Katarina Johnson-Thompson wins pentathlon gold at European Indoors
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ByEurosport
Updated 07/03/2015 at 11:30 GMT
Great Britain’s Katarina Johnson-Thompson narrowly missed out on the pentathlon world record as she took gold at the European Indoor Championships in Prague with 5000 points.
Katarina Johnson-Thompson of Britain celebrates after winning the women's penthatlon and the 800 metres event during the IAAF European Indoor Championships in Prague March 6, 2015 (Reuters)
Image credit: Reuters
Her time of 2:12.78 over 800m in the fifth and final event was enough for a new British record – surpassing Jessica Ennis-Hill – but not quite enough to better Ukraine’s Nataliya Dobrynska mark of 5013 points set in 2012.
The 22-year-old fuelled talk of a possible world record after a personal best of 8.18 seconds in the 60m hurdles was soon followed by a championship best clearance of 1.95m in the high jump.
She dropped to second in the standings at the interval after posting a distance of 12.32m in the shot, but climbed back above Belgium’s Nafissatour Thiam in the long jump – setting another championship best of 6.89m in the process.
That left her targeting a sub 2:11.86 run in the 800m. However, a slow first lap put her hopes in jeopardy as she fell an agonising 13 points short of the world record.
"This is a huge breakthrough, but I am full of regret from the 800m," she told reporters.
"I thought I could easily run that time and maybe took it for granted. It could've been a different story. I should've been able to do that.
"I've been tearing my brains out these last couple of weeks thinking I could get the world record so to come so close, I'm disappointed.
"I'm feeling very emotional. Obviously, I'm happy to come away with my first senior championship gold, I've never done that before, so I've got to take the positives."
Thiam set a personal best of 4696 points to win silver, with Czech Republic’s Eliska Klucinova taking bronze.
Johnson-Thompson’s team-mate Morgan Lake finished a credible ninth, aged just 17, with a national junior record of 4527 points.
There was more for Great Britain to celebrate on day one in the Czech Republic as Lucy Hatton and Serita Solomon won silver and bronze in the women's 60m hurdles.
Both posted personal bests – Hatton coming home in 7.90 seconds while Solomon finished in 7.93 – but neither could get the better of eventual winner Alina Talay of Belarus, who triumphed in 7.85.
Meanwhile, captain Lawrence Clarke finished fifth in the men's 60m hurdles final behind a French one-two-three led by Pascal Martinot-Lagarde.
Jenny Meadows reached the 800m semi-final by winning her heat in 2:02.59 minutes and in the women's 400m 20-year-old Seren Bundy-Davies, who leads the European rankings, came through a photo-finish to reach her final.
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