In August, Katarina Johnson-Thompson won the second world heptathlon title of her career at the World Athletics Championships in Budapest. But going into the championships, the British heptathlon record holder says she felt like an outsider.
“I went into this race really believing in myself”, said Katarina Johnson-Thompson. “I knew I was in good shape and I could do well. But they didn’t actually feature me in any of the articles before the championships, they didn’t even put me on the Great Britain poster that was featured in it by World Athletics. It was one of those things. I thought, “Oh, they just don’t even consider me a competitor anymore”, added she.
Katarina Johnson-Thompson said overcoming that feeling and being so focused in the two-day, seven-discipline event was something that left her “absolutely exhausted”.
“But it was something that had to be done. To get that belief in myself, it was only because of the team I had around me”, added the British athlete.
Katarina Johnson-Thompson, 30, says that the more people believe in her, the more she believes in herself, and the feeling of not being considered a top competitor going into Budapest motivated her to win the World Championships and show people that ” you have to believe in me”.
“That’s something I’ve been trying to change throughout my career — my lack of confidence. I hope to go to Paris with everyone’s faith and have this happy Olympics”, added she.
Katarina Johnson-Thompson is an English athlete. A multi-eventer, she is primarily known as both a heptathlete and an indoor pentathlete. In heptathlon she is a double world champion and double Commonwealth Games champion. In indoor pentathlon, she is a world and double European champion.
