Liverpool heptathlete Katarina Johnson-Thompson has secured her first World Championship gold after breaking the British record.
The win meant she has become the first-ever athlete from the prestigious Liverpool Harriers to have won World Championship gold, with only Steve Smith medalling in a major championships prior.
KJT ended the event on 6981 points, beating former champion Nafissatou Thiam by 304 points in total, with Austrian Verena Preiner claiming third.
The Brit led after an excellent first day that saw her achieve 4,138 points after four events, just 96 points ahead of 2016 Olympic champion, Nafissatou Thiam.
Johnson-Thompson recorded two personal bests on the first day in both the 100m hurdles (13.09s) and the shotput (13.86m). The rest of the day saw her high jump 1.95cm and end with an average 200m time of 23.08s.
Fortunately, the lead she took into the second day was enough for her to push on to the number one spot with her 6.77m long jump and a personal best in the javelin (43.93m) setting her up nicely for an easy finish.
All she had to do in the 800m was make sure Thiam didn’t beat her by nine seconds, but in perfect fashion, she defeated her Belgian opponent and topped the overall 800m leaderboard with a time of 2:07:26.
Liverpool Harriers tweeted after her win: “Congratulations to Liverpool Harrier’s Katarina Johnson-Thompson. Gold medallist. World champion. New British record holder.”
Former Team GB teammate Jessica Ennis-Hill expressed her pleasure as well on the BBC Sport broadcast, saying: “To come back and to deliver in this way, in this fashion with all these personal bests is incredible. So so incredible to watch.”
The 800m time of 2:07:26 saw her end up beating Ennis-Hill’s previous British record.
The event rounded off an impressive two-day stretch for Team GB with fellow female teammate Dina Asher-Smith claiming the gold in the 200m final.
The win has added to her 2018 Commonwealth gold and at only 26, the future is bright as she aims to go on and win Olympic gold next year in Tokyo.
(Image – Filip Bossuyt – Creative Commons)
