No World Indoors for Katarina Johnson-Thompson as she puts everything into fulfilling her Olympic dream
For a combined events athlete like Katarina Johnson-Thompson, it must have felt like a quiet weekend. The world heptathlon restricted herself to tackling the shot put only – where she threw an indoor PB of 13.29m – and has made the difficult decision to skip the World Indoors in Glasgow in order to focus on the Paris Olympics.
Would she have liked to have been a bit busier? Not really, she said.
“I do seven events so it’s quite nice to just do a shot put this weekend,” she explained. “At the trials outdoors I did two shot put throws, ran to the 200m and then came back to do another throw.”
Katarina Johnson-Thompson (Getty)
Missing the global get-together in Glasgow is painful, though, especially as she prefers pentathlon to heptathlon. “I just want to put everything into the Olympics and I want to do another heptathlon before Paris,” she explained, although she is not sure yet whether this will be in Gotzis.
Several metres ahead of KJT with 17.74m, Amelia Campbell (née Strickler) proved an impressive winner. She was hoping to break the 18-metre barrier, though, and now has a nervous wait to see if she will be added to the GB team for the World Indoors courtesy of her position in the rankings.
Amelia Campbell (née Strickler) says she’s upped her game in an effort to make this year’s Olympics, Euro Champs and World Indoors.
On #Glasgow2024 she is hoping for an invite via the rankings.
The shot putter won the UK indoor title in Birmingham with 17.74m.
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Campbell said: “Ultimately my target today was to execute a big throw and get the qualifying distance or enough points to enable me to get to Glasgow for world indoors. The qualifying marks are very, very tough and I hope if I can get top-16 in the world I will get my chance.”
Like Campbell, fellow shot putter Scott Lincoln says he’s upped his game this winter despite having to return to part-time work after losing his lottery funding this year. He was unimpressed with his 20.08m throw to win gold in Birmingham but has set his sights on trying to finally break the long-standing British record this summer.
Morgan Lake is one field eventer who will definitely be named in the GB team for Glasgow. The high jumper took gold in Birmingham with 1.85m and the UK record-holder will hope to build on her excellent fourth place at the World Champs in Budapest last year.
Full results here.
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