Holy moly KJT

[libarun]

In fairness to Kat, she has been remarkably unlucky with injuries. The two champs she was gunning for most - Rio and Tokyo - she was hurt for both. Injured in 2014, injured in 2015, injured in 2018...it happens in the hep, it's so much strain on the body with not enough time to recover. Brilliant athletes who have gone before her never even got a Doha moment due to injuries. KJT has had 3 (might even be 4?) major leg surgeries. It would be more reasonable to dig her out for underachieving had she not been through the wars and almost always gone in to champs undercooked.

I have very little expectation for her in the next 18 months, and I wasn't one who ever doubted her mental toughness - unlike Ursus and marilyn, if I remember correctly, I had zero doubt after the first day in Doha that she was winning the lot. Achilles ruptures are killers for athleticism, even the oft-cited basketball players who have made it back to the very top after that injury have usually had to adjust their game. 6700 would be a remarkable comeback, but might not be enough for medals given Sulek and Hall progress by the month and Thiam is seemingly in the shape of her life.

[carterhatch]

Interesting. I wonder if Denise Lewis has been making some connections behind the scenes?

I don’t think at this stage KJT would be choosing to work with Charles if she didn’t feel comfortable with him. Could be the experienced guidance she needs to navigate herself back towards the top echelons of the heptathlon

Listening to the Backstraight Boys' interview with Jazmin Sawyers, she clearly notes [1:12:ish] that 'Kat' is in her jumps group with Aston Moore and that he is 'the main coach and is writing the [KJT's] programme' though others are supporting and Jazmin is 'very excited to see her compete, trying to keep my cool, but, yeah, very excited..." maybe KJT will be infused with a little of Ms. Sawyers 'spirit' which is 5'3 tall, not she jokes, the 5'4 as claimed by wiki...

[marilyn1]

In fairness to Kat, she has been remarkably unlucky with injuries. The two champs she was gunning for most - Rio and Tokyo - she was hurt for both. Injured in 2014, injured in 2015, injured in 2018...it happens in the hep, it's so much strain on the body with not enough time to recover. Brilliant athletes who have gone before her never even got a Doha moment due to injuries. KJT has had 3 (might even be 4?) major leg surgeries. It would be more reasonable to dig her out for underachieving had she not been through the wars and almost always gone in to champs undercooked.

I have very little expectation for her in the next 18 months, and I wasn't one who ever doubted her mental toughness - unlike Ursus and marilyn, if I remember correctly, I had zero doubt after the first day in Doha that she was winning the lot. Achilles ruptures are killers for athleticism, even the oft-cited basketball players who have made it back to the very top after that injury have usually had to adjust their game. 6700 would be a remarkable comeback, but might not be enough for medals given Sulek and Hall progress by the month and Thiam is seemingly in the shape of her life.

the whole point of being an elite, high achieving athlete is being fit and healthy and not being injured when it counts, other wise whats the point.Talent is something KJT has had in spades in certain events but i do not agree that her failures have constantly been due to injuries; just not fully true.Her shot and javelin for the greater part of her career have been very poor and we all know it. Injuries were not the cause of her screw up with no jumps at important times. Why did she fail in that never to be forgotten Long Jump, clearly not to do with injuries.

[jjimbojames]

I don’t think anyone would disagree that she’s struggled mentally at times in her career. She did seem to improve in 2019, from her time in France. Hopefully Aston Moore can bring out the same confidence, and couple that with an injury-free build up, she may just get back to medal-winning form

[libarun]

the whole point of being an elite, high achieving athlete is being fit and healthy and not being injured when it counts, other wise whats the point.Talent is something KJT has had in spades in certain events but i do not agree that her failures have constantly been due to injuries; just not fully true.Her shot and javelin for the greater part of her career have been very poor and we all know it. Injuries were not the cause of her screw up with no jumps at important times. Why did she fail in that never to be forgotten Long Jump, clearly not to do with injuries.

She had major knee surgery right after the 2015 season and was injured most of the way through that year, so yes, trying to compensate for other events probably did play into that long jump incident. The physical and the mental cannot be divorced from each other, how many times have elite sportspeople reiterated that?

Of course being fit and healthy when it matters is part of being an athlete. But when you're a multi-eventer, things happen. As I said, not enough time to adequately recover from sessions, and she's always been a bit too slight. Her achilles rupture had no warning sign during the training regime in France that had kept her healthy for a good stretch of time and came after the Tokyo Olympics was supposed to be held. That's just genuine bad luck.

