Katarina Johnson-Thompson back on track after relocation false start

As rebirths go, a chuckling Katarina Johnson-Thompson had to admit that her second coming as a mature, independent woman got off to something of an inauspicious start this week.

Johnson-Thompson, 24, has been forced to grow up fast over the past few months since making the life-changing decision to relocate from her native Liverpool to Montpellier, France, last winter.

She is cooking for herself, cleaning for herself and generally battling her way through day-to-day life in a foreign city. But it was not all smooth sailing as she prepared to travel to the Gotzis Hypo-Meeting in Austria this weekend for her first heptathlon since ditching her childhood coach and joining a new training group in the south of France.

“I missed my flight,” she revealed, laughing. “I was meant to get up at 4.30am but set my alarm for after 5am which was the time I had to leave. It was drama!”

A hastily arranged flight change and shuttle bus between airports thankfully put her back on track again and she hopes it will be merely a throwaway footnote in her tale of redemption. For this weekend is a significant one.

After two years of underachievement that prompted her winter of upheaval, Johnson-Thompson has declared herself ready “to fall in love” with the sport again and the next couple of days mark the first chance to see if the hard work in France has paid off.

“It does feel like a complete rebuild,” she said of her new life in Montpellier. “My coaches have completely stripped things down.

“I have changed a lot: my high jump run up, my long jump run up, different shot put technique, completely different 800m training and way to approach it.

“So I have to compete but also try to change and adapt.

“I think I underestimated [the courage required to leave her life behind in Liverpool] a bit but I am going week by week. And I know I needed to change something.”

In fact, Johnson-Thompson has been waging a war on two fronts – a physical one and a mental one.

Persistent injuries have left her unable to remember when she last felt 100 per cent physically fit and the mental toll is something she admits will take even longer to shift.

“It’s difficult because with the heptathlon everyone has niggles, but with me in previous years I didn't just have niggles, I had injuries,” she said.

“I have just noticed the mental side of it – sometimes when I go to train I don’t want to push it just in case. Then I have ended up getting through the session and it’s been fine.

“There are mental scars there. I think I am going to get injured, where actually it is OK.

“So that’s a thing that will come with time. I need to trust my body.”

If she wants reassurance that taking such risks can pay off, she need look no further than 22-year-old Olympic champion Nafissatou Thiam.

Expected to triumph in Gotzis this weekend after springing an enormous surprise when triumphing in Rio last summer, Thiam gave her backing to Johnson-Thompson’s decision to up sticks and start from scratch in France.

“I think it is a good thing to do,” said Thiam. “It depends how you see things, but last year I changed things because in some events it wasn't going good and it was needed.

“You sometimes have to take risks to grow and to take a step forward. I think it is quite a good thing, really.”

For an athlete who two years ago was tipped by Jackie Joyner-Kersee to trouble the American’s three-decade old heptathlon world record, Johnson-Thompson maintains aspirations to challenge Thiam at the very top of the sport.

Olympic gold remains the pinnacle and a medal at the London World Championships this summer is a must. But she insists the stepping-stone of this weekend is more about the process than the outcome.

“I don’t know if I’m in PB shape,” she said. “Maybe, maybe not.

“But I just want to put it all together because it has been a tough couple of years.

“I just want to be here and be happy to be here – just try to fall in love with it again and get through it without any disasters. It’s not about the points.”