Katarina Mary Johnson-Thompson (born 9 January 1993)[1] is an English athlete. A multi-eventer, she is primarily known as both a heptathlete and an indoor pentathlete. In heptathlon she is a double world champion, double Commonwealth Games champion and an Olympic silver medallist. In indoor pentathlon, she is a world and double European champion.
Johnson-Thompson's career has often coincided with those of fellow British athlete Jessica Ennis-Hill and Belgium's Nafi Thiam, with whom she has competed since junior competition. She is the only athlete to have defeated Thiam in global competition since Thiam won Olympic gold in 2016 and while Thiam has dominated the rivalry, particularly at the Olympic Games, the two are considered the dominant multi-eventers of their era. No athlete beside the pair have won a global outdoor gold medal in heptathlon between 2015 and 2024.
Johnson-Thompson has also occasionally represented Great Britain in her two strongest individual disciplines: the high jump and long jump. She holds the British high jump outdoor record, and in the long jump, she was the 2012 World Junior champion and the 2014 World Indoor silver medalist.
Early life
Katarina Mary Johnson-Thompson was born in the Woolton suburb of Liverpool on 9 January 1993,[3] the daughter of English mother Tracey Johnson and Bahamian father Ricardo Thompson (died November 2017).[4] Her mother is a former dancer, while her father worked as a production assistant for the Bahamian television station ZNS-TV.[5][6] She spent the first year of her life in Nassau with her father after her parents separated, then returned to the United Kingdom to live with her mother in the town of Halewood near Liverpool,[7] where she attended St Mark's Catholic Primary School and became interested in athletics.[8] She later moved with her mother back to Woolton, where she attended St Julie's Catholic High School and became close friends with future actress Jodie Comer,[9] before going on to study sports science at Liverpool John Moores University.[10][11]
Career
Youth career
Johnson-Thompson represents Liverpool Harriers, which is based in Liverpool's Wavertree district, and was formerly coached by Mike Holmes.[3] Her development was in part funded by the Wells Sports Foundation set up by Barrie Wells, which gave her access to the foundation's patron, Jessica Ennis (now Dame Jessica Ennis-Hill).
Johnson-Thompson broke Jessica Ennis' British junior record at the Multistars competition held in Desenzano del Garda, Italy in May 2012.[14] Her score of 6007 points was enough to take third position at the event behind Sofía Ifadídou of Greece and French athlete Blandine Maisonnier.[15] The score also meant she had surpassed the 'B' qualifying standard for the 2012 Olympics, however it fell short of the 6,150 points 'A' standard.[14] In June, Johnson-Thompson achieved the 'A' qualifying standard for the Games by scoring a new personal best of 6,248 points at the TNT – Fortuna Meeting held in Kladno, Czech Republic. At the meeting she set six new personal bests across the seven events to beat her previous best score by 241 points.[16]
In September, Johnson-Thompson was nominated for the "European Athletics Rising Star award".[19] In October, she won the "Lillian Board Memorial Award" (for junior women) at the 2012 British Athletics Writers' Association Awards.[20]
In the 2013 IAAF World Championships heptathlon, Johnson-Thompson finished in 5th place. After a first day which left her in 5th place, with a PB in the 200m, she had an excellent second day with PB's in the long jump, javelin and the 800m. However, she admitted afterwards that she wished she had set her target of finishing in the Top 8 with more ambition, having finished just 28 points away from bronze medallist Dafne Schippers.[21][22]
First World Indoor and European medals
Johnson-Thompson won the pentathlon at the 2015 European Indoor Championships in Prague, becoming only the second woman to achieve 5,000 points or more in the event.
