'Now I just need medals': Katarina Johnson-Thompson produces personal best with emphatic heptathlon win in Gotzis

Remember when Katarina Johnson-Thompson was known for her flakiness? When she always seemed an accident waiting to happen? No longer.

Frankly, it should come as no surprise that she destroyed a world-class heptathlon field by an astronomical 337 points in Gotzis over the weekend, nor that she did so with a lifetime best tally of 6813. And it should come as no surprise if she wins a world title this autumn or Olympic gold next year.

That is what has come to be expected of Johnson-Thompson over the past couple of years: she delivers. And she is now arguably Britain’s best hope of standing atop the athletics podium in Tokyo 2020.

Certainly, if the absent Nafi Thiam – the reigning Olympic and world champion – was following events in Austria from afar, she will be in no doubt that she faces a proper challenge to her dual crowns over the next 15 months.

So much for Johnson-Thompson’s pre-competition revelation that she sometimes feels like an impostor at these events. If anyone belongs at the highest level it is her.

“I’m so happy I can say I’m over 6800 points,” she said. “It’s been a big dream of mine so hopefully it will just go up from here.

“I’ve won a couple of championships not with the greatest scores, but now I’m winning this with a decent score so it’s another step forward in my career.

“Now I just need medals. For sure, medals.”

Leading by a hefty 177 points overnight, she had begun the second day a huge odds-on favourite to continue her march to victory only to start with a foul in the long jump.

Not long ago, there was a time when panic would have ensued, and she admitted afterwards that her thoughts instantly transported her back to the 2015 World Championships, where she failed to produce a legal mark in the long jump, before she was able to “switch out of that mentality”.

Instead, she calmly readjusted her run-up and promptly launched herself to a winning mark of 6.68m. “The most impressive thing about her now is she always finds a way out,” said her coach Bertrand Valcin.

With any thoughts of crisis averted, she moved onto the javelin – an event she dreaded for much of her career – and threw a personal best 42.92m.

So great was her lead that she could have theoretically treated the 800m as a sedate victory parade. She did nothing of the sort, embarking on a borderline suicidal 59.41sec opening lap, before clinging on as her body gave way to complete the second in 68.87sec.

It did the job, but as she lay prostrate for close to five minutes after the race, only moving to exhaustedly vomit beside her, she may well have reflected on a headstrong tactic not to be repeated in the future.

“I was very sick after the 800m,” she admitted. “I didn’t think I would get to the line. I thought the stretcher would have to come get me.”

No lasting damage was done and her new lifetime best tally not only secured a resounding victory, but also came within 18 points of overtaking Denise Lewis who sits second on the British all-time list.

In a competition of their own for the minor placings, Latvia’s Laura Ikauniece was 337 points behind in second, with Xenia Krizsan, of Hungary, a further seven points back in third. In reality, they were nowhere.

Thoughts now turn to the World Championships in September and her impending battle with Thiam, who makes her return from injury next month.

Perhaps still scarred by her failures to make global podiums in the past, Johnson-Thompson refused to get carried away when asked whether she is now the second best heptathlete in the world. She undoubtedly is, but simply replied: “Not until the championships does this matter.”

As for how high her goals should go, her coach Valcin’s answer was bold. “There are no limits.”

Katarina Johnson-Thompson at Gotzis 2019:

100m hurdles: 13.29sec (6th)

High jump: 1.95m (1st)

Shot put: 12.95m (15th)

200m: 23.21sec (1st)

Long jump: 6.68m (1st)

Javelin: 42.92m (15th)

800m: 2min 8.28sec (2nd)

British heptathlon all-time top five:

Jess Ennis-Hill: 6955

Denise Lewis: 6831

Katarina Johnson-Thompson: 6813

Judy Simpson: 6623

Kelly Sotherton: 6547