind Olympic champion Faith Kipyegon. Caster Semenya, the Olympic 800m champion, was third and again looked extremely fast at the longer distance, setting up a fascinating final tomorrow. Britain’s Laura Weightman also qualified.

Muir said: ‘It was good. I’m through to the final so really happy. That was a really tough semi-final, so I’m just glad to have got through it.

‘That was really strong. It could easily have been a final. I was boxed in a bit but I knew not to panic. I’m happy and I’ve conserved as much as I can.’

Britain’s Dwayne Cowan and Matt Hudson-Smith qualified for the semi-final of the 400m but Martyn Rooney crashed out.