KATARINA Johnson-Thompson returned to form after a nightmare two years with a heptathlon personal best in Gotzis, but it was only good enough for fourth place as Belgium’s Nafissatou Thiam broke the 7000-point barrier.
Johnson-Thompson, who found herself reduced to tears by her sixth-placed finish at last summer’s Olympics and responded by overhauling her training set-up, scored 6691 points at the prestigious Hypo-Meeting, beating her previous best of 6682 from the same event three years ago.
It was a hugely encouraging weekend for the 24-year-old, who knew in the wake of her Rio disappointment she needed to make drastic changes to revitalise a stuttering career. She then made the bold move to split with her long-term coach Mike Holmes, leave her home city of Liverpool and move to a training base in Montpellier.
However, she was no match for Olympic champion Thiam, who eclipsed the mark she won gold with in Rio to go third on the all-time list — her score of 7013 the best total by anyone in a decade.
Only world record holder Jackie Joyner-Kersee and Sweden’s Carolina Kluft have ever bettered it.
Thiam’s mark towered over the now-retired Jessica Ennis-Hill’s British record, set at the London 2012 Olympics, of 6955.
Ennis-Hill acknowledged the achievement on Twitter by writing: “WOW 7013pts in the hept for @thiam_nafi INCREDIBLE score!! Congratulations!! What a performance!”
Germany’s Carolin Schafer was second with 6836 and Latvia’s Laura Ikauniece-Admidina third with 6815 as the top six finishers all set personal bests in one of the most high-calibre heptathlon competitions ever staged.
Johnson-Thompson’s mark was the highest fourth-place score ever recorded in a heptathlon.
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