Throughout Katarina Johnson-Thompson’s career she has often seemed the living epitomy of the Chumbawamba song Tubthumping: she gets down, but she gets up again, and nothing is going to keep her down. But the morning after winning the world heptathlon title – and smashing Jessica Ennis-Hill’s British record in the process – she had a confession to make: there was a moment when she nearly gave up on the event.
Who could have blamed her? For so long the 26-year-old was the bridesmaid but never the bride at a world championships or Olympic Games. And she had so many setbacks, injuries and plunges into sinkholes of self-doubt while competing in the heptathlon that after the Rio Games in 2016 – where poor shot put and javelin performances cost her a medal – she wondered whether she should just stick to the long jump or high jump.
“It was probably in the moment at the time,” she said. “I was fed up of not doing a victory lap because I was injured and knowing that my body could not respond, or feeling it couldn’t make it through, or that my performances were not up to scratch to compete.
“ I changed my life after that competition. I didn’t want to give up on something I truly believed.”
Johnson-Thompson estimated she had barely an hour’s sleep after winning gold as she tried to process how she had managed to not only become the first person to lower the colours of Belgium’s Olympic champion Nafi Thiam since May 2016 – but beat her by more than 300 points while setting four personal bests.
“I think it’s relief, going into my fourth world championships that something bad hasn’t happened again,” she added, smiling. “I knew I was in good shape, but in the past I’ve been in good shape and it hasn’t always come off. It was just about not letting myself get carried away until the last minute.”
Only afterwards, when she crossed the line and hugged her mum, Tracey, that so many bottled-up emotions began to flow.
“I didn’t want to cry but it was definitely good tears,” she said. “I’ve cried enough now to last me a career. From now it’s just going to be smiles, hopefully.”
It was her move to Montpellier in 2017, the track and field equivalent of shock therapy, that changed everything for the popular Liverpudlian. She had little grasp of the language or culture but knew she was moving to a world-renowned group run by Bertrand Valcin, that includes Kevin Mayer, the 2017 decathlon world champion. It took her a while to settle in, and she still has only a smattering of French, but she is comfortable cycling to training and getting to the beach more easily after training now Montpellier has embraced Uber. More importantly she has become a more rounded and less injury-prone athlete.
“I used to want certain scores,” she said. “I wanted two metres in the high jump, seven metres in the long jump, 7,000 points in the heptathlon. I was going after them and getting close to them but it wasn’t helping me in a heptathlon as a whole. I feel moving to France made me a better athlete. I levelled out almost, didn’t get many PBs but my heptathlon PB was going up.
“This year I had no injuries and with confidence and continuous training I was able to get PBs.”
The other great change was how Johnson-Thompson handled the pressures of competition. Once upon a time she carried the apprehensions of someone about to go on a white-knuckle ride for the first time. In Doha, though, she seemed to relish going head-to-head with Thiam, who is widely recognised as the greatest female athlete in any sport.
“Bertrand’s demeanour in competition is very calming,” Johnson-Thompson said. “I feel like our personalities match really quite well. It’s just week-in, week-out, doing good things in training, going through all the different events each week. Bruno [Gajer], my running coach, is also really good to have around. It’s just the combination of everything.”
Meanwhile Mayer’s words came to mind during the third event – the shot put – after two poor throws left her needing to produce on her final attempt. “He’s a great competitor and he’s helped me,” said Johnson-Thompson. “He talked with me about third attempts because a lot of stuff was done on third attempts for his world record.
“When I’ve had two bad attempts in the shot put in the past I’ve thought: ‘This is the level I’m at today’ and it’s stayed that way. But it’s knowing you can change at any point.” In Doha she threw a PB of 13.86m with her final attempt.
Even her imposter syndrome, a feeling of self-doubt, seems to be behind her. “In the long jump I was scared for my first attempt but I’m able to switch off a bit.”
Not everything, though, has changed drastically since her move to France. Her mum still brings home-cooked meals to stick in the freezer as well as FaceTiming her in Liverpool to help make her own meals in Montpellier.
Johnson-Thompson’s best friend is the Killing Eve star Jodie Comer, whom she met at St Julie’s Catholic High School in Liverpool. When asked if she had been helped by her friend recently winning an Emmy, she smiled, before saying: “Not in the heptathlon, no.” But when pressed, she added: “Jodie is smashing life completely. She’s an incredible actress and I’m so happy she’s getting recognition. But in order to do heptathlon I had to focus on me.”
Comer for her part joined in the celebrations on Friday, writing on Instagram: “Your hard work and dedication shows no limits. Soak it all up. You’re the best … it’s actually official (always has been).”
While Johnson-Thompson stands on top of the world, she expects Thiam, who had an elbow injury for much of this year, to come back hard at next year’s Tokyo Olympics. “She’s always on the brink of something special,” admitted Johnson-Thompson. “I’m going to have to step up. She’s proved she can get 7,000 points and I expect her to do that next year. This is the best position I’ve been in – gold medal, injury-free, national record but I know what it’s like to finish second,” she warns. “You want to prove yourself and it will be a dangerous Nafi I will be competing against next year.”
The overwhelming sense, though, is that Johnson-Thompson is ready for that next stage, ready to get back up for whatever their compelling rivalry can throw at her in Tokyo.