London Anniversary games: Katarina Johnson-Thompson returns to form with outdoor personal best of 1.95m

In the groove: Katarina Johnson-Thompson
Dan Mullan/Getty Images
Standard Sport23 July 2016

Katarina Johnson-Thompson made a welcome return to form by jumping an outdoor PB of 1.95m to finish in third in the high jump at the London Anniversary Games this evening.

The 23-year-old, who is expected to battle it out with Jessica Ennis-Hill for a medal in Rio, has struggled badly with her long jump since failing to record a distance at last year's World Championships.

It had been traditionally known as her strongest discipline, and she will contest the event, going head to head with her fellow double-barrelled multi-eventer, on Saturday.

Ennis-Hill also laid down a marker ahead of the games courtesy of a season best time of 12.76 in the semi-finals of the 100m before finishing fifth in the final.

Johnson-Thompson told Standard Sport prior to her performance tonight that a Gold medal will be the aim in Rio and perhaps it is now easy to see why she is aiming so high.

"I kept quiet about the operation on my knee. I’d not had a great time after Beijing and it wasn’t great to have surgery.

"I didn’t really want to bring more misery to the world! But to come back on New Year’s Day was fantastic.

"I want a medal in Rio — ideally gold — and yeah it has been a long, hard road back. I feel like I’ve come out the other end," she insisted.

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