Katarina Johnson-Thompson used to stare at the three-inch scar snaking down her left achilles tendon and fear that her best days had abandoned her. In truth, we all did. Yet here she was on the banks of the Danube, amid the tears and the doubts and the smiles, waltzing in the joy of becoming world heptathlon champion again.
"This is the best day of my life," she said, after one of the great comebacks. "I had committed to getting my heart broken again, only this time I didn't"
On a night when Zharnel Hughes also won Britain's first men's world 100m medal for 20 years, Johnson-Thompson's epic clash with the 22-year-old American superstar Anna Hall came down to 800m and a blunt equation. Stay within three seconds of Hall and the gold medal was hers. The problem was, her personal best was five seconds slower than her rival.
By now Hall had an enormous bandage protecting an injured left knee but she still blasted her way through halfway in 58 seconds a second ahead of Johnson-Thompson. Yet by 600m the gap was stretching into the danger zone, and the British team feared gold was slipping away.
But when the second wind came - and the benefits of brutal sessions every week with her coach, Aston Moore, in Loughborough reaped their rewards - she began to close again.
Denne historien er fra August 21, 2023-utgaven av The Guardian.
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Denne historien er fra August 21, 2023-utgaven av The Guardian.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
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