Katarina Johnson-Thompson struggles in latest warm-up event ahead of Tokyo Olympics

Katarina Johnson-Thompson was left in no doubt as to the scale of the task facing her at the Tokyo Olympics after only narrowly avoiding finishing last in the long jump at her first international meet since rupturing her Achilles tendon. 

The world heptathlon champion had been bullish this week about her aspirations for Japan, insisting her goal was still to make the podium despite having surgery on her jumping leg and missing more than three months of training at the start of the year. 

A modest high jump of 1.84 metres in a local meet at her home track of Montpellier last month marked her return to competition, but this performance at the British Grand Prix in Gateshead was always likely to serve as the true barometer of her physical fitness. 

Having looked disappointed to open the competition with a mark of 6.07m, she failed to go any further until her final jump and even then only marginally to 6.10m – a distance she first managed as a 15-year-old. A 6.93m long jumper at her best, Johnson-Thompson avoided finishing last only thanks to one of the other athletes failing to record a legal effort from all of her jumps. 

Intent on remaining positive ahead of the Olympics, Johnson-Thompson said: “I felt really good. It’s nice to be back. I didn’t know what to expect. I take things week by week, but it felt good for me. “It was about getting back to my 19-stride run-up. I’m 100 per cent fit and that was the first time I’ve come off that run up since Doha [World Championships in 2019]. I know I can handle it and my body can handle it. The distance wasn’t there today unfortunately, but it just means I have three weeks to know exactly what I need to do to get into the best shape for Tokyo.” 

Elsewhere at Gateshead, Elliot Giles, the British 800m champion, said he felt in “incredible form” ahead of a tilt at the Olympic podium after stepping up in distance to win the mile. Having this year run the second-fastest indoor 800m time in the world, Giles clocked 3min 52.49sec to triumph on Tuesday night. “I’m coming into incredible form,” he said. “I keep going up and up each week. I just keep ticking boxes, so come Tokyo I should be in incredible shape.” 

Asked if he felt capable of winning gold, Giles said: “I wouldn’t be doing this otherwise. I wouldn’t waste my time. The start line doesn’t discriminate. “There’s no heads-on favourite and it’s all to play for. You’d be stupid and unrealistic to say I’m guaranteed to win, but I’m going to put myself in a position to do so and put it all out there.” 

Andrew Butchart ran a Scottish 3,000m record and then revealed he still did not know if he would be allowed to race at the Olympics after giving an interview in which he described faking a negative Covid-19 test to return to Britain – a claim he later retracted. UK Athletics confirmed he could be stripped of his 5,000m spot for Tokyo but, despite being due to travel to Japan this week, the investigation has still not concluded. 

“It’s not been finalised yet,” Butchart said. “I can’t talk about it yet but I’m hopeful. Obviously I have regrets, but I can’t talk about it until it’s all finished.” Trayvon Bromell, the American 100m champion and fastest man in the world this year, confirmed his status as favourite for an Olympic gold medal with victory in 9.98sec, ahead of British pair Chijindu Ujah and Zharnel Hughes in second and third respectively. 

Cindy Sember continued to show she was capable of improving on her fourth-place finish at the last Olympics as she triumphed in the 100m hurdles in 12.69sec, while Jodie Williams claimed two second-place finishes in the space of an hour with a 400m personal best of 50.94sec to follow her fastest 200m time for seven years of 22.60sec.