by Stuart Weir
KJT lays to rest the ghosts of Tokyo
Katarina Kohnson-Thompson had a nervous wait at the end of the World Championship Heptathlon. Had she done enough in the final event to close the gap on Taliyah Brooks who had started the 800m in the bronze medal position? When the scoreboard showed Brooks in third place, it was the outcome she had dreaded. When the scoreboard put up her name with “bronze medal” after it, she was puzzled. The big screen showed a bemused Johnson-Thompson asking team-mate Jade O’Dowda what was happening. Incredibly she had not done enough to beat Taliyah Brooks but had done enough to equal the American’s points total. The two athletes embraced as they realized they had been awarded joint bronze medals.
For the two-time world champion, returning to Tokyo was emotionally challenging. She had left the track in a wheelchair when a calf injury during the 2021 Olympic 200m had ended her heptathlon. Four years on she had left the same stadium with a medal around her neck. She talked afterwards about her emotions: “Honestly, I thought it was a joke at first. I was like, ‘Why are we both showing up as bronze on the screen?’ I didn’t really celebrate until they put the medal around my neck. I’ve never seen it happen before and I’ve been around for a long time, but I’m so happy one of us didn’t lose by one point because that would have been heartbreaking. I didn’t celebrate until they actually put the medal around my neck. Because – exactly the same points. You couldn’t write it. I thought they were going to go back to, like, event placing, but, yeah, I think the decision came straight away and said equal bronze is the final decision, so I’m taking it!
My experiences in Tokyo from 2021 and 2025 are like chalk and cheese. This stadium holds a lot of sad memories for me form 2021 – of being so far away from home, of walking out of the stadium on crutches and not being able to finish day two. I’ve kept that experience with me for a long time. To finish the 200m on day one this time and come back and actually walk away with a medal means the absolute world. Now I have better memories of this stadium. It’s such a wonderful place, a magical place and I’m so happy that it was a happy end.”
Now aged 32 she reflected on a long career: “I’ve done every championships since 2013. I’ve not missed one. You add another four Olympics to that and Europeans and Commonwealth Games – I’ve done this for so long now and it doesn’t get any easier. I think working with different coaches is the secret to my longevity and working on different things. That has given me a fresh input. I think my love for the heptathlon and my drive to always be the best and keep working on myself is key as well”.
She admitted that every time she finished a heptathlon, she thought, ‘Never again’ and vowed that it was the last one, Then after a month’s rest she texted her coach to ask when she should re-start training!. She laughed: “Then, I wouldn’t have it any other way. I want to stay around as long as I can until I stop being competitive. And I’m still competitive”.
Photo Credit:Chloe Knott/Team GB
On running the 800, she said: “I didn’t know how far she was behind, and I didn’t want to look. I was just going to wait for the scoreboard. I’ve been in this situation, you know, many times, and I just thought, wait until the official result has come. But come the official result and I still didn’t have any answers! My coach instructed me ‘you just have to run’, and it’s very easy to get your head around that, to just run hard”.
Her individual performances were:
Hurdles 13:44 SB – 1074 points
High Jump 1.86m SB – 1054
Shot Put 13.37m – 752
200m 23.50 SB – 1028
Long Jump 6.42m – 981
Javelin 41.91m – 704
800m 2:07.38 – 1003
Anna Hall was a clear winner with 6888 points from Kate O’Connor who set a Irish national record of 6714 with Taliyah Brooks and KJT on 6581.
