Johnson-Thompson pulls out of world indoors before final event on return

There was no fairytale return for Katarina Johnson-Thompson at these world indoor championships, for all her efforts to hurl her body back into the white heat of competition after just a few weeks’ training.

The defending pentathlon champion had dreamed of more shiny metal in her first competition since sustaining a horrific calf injury at the Olympics. But five months of rust proved too great an obstacle to overcome as she pulled out before the final event, the 800m.

But while Johnson-Thompson was all smiles afterwards, another British athlete - 21-year-old Holly Mills - was heartbroken after her brave attempt at a bronze medal fell just short.

This was Mills’ first global event and she immediately made her mark by equalling her personal best of 8.15 in the 60m hurdles, which was joint quickest alongside Belgium’s Noor Vidts, who ended up with gold.

After a disappointing high jump and shot, Mills then soared to 6.28m in the long jump to move up to fourth before the 800m. However her chances of a medal were slim given she needed to run the event nearly 10 seconds quicker than the American Kendell Williams.

Mills gave it a damned good go, powering into the lead and finishing with a PB of 2:09:97 to finish on 4673 points. But while Williams was taking on water at the end of the 800m, her time was enough to pip Mills by just seven points.

“It was painful to take,” said Mills. “I ran my absolute heart out of there, I was so close.”

Johnson-Thompson, meanwhile, insisted she was “fit and happy” despite finishing her competition early.

“I came out here and I was super rusty,” she said. “But when you think about my career over the last two years, with Covid and the Achilles rupture, you can count the competitions I’ve done on