Katarina Johnson-Thompson

Katarina Johnson-Thompson

Katarina Johnson-Thompson after the 2012 Olympics
Personal information
Born (1993-01-09) 9 January 1993
Woolton, Liverpool, England
Height 1.83 m (6 ft 0 in)
Weight 68 kg (10 st 10 lb)
Sport
Country England
Club Liverpool Harriers
Achievements and titles
Personal best(s) Heptathlon 6,682 points
Medal record
Competitor for  Great Britain
Women's athletics
World Indoor Championships
2014 Sopot Long jump
European Indoor Championships
2015 Prague Pentathlon
European U23 Championships
2013 Tampere Heptathlon
World Junior Championships
2012 Barcelona Long jump
World Youth Championships
2009 Brixen Heptathlon

Katarina Mary Johnson-Thompson (born 9 January 1993) is an English track and field athlete specialising in the heptathlon. She represented Great Britain in the heptathlon at the 2012 Olympic Games in London, finishing 15th, then finished fifth at the 2013 World Championships in Moscow. In the Long jump, she is the 2012 World Junior champion and the 2014 World Indoor silver medallist. In 2015, she became the European Indoor champion in the pentathlon with a British record of 5000 points. She also holds the British high jump record, with a height of 1.97 m in 2015, and the British indoor long jump record, with a distance of 6.93m.

Early life

Born in Woolton, Liverpool,[1] her father Ricardo is Bahamian.[2] She attended St Julie's Catholic High School in Woolton and John Moores University in Liverpool.[3][4]

Career

Johnson-Thompson represents Liverpool Harriers and is coached by Mike Holmes.[1] 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 Jessica Ennis-Hill).

At the 2009 World Youth Championships in Athletics in Brixen, Italy, she won the gold medal in the heptathlon.[4] She missed most of the 2010 athletics season suffering from patellar tendinopathy, also known as jumper's knee.[5][6]

Johnson-Thompson broke Jessica Ennis' British junior record at the Multistars competition held in Desenzano del Garda, Italy in May 2012.[7] Her score of 6007 points was enough to take third position at the event behind Sofía Ifadídou of Greece and French athlete Blandine Maisonnier.[8] 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.[7]

In June 2012 Johnson-Thompson achieved the 'A' qualifying standard for the 2012 Olympics by scoring a new personal best of 6,248 points at the TNT – Fortuna Meeting held in the Sletiště Stadium, 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.[9]

At the 2012 World Junior Championships in Athletics held in Barcelona, Spain, Johnson-Thompson chose not to compete in the full heptathlon competition to save herself for the Olympics; instead she took part in the long jump—winning a gold medal with a jump of 6.81 metres—and the 100 metres hurdles.[10]

Johnson-Thompson competed for Great Britain at the 2012 Summer Olympics in the women's heptathlon alongside compatriots Jessica Ennis and Louise Hazel at the Olympic Stadium on 3–4 August 2012. She finished in 15th place with a score of 6267.[11]

In early April 2012, alongside Tiffany Porter and Yamile Aldama, she was nominated for "European Athlete of the Month" for March.[12] In September, Johnson-Thompson was nominated for the "European Athletics Rising Star award".[13] In October, she won the "Lillian Board Memorial Award" (for junior women) at the 2012 British Athletics Writers' Association Awards.[14]

In the 2013 IAAF World Championships heptathlon, Katarina 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. [15] [16]

On 11 July 2014, Johnson-Thompson set a new long jump personal best of 6.92m at the Glasgow Diamond League meeting, taking her to number 2 on the British all-time list for the event.[17] Johnson-Thompson won gold at the 2014 edition of the prestigious heptathlon Hypo-Meeting in Götzis[18] with a world leading personal best score of 6682 but missed the Commonwealth Games and the European Championships after suffering a foot injury.[19]

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,[20] surpassing her previous record of 1.96 metres set on 8 February 2014.[21] Prior to Johnson-Thompson, Debbie Marti's 1.95 metre jump had held the record since 1997.

On 21 February 2015, Johnson-Thompson set a new indoor British long jump record with a distance of 6.93 m at the Birmingham Indoor Grand Prix.[22]

In August 2015, Johnson-Thompson finished in 28th place in the heptahlon 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.[23]

International competitions

Year Competition Venue Position Event Notes
Representing  Great Britain
2009 World Youth Championships Brixen, Italy 1st Heptathlon 5750 pts[24]
European Junior Championships Novi Sad, Serbia 8th Heptathlon 5375
2011 European Junior Championships Tallinn, Estonia 6th Heptathlon 5787
2012 World Junior Championships Barcelona, Spain 1st Long jump 6.81 m
Olympic Games London, United Kingdom 15th Heptathlon 6267 pts
2013 European U23 Championships Tampere, Finland 1st Heptathlon 6215 pts
World Championships Moscow, Russia 5th Heptathlon 6449 pts
2014 World Indoor Championships Sopot, Poland 2nd Long jump 6.81 m
2015 European Indoor Championships Prague, Czech Republic 1st Pentathlon 5000 pts
World Championships Beijing, China 28th Heptathlon 5039 pts
11th Long jump 6.63m