On 11 July 2014, Johnson-Thompson set a new long jump personal best of 6.92m at the GlasgowDiamond League meeting, taking her to number 2 on the British all-time list for the event.[23] She won gold at the 2014 edition of the prestigious heptathlon Hypo-Meeting in Götzis[24] with a world leading personal best score of 6682 but missed the Glasgow Commonwealth Games and the European Championships after suffering a foot injury.[25]
Johnson-Thompson set a new British high jump record with a height of 1.97 metres at the British Indoor Championships in Sheffield on 14 February 2015,[26] surpassing her previous record of 1.96 metres set on 8 February 2014.[27] Prior to Johnson-Thompson, Debbie Marti's 1.95-metre jump had held the record since 1997.[28] On 21 February, she set a new British indoor long jump record with a distance of 6.93m at the Birmingham Indoor Grand Prix.[29]
In August 2015, Johnson-Thompson finished in 28th place in the heptathlon at the 2015 World Championships in Beijing after three foul jumps in the long jump. She had been lying in second place to Jessica Ennis-Hill after the first day of events.[30]
Johnson-Thompson competed at the 2016 Hypo-Meeting in May of that year, her first major competition since undergoing knee surgery in the autumn of 2015: she finished the competition in sixth with a score of 6,304 points, securing her place at the 2016 Rio Olympics by beating the qualifying standard of 6,200 points.[31]
She missed out on a medal at the Games, taking sixth in the heptathlon, although her performance in the heptathlon high jump of 1.98m set a new British high jump record and would have been good enough to take gold in the stand-alone Olympic high jump competition.[32]
In September 2016, UK Athletics confirmed that Johnson-Thompson had split with coach Mike Holmes, having been trained by him since 2008.[33]
She subsequently moved to Montpellier, France, to be coached by a team led by Bertrand Valcin, joining a training group including Olympic decathlon medalist Kevin Mayer and double European heptathlon champion Antoinette Nana Djimou.[34]
On 5–6 August 2017, Johnson-Thompson competed in the heptathlon at the 2017 World Championships in Athletics held in London. After moving to Montpellier, she was expected to land a podium position but was not able to surpass the 1.86 barrier in the heptathlon's high jump, with a successful jump at 1.80m, which gave her 978 points. In a post heptathlon Day 1 interview, she stated: "High jump is one of my best events, I lost 200 points in just one event so that's massive. I'm massively disappointed but I'm trying to move on. In Day 2, long jump is one of my good events so hopefully I can do well there".[35] Johnson-Thompson finished in 5th place with 6558 points. She also competed in the single high jump event, finishing fifth with a season's best jump at 1.95 m.[1]
In 2018, Johnson-Thompson won the World indoor pentathlon and the Commonwealth Games heptathlon titles,[36] before going on to win a silver medal behind World and Olympic champion Nafi Thiam in the heptathlon at the European Championships, recording a personal best score of 6759 points,[37] to move into the world all-time Top 25.
In May 2019, at the 45th Hypomeeting in Götzis, Johnson-Thompson recorded a new personal best of 6,813 in the heptathlon, taking her up to 18th on the world all-time list.[38]
She was less successful at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo: a ruptured Achilles tendon threatened to disrupt her preparation for the tournament, which she came close to missing entirely. Having made enough of a recovery to participate, and in fifth place after the first three events (including her favoured high jump), she suffered a tear in her calf muscle during the 200m and fell. She got up and raced to the end only to be disqualified on the technicality of having stepped (or rather fallen) out of her lane: in any case she was unable to compete in the remaining events.[40][41]
In 2024, Johnson-Thompson competed at the European Championships, however she withdrew due to injury before the 200m.[45] At the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, she obtained a silver medal, her first Olympic medal, coming a close second to Nafissatou Thiam. Her performance included personal bests in the shot put and 800m.[46]
Media career
Since 2023, Johnson-Thompson has been one of several British Olympians and Paralympians to feature in adverts for British Gas.[47]
Personal life
Since 2016, Johnson-Thompson has divided her time between her native Liverpool and the French city of Montpellier. She began dating fellow athlete Andrew Pozzi in 2018.[48] She is a lifelong fan of her hometown football team Liverpool FC.[49]
A heptathlon is a track and field combined events contest made up of seven events. The name derives from the Greek ἑπτά and ἄθλος. A competitor in a heptathlon is referred to as a heptathlete.
Dame Denise Rosemarie Lewis is a British sports administrator and former sports presenter and athletics athlete, who specialised in the heptathlon.
Kelly Jade Sotherton is a British former heptathlete, long jumper and relay runner. In the heptathlon she was the bronze medallist at the 2004 Summer Olympics and, following the disqualification of two other athletes, also at the 2008 Summer Olympics, as well as being part of the bronze medal-winning team in the Women's 4x400m relay at the 2008 Summer Olympics. As such she is one of only five women to win multiple medals in Olympic heptathlon. She also won a bronze at the 2007 World Championships in Athletics. Representing England, Sotherton is a one-time Commonwealth Games champion, as the heptathlon gold medallist at the 2006 Commonwealth Games.
The pentathlon or women's pentathlon is a combined track and field event in which each woman competes in five separate events over one day. The distance or time for each event is converted to points via scoring tables, with the overall ranking determined by total points. Since 1949 the events have been sprint hurdling, high jump, shot put, long jump, and a flat race. The sprint hurdles distance was 80 m outdoors until 1969 and thereafter 100 m; in indoor pentathlon the distance is 60 m. The flat race was 200 m until 1976 and thereafter 800 m. In elite-level outdoor competition, the pentathlon was superseded in 1981 by the heptathlon, which has seven events, with both 200 m and 800 m, as well as the javelin throw. Pentathlon is still contested at school and masters level and indoors.