Nobody has argued with you and nobody would argue with you that the shot and javelin have ever been good enough - her inadequacy in those events has obviously played a large part in her mental struggles. It is unfortunate that her modest improvement in those events has likely come too late. She can throw 13.50m and 44m now but I'd be pretty astonished to see her run a 22.7 and jump 1.98 again on a reconstructed achilles. It is what it is. Maybe it would've been sensible to focus on individual events earlier but I can admire her determination to keep trying in the hep despite the weaknesses.

[MR_ME]

So KJT is competing next weekend in Loughborough. In the hurdles, shot and 4x 400m relay!? Hopefully this is a sign that things are going well and that she can put together a decent heptathlon in Gotzis the following weekend.

https://www.lboro.ac.uk/sport/news/2023/may/johnson-thompson-set-to-compete-at-lia/

[jjimbojames]

4x400m is an interesting choice!

[carterhatch]

A very interesting exchange about KJT took place on the '2023 UK Outdoor Results' thread prompted by our favourite curmudgeon... [refer - #141]


I note this for the record on here, the 'Holy Moly' thread, with Gotzis 2023 a couple of days away ... & for posterity when KJT is no longer active and we only have this thread to look back on ...

KJT certainly sounds fit and ready to go according to her athletics weekly interview. This is in stark contrast to the past 3 years where she has looked depressed and frustrated every time she has competed. It's certainly nice to be optimistic about her prospects for a change.

https://athleticsweekly.com/intervie...is-1039968062/

[Occasional Hope]

Another interview in the Guardian. KJT certainly seems to think she can make it back to the top.

This weekend will be a good indicator of course.

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2023/may/26/katarina-johnson-thompson-i-want-to-prove-to-myself-that-last-year-was-not-me?CMP=share_btn_tw

[paul]

And here we go:

https://www.meeting-goetzis.at/en/187

[CAML]

The benchmark for me will be comparing the first 3 performances against Tokyo 21, less than 8 months after rupturing the Achilles tendon in her jumping leg. Hurdles 13.27, HJ 1.86 and 13.31 SP before tearing her calf. She looks fit and motivated, let's see.

[RunUnlimited]

And after seeing her almost take herself out of contention with a messy hurdles race and a finishing time of 13.88?

[jjimbojames]

I guess we’ll see how she manages disappointment!

[libarun]

We’ll see how she holds up tomorrow, but I’m quite impressed at how she responded to that absolute horror show of a hurdles race.

I still don’t like the look of that wrapped foot though. Long jump will be the test of that I suppose.

[carterhatch]

IanHodge8 writes

Heartwarming to see and all credit to KJT for getting back into top world class as she's 3rd after day 1 in Gotzis with 3930 pts following a pb 13.92 shot and best high jump and 200m for 4 years.

and... James Rhodes tweets ..

'[Anna Hall's] 4172 is obviously incredible [but] I feel its worth noting it's only 34 points more than KJT's Doha score after day one.'

[carterhatch]

The roller coaster continues to be quite the ride.

May I remind folk that in KJT, no matter what might be missing from her palmares at the end of her career, we have witnessed the most naturally gifted female athlete the UK has ever produced in my life [and I have been watching athletics since the early 70s].

If you add up her PBs for the seven events in the Heptathlon:

100H – 13.09 1111
[I agree with many recent forum commentators that this should have been far better]
HJ – 1.98 1211
SP – 13.92 789
[As noted by one forum user, ‘still getting PBs at 30!’. A little more to come? ]
200 – 22.79 1100

Would give a Day 1 total of 4211

LJ – 6.93 1149
JV – 44.33 751
[Her PB coming last year when clearly not at her fittest/happiest]
800 – 2:07.26 1009
[What could have been if she had to go all out ]

Would give a Day 2 total of 2909

Grand Total from her PBs - 7120

Very few female athletes in the world, ever, could have produced such a record.

[RunUnlimited]

44.14m from KJT in the javelin... better than event leader Hall or 49+m thrower Vanninen could manage.... Not bad for someone who's best days are apparently behind her according to some commentators....

[alfie]

Yes rather an impressive effort with her third throw...she looked pretty happy with it 😊 Has every right to ; decent 800 now would top off a good two days.

Hall of course has been excellent. As is the stream for this event : though I don't speak the language so am missing any commentary pearls...