Heptathlete Katarina Johnson-Thompson has suffered more than her fair share of injuries and major championships heartbreak but it all came right in Doha to spectacular effectThroughout 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.