Yamilé Aldama Pozo is a Cuban-born triple jumper. She represented Cuba until 2003, Sudan from 2004 to 2010, then Great Britain from 2011 onwards. A four-time Olympian (2000–12), she won a silver medal at the 1999 World Championships and a gold medal at the 2012 World Indoor Championships.
Dame Jessica Ennis-Hill is a British retired athlete, specialising in the heptathlon and 100 metres hurdles. As a competitor in heptathlon, she is the 2012 Olympic champion, a three-time world champion, and the 2010 European champion. She is also the 2010 World Indoor pentathlon champion. A member of the City of Sheffield & Dearne athletic club, she is a former British national record holder for the heptathlon. She is also a former British record holder in the 100 metres hurdles, the high jump and the indoor pentathlon.
Brianne Theisen-Eaton is a retired Canadian track and field athlete who competed in the heptathlon and women's pentathlon. She won the bronze medal at the 2016 Summer Olympics. Theisen-Eaton holds the Canadian record for the heptathlon with 6,808 points, as well as the indoor pentathlon with a score of 4768 points. Theisen-Eaton is a heptathlon silver medallist from the 2013 World Championships and 2015 World Championships, as well as a pentathlon silver medalist from the 2014 World Indoor Championships. She is the first and only Canadian woman to podium in the multi-events at the World Championships. Theisen-Eaton won Commonwealth Games gold in the heptathlon at Glasgow 2014 and was the 2016 World Indoor Champion in the pentathlon. She also won a bronze medal as part of the women's 4 x 400 m relay at the 2015 Pan American Games in Toronto.
Tiffany Adaeze Porter is a track and field athlete with joint British and American nationality who specialises in the 100 metres hurdles. She represented the United States as a junior, but began representing Great Britain in 2010 on joining the senior ranks after moving to England and competed for Great Britain at the 2012 Olympic Games in London.
Dafne Schippers is a Dutch retired track and field athlete who competed in sprinting and the combined events. She holds the European record in the 200 metres with a time of 21.63 seconds, making her the sixth-fastest woman of all time at this distance. She also holds the Dutch records in the 100 metres and long jump, and shares the Dutch records in the 60 metres indoor and 4 × 100 metres relay.
Nafissatou "Nafi" Thiam is a Belgian athlete specialising in multi-event competition. She is the first athlete with three multi-event gold medals at the Olympic Games, winning the heptathlon at the 2016 Rio, 2020 Tokyo and 2024 Paris Olympics. Her three individual Olympic golds in a row for a woman equals the record of Anita Wlodarczyk of Poland in the hammer and Faith Kipyegon in the 1500 metres Thiam is also the only Belgian athlete to successfully defend an Olympic title.
Morgan Lake is a British high jumper. She won the silver medal at the 2018 Commonwealth Games and placed fourth at the 2022 Commonwealth Games. Lake finished sixth in the 2017 World Championships in Athletics and fourth in the 2018 World Indoor Championships.
Jazmin Sawyers is a British track and field athlete and sports presenter who competes in the long jump, representing Great Britain and England. In 2023, she won her first major senior title at the 2023 European Indoor Championships.
The women's heptathlon competition at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, was won by Nafissatou Thiam of Belgium. The event was held at the Olympic Stadium on 12–13 August.
The women's heptathlon at the 2015 World Championships in Athletics was held at the Beijing National Stadium on 22 and 23 August.
Anouk Vetter is a Dutch track and field athlete who competes in the combined events.
The women's heptathlon at the 2017 World Championships in Athletics was held at the Olympic Stadium on 5–6 August.
Nina Schultz is a Chinese track athlete who competes in the heptathlon and pentathlon. She was a Canadian citizen at birth and previously competed for Canada.
Katherine "Kate" O'Connor is an Irish track and field athlete, who competes in the heptathlon and indoor pentathlon for Northern Ireland and Ireland. O'Connor is the Irish and Northern Irish record holder for heptathlon with 6297 points, and indoor pentathlon with 4396 points.
Jade O'Dowda is an English international athlete. She won a bronze medal in the heptathlon at the 2022 Commonwealth Games.
The women's heptathlon at the 2024 Summer Olympics was held in Paris, France, on 8 and 9 August 2024. This was the 11th time that the event was contested at the Summer Olympics. Nafissatou Thiam became the first women ever to win the gold medal in heptathlon three Olympics in a row.
↑ "BBC Radio Merseyside on Twitter". Twitter. Archived from the original on 7 October 2019. Retrieved 7 October 2019. Coming up on Drive with @paulsaltysalt - we visit @StMarksHalewood - the primary school where @JohnsonThompson first took up athletics.We speak to one of her teachers and pupils who are inspired to emulate her success…
↑ "Women's Heptathlon". Official site of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. Archived from the original on 4 December 2012. Retrieved 5 August 2012.
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