Detailed results

Competition 100 m hurdles High jump Shot put 200 metres Long jump Javelin 800 metres Heptathlon[25]
2012 Olympic Games 13.48 sec 1.89 m (PB) 11.32 m 23.73 sec 6.19 m 38.37 m 2:10:76 min 6267 pts NJR
2013 World Championships 13.49 1.83 m 11.52 m 23.37 sec 6.56 m (PB) 40.86 m (PB) 2:07:64 min (PB) 6449 pts PB
2015 World Championships 13.37 (PB) 1.89 m 12.47 m (PB) 23.08 sec (PB) - 39.52 m 2:50:73 min 5039 pts

Personal bests

Outdoors
Indoors

References

  1. 1 2 "Katarina Johnson-Thompson". British Olympic Association. Retrieved 12 July 2012.
  2. ↑ "We're on the road to Rio! Meet the seven young British athletes who Sportsmail will follow all the way to the Olympics in 2016". Daily Mail (London).
  3. ↑ Wright, Jade (25 July 2012). "Why Halewood teen Katarina Johnson-Thompson is going for gold in the Olympics". Liverpool Echo. Retrieved 4 August 2012.
  4. 1 2 Prentice, David (4 July 2012). "Factfiles on Merseyside's four athletes in Team GB's squad for the Olympics in London". Liverpool Echo. Retrieved 12 July 2012.
  5. ↑ Gunderson, Craig (12 January 2012). "Katarina Johnson-Thompson Anticipates Successful 2012". athleticos.org. Retrieved 12 July 2012.
  6. ↑ Prentice, David (12 June 2012). "Jessica Ennis tips Katarina Johnson-Thompson for the top after more record breaking heptathlon feats". Liverpool Echo. Retrieved 12 July 2012.
  7. 1 2 "Katarina Johnson-Thompson beats Jessica Ennis's junior record". BBC Sport. 6 May 2012. Retrieved 12 July 2012.
  8. ↑ "Results 2012 – heptathlon". IAAF. 6 May 2012. Retrieved 12 July 2012.
  9. ↑ Hart, Simon (10 June 2012). "London 2012 Olympics: Jessica Ennis believes Katarina Johnson-Thompson 'can surpass me in the heptathlon'". The telegraph. Retrieved 12 July 2012.
  10. ↑ Prentice, David (27 June 2012). "Katarina Johnson-Thompson to scale back events at World Junior Athletics Championships". Liverpool Echo. Retrieved 12 July 2012.
  11. ↑ "Women's Heptathlon". Official site of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. Retrieved 5 August 2012.
  12. ↑ "Vote for European Athlete of the Month for March". uka.org.uk. 3 April 2012. Retrieved 19 September 2012.
  13. ↑ "Nominations announced for 2012 European Athlete of the Year". uka.org.uk. 12 September 2012. Retrieved 19 September 2012.
  14. ↑ "Farah and Ennis voted British Athletes of the Year". uka.org.uk. 26 October 2012. Retrieved 28 October 2012.
  15. ↑ "World Athletics Championships 2013: Britain's Katarina Johnson-Thompson just misses out on heptathlon bronze". Telegraph.co.uk. 13 August 2013. Retrieved 23 August 2015.
  16. ↑ "14th IAAF World Championships Timetable by day — iaaf.org". iaaf.org. Retrieved 23 August 2015.
  17. ↑ liverpoolecho Administrator (11 July 2014). "Liverpool athlete Katarina Johnson-Thompson underlines Commonwealth Games medal potential in style — Liverpool Echo". liverpoolecho. Retrieved 23 August 2015.
  18. ↑ "Katarina Johnson-Thompson wins Götzis heptathlon with javelin best". the Guardian. Retrieved 23 August 2015.
  19. ↑ Sean Ingle. "Katarina Johnson-Thompson out of Commonwealth Games with foot injury". the Guardian. Retrieved 23 August 2015.
  20. ↑ "Katarina Johnson-Thompson sets British high jump record". BBC Sport.
  21. ↑ "Athletics – Johnson-Thompson breaks national high jump record". http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/. Retrieved 9 February 2014.
  22. ↑ "Katarina Johnson-Thompson sets British long jump record". BBC Sport.
  23. ↑ "Katarina Johnson-Thompson suffers Worlds heptathlon agony". BBC Sport. Retrieved 23 August 2015.
  24. 1 2 "Katarina Johnson-Thompson". Power of 10. Retrieved 6 March 2015.
  25. ↑ "Katarina Johnsopn-Thompson". Power of 10. Retrieved 7 March 2015.
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