Katarina Johnson-Thompson recovers from heptathlon disaster by leaping into long jump final at World Championships

Katarina Johnson-Thompson into long jump final in Beijing
The 22-year-old recorded a 6.79m jump to book a place in Friday’s final
Johnson-Thompson fouled on all three attempts in heptathlon
Lorraine Ugen and Shara Proctor also qualify for final
Tiffany Porter and Cindy Ofili advance to 100m hurdles semi-finals

Guy Aspin And Simon Peach, Press Association

Published:
05:30 GMT, 27 August 2015

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Updated:
07:15 GMT, 27 August 2015

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Katarina Johnson-Thompson bounced back from her heptathlon ‘walk of shame’ by leaping into the long jump final at the World Championships in Beijing.

The 22-year-old saw her medal hopes in the seven-event competition dashed at the Bird’s Nest stadium on Sunday when she produced three fouls in the long jump, her strongest discipline.

But the Liverpool athlete seized her shot at redemption with both hands, soaring out to 6.79 metres on her second attempt to book an automatic place in Friday’s final.

Katarina Johnson-Thompson qualified for the long jump final with a distance of 6.79m in Beijing

The 22-year-old had a nightmare in the heptathlon when she fouled on all three of her long jump attempts

Team-mate Lorraine Ugen qualified second with a jump of 6.87m, but Shara Proctor, the Anguillan-born British record holder, will need a considerable improvement on her best jump of 6.68m if she is to challenge for a medal. She only scraped into the final by three centimetres in 11th place.

‘I wanted to come out and put everything that was wrong right again,’ said Johnson-Thompson, who was able to steady any nerves by registering a valid first-round jump of 6.54m.

‘I was nervous. I was just thinking it was going to happen again.’

Johnson-Thompson was compelled to finish the heptathlon if she wanted to take part in the long jump, despite her podium chances having gone, and she ambled around the track in the 800m, the final event, as she saved her legs for the days ahead.

‘It was like a walk of shame,’ she said. ‘But there was nothing I could do about it. I didn’t want to kill my legs off and not do well here.’

She admitted she wanted to shut herself away following the disappointment, saying: ‘I just didn’t want to bump into everyone, people asking me if I was okay. When people were nice to me that’s when I started to get upset.

Lorraine Ugen also qualified for the final at the World Championships with a distance of 6.87m

Shara Proctor struggled to produced her best as she scraped into the final with a furthest jump of 6.68m

‘I didn’t want to see anyone or have to talk to anyone.’

Johnson-Thompson described the past few days as ‘really hard’, but said words of support from Greg Rutherford had helped.

The speed of the runway has made timing the run-up difficult and big names have crashed out in both the men’s and women’s competitions.

‘It did make me – as cruel as it sounds – feel a little bit better, that it wasn’t just me and I didn’t flop,’ said Johnson-Thompson.

America’s Brittney Reese, the three-time reigning champion and the Olympic champion, was one of those to go out, managing just 6.39m.

Proctor almost followed her and she said: ‘I was a little too passive, but I made it and that’s all that matters.’

American-born sisters Tiffany Porter and Cindy Ofili advanced to the semi-finals of the 100m hurdles, but in contrasting fashions.

Tiffany Porter cruised into the 100m hurdles semi-finals after winning her heat comfortably in 12.73 seconds

Cindy Ofili also made it through to the semi-finals of the 100m hurdles as she finished fourth in her heat

Porter, the bronze medallist from Moscow two years ago, won her heat emphatically in 12.73 seconds, while younger sibling Ofili finished fourth in hers in 12.97secs.

Charlie Grice and Chris O’Hare progressed smoothly to the 1500m semis, Grice finishing fourth in his heat in 3:43.21 and O’Hare fifth in his in 3:38.43.

Steph Twell qualified for the final of the 5,000m as a fastest loser, coming home 13th in her heat in 15:34.72.

But neither Isobel Pooley nor Morgan Lake qualified for the high jump final, with both unable to clear higher than 1.89m.