Katarina Johnson-Thompson beats Anna Hall to world heptathlon title

Katarina Johnson-Thompson won the women’s heptathlon title at the 2023 World Athletics Championships after beat USA’s Anna Hall on Sunday’s second day of action.
Katarina Johnson-Thompson wins the women's heptathlon world athletics championships gold medal Katarina Johnson-Thompson wins the women's heptathlon world athletics championships gold medal
Katarina Johnson-Thompson wins the women's heptathlon world athletics championships gold medal. Photo by Stephen Pond/Getty Images for World Athletics

BUDAPEST, Hungary (August 20) – Great Britain’s Katarina Johnson-Thompson regained the heptathlon title at the 2023 World Athletics Championships on Sunday, marking a stunning return from a series of injuries that had threatened her career.

Johnson-Thompson accumulated a total of 6,740 points to capture her second career world title by only 20 points on a very emotion day. – Read more: Maria Perez wins women’s 20km race walk gold: World Athletics Championships Day 2

Anna Hall of the United States, the world bronze medalist from the 2022 world championships, entered at the favorite but had to settle for silver with 6,720 points, while Anouk Vetter of the Netherlands rounded off the top three, bagging the bronze with 6,501 points.

Johnson-Thompson, who previously secured the world title in 2019 at the Doha championships in Qatar, recovered from a poor first-event start in the competition on Saturday to close out with a promising performance in the 800 metres, the competition’s final event.

Although she finished second with a personal-best time of 2:05.63, it was sufficient to ensure her top position on the podium and that performance came on the back of a very good performances in the long jump and the Javelin events.

The British athlete’s journey to this victory was fraught with challenges. In 2020, she suffered a ruptured Achilles and had to bow out of the Tokyo Olympics due to a calf muscle tear during the 200m event.

Her triumphant return was all the more poignant as world and Olympic champion Nafi Thiam of Belgium was absent from the event due to injury.

Complete Women’s Heptathlon Points Standings

PlaceBIBNameCountryTotal Points
11848Katarina JOHNSON-THOMPSONGBR6,740
221402Anna HALLUSA6,720
331156Anouk VETTERNED6,501
44934Xénia KRIZSÁNHUN6,479
551144Emma OOSTERWEGELNED6,464
66564Noor VIDTSBEL6,450
77907Sophie WEIßENBERGGER6,438
881404Chari HAWKINSUSA6,366
99803Saga VANNINENFIN6,289
10941Rita NEMESHUN6,232
111138Sofie DOKTERNED6,192
12818Auriana LAZRAQ-KHLASSFRA6,179
13968Kate O’CONNORIRL6,145
14877Vanessa GRIMMGER6,088
15807Léonie CAMBOURSFRA5,939
161452Ekaterina VORONINAUZB5,922
17540Sarah LAGGERAUT5,910
18834Esther CONDE-TURPINFRA5,256
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