‘This is for her’: Johnson-Thompson follows family loss with heptathlon gold

After the sorrow and the suffering, the glory and the pain. Katarina Johnson-Thompson has been through the wars over the past three injury-ravaged years, and last week she also lost her grandmother Mary. Yet in front of an adoring home crowd she summoned a performance of no little resolve to retain her Commonwealth Games heptathlon title.

The look on Johnson-Thompson’s face after crossing the line in the 800m spoke volumes. Yes, her body hurt after seven punishing events over two days. But she was also happy. Deliriously happy. “This was for her,” Johnson-Thompson said, as the cheers turned to enormous empathy. “She unfortunately passed away a couple of days after I returned from Eugene so it’s been a tough week so I’m just happy to get through it.

“It’s been particularly hard because the last champs at Glasgow indoors she was here so it was quite hard not to see her face in the crowd.”

True, the standard was more British championship level, with six of the eight competitors coming from Great Britain and Northern Ireland. And Johnson-Thompson’s winning score of 6,377 was also modest by her high standards. But after so much tears and turbulence this victory, her first in the heptathlon since October 2019, tasted particularly sweet.

Most athletes struggle to come back from one career-threatening injury. Johnson has had two over the past two years. A three-inch scar on her left achilles tendon, and another on a torn right calf muscle she sustained at the Tokyo Olympics, have healed but they have also left their mark.

“It feels incredibly especially this one, a home champs. I’ve really put a lot of work and effort and heart and soul to be here on this line especially after the tough turnaround in Eugene. So, I’m really