Katarina Johnson-Thompson says she is “100 per cent” fit and “ready to go” after admitting that a ruptured achilles came close to ending her hopes of making her third Olympic Games. The world and Commonwealth heptathlon champion, 28, is one of the few British hopes for an athletics gold medal in Tokyo but she suffered the injury at the end of last year. Other than one low-key high jump competition in June, she has been out of action for nine months. Her most recent heptathlon came in 2019 when she defeated Nafi Thiam, the Olympic champion, to win the world title in Doha, but as she prepared for her domestic comeback in Gateshead at the Müller British Grand Prix today, she sounded a defiant note.

Source: The Times July 12, 2021 15:56 UTC