“Against all the odds, I’m still here,” says Katarina Johnson-Thompson, smiling wryly as she strokes a three-inch scar that snakes down her left achilles tendon. Another mark, on her right leg, is a cruel legacy from a torn calf muscle that ripped her Olympic dream away from her in Tokyo. There have been plenty of other scars – to groin and knee, as well as head and heart – down the years. Yet despite so many painful setbacks, Britain’s most compelling athlete is back, and planning the greatest renaissance of her career.
“I have unfulfilled goals, that’s why I’m still competing,” says Johnson-Thompson, looking happy and relaxed before her first heptathlon of the season at the prestigious Götzis Hypomeeting in Austria. “That’s why I continued after an achilles rupture in 2020, which for many is a career finisher. I still want to do it. I still love the sport. I still love heptathlon. And I want to win as many medals as I can over the next couple of years.”
