Kat grabs Rio place but doubt remains
THE GOOD NEWS is Katarina Johnson-Thompson has qualified to go to the Rio Olympics.
The bad news is the gold medal she is eminently capable of winning will elude her unless the mental scars that inhibited her this weekend are banished.
Johnson-Thompson departs the picturesque Austrian alpine town of Gotzis grateful to be in one piece — despite precautionary strapping on her left thigh — and with a seat on the plane to Brazil this summer assured.
Three personal bests on the first day of the Hypo-Meeting helped towards a sixth-place finish and 6,304 points, comfortably exceeding the 6,200 mark required.
But her collapse in the long jump at the Beijing World Championships last summer, where three fouls ended her hopes, seemed to haunt her. ‘I’m not going to lie, there will be mental worries come Rio but I know I can get through it,’ she said. ‘It’s just getting my confidence back competition after competition.’
If Johnson-Thompson performed to her potential in every event, she would be close to untouchable, with world record holder Jackie Joyner-Kersee identifying her as the athlete most likely to surpass her formidable 7,291 point total.
But as impressive as she was in the 100m hurdles, high jump and 200m, the 23-year-old was woeful in the shot put, long jump and javelin. The likes of reigning Olympic champion Jessica Ennis-Hill, who was monitoring the results from home in Sheffield and the winner here, Canadian Brianne Thiesen-Eaton, will have taken encouragement.
But the Liverpudlian insisted there was no need to panic. ‘I think on Saturday I saw a glimpse of what I can do when I am just happy and competing,’ she said. ‘My goal is definitely still a gold medal in Rio, I’ve got a lot to work on between now and then but I did one heptathlon last year and this is my first time back after surgery (on her left knee in October) so I know what I need to work on.’
In the long jump, the discipline she usually relies on for easy points, she was tentative. Stuttering like a nervy penalty taker, she played it safe on the first attempt, taking off way behind the board and leaping to a modest 6.13m. The trouble was she hardly improved, managing just 6.17m with her third effort.
‘I was sick with nerves, especially during the first jump,’ she said. ‘I know what happened last year. I just wanted to stay uninjured, I just took it as an easy day. The feeling is one of relief more than anything else.’
The temperature dropped and rain lashed the surrounding hills during the javelin. Johnson-Thompson could not build on her first-round mark of 37.66m, way down on her best of 42.01m. In the final event of the weekend, the 800m, she jogged to 2:16.81 to finish well short of the 6,682 points she achieved to win here in 2014.
The British men in the decathlon struggled after both John Lane and Ashley Bryant’s pole vault poles failed to make it to Austria with them. Bryant borrowed one but finished 44 points away from qualifying for the Olympics. Lane was forced to drop out of the competition after no suitable poles could be found.
Meanwhile, 19-year- old Morgan Lake, who was also looking for Olympic heptathlon qualification in Gotzis, withdrew before the start of the second day after a miserable first four events.
JOHNSON-THOMPSON’S HEPTATHLON SCORES: Day 1 — 100m hurdles 13.37sec (1,069 pts), High jump 1.92m (1,132), Shot put 11.55m (631), 200m 22.79sec (1,100). Day 2 — Long jump 6.17m (902), Javelin 36.66m (603), 800m 2min 16.81sec (867). Total pts: 6,304.