Johnson-Thompson Finishes Last in Birmingham but Wins a Different Battle

Katarina Johnson-Thompson finished 21st of 21 at the European Athletics Championships heptathlon in Birmingham — last among the women who completed all seven events — yet spoke afterwards not of defeat but of gratitude that she made the start line at all.

The 33-year-old, an Olympic silver medallist and double Commonwealth Games champion, arrived at Alexander Stadium having competed just once since the 2023 World Championships, where she earned a sixth global podium with bronze. That single outing was a shot put competition in Loughborough in May. She withdrew from the Commonwealth Games, where she was the defending heptathlon champion, specifically to give herself a chance of being fit for these European Championships on home soil in Birmingham. BBC Sport

Injuries, she said, had held her back. "I've not been able to put the work in," she acknowledged, but added she was happy simply to be back competing. BBC Sport

The heptathlon — seven events across two days, combining sprints, jumps and throws — punishes any gap in preparation, and day one brought a shock. Johnson-Thompson struggled through the hurdles and the 200 metres, two of the opening three disciplines. She said the initial shock was hard to absorb, but she returned for day two on the Saturday with a different mindset, determined to soak in the competition and finish what she started.

She did finish. All seven events, all the way to the end, in 21st place. Kate O'Connor of Ireland took the gold.

For Johnson-Thompson, completing the heptathlon mattered more than where she placed. She said it was important to finish for her team, who had worked hard to get her to the start line. Since her first major championship appearance in 2012, she has missed only one. She has never won a European title, and that gap will remain — but Saturday was never about adding to the medal tally. She had competed at Alexander Stadium as a junior and was determined to make this start line, to feel the adoration of a home crowd that has watched her career arc from teenage prospect to Olympic podium.

The road does not end here. A World Championships and an Olympic Games loom in the next two years, offering further opportunities for global honours. Whether her body will allow the training block she needs is the question she could not answer in Birmingham. What she could do, and did, was finish.