Katarina Johnson-Thompson in the pentathlon long jump at the IAAF World Indoor Championships Birmingham 2018 (© Getty Images)
Of the 12 winners from the 2018 World Indoor Championships who’ll defend their titles in Belgrade, just one of them hasn’t competed at all this year.
But when Katarina Johnson-Thompson received an invitation to contest the pentathlon in the Serbian capital, it was too good an opportunity to turn down.
The Briton – who sits at No.2 on the world indoor all-time list with 5000 – hadn’t intended on doing an indoor season at all in 2022. She has, after all, only recently relocated to the US to train under leading combined events coach Petros Kyprianou. And before that, she was rehabbing her way back from the injuries that hampered her throughout the 2021 season.
But despite her lack of competition, the world champion’s training has been going well. And after seeing training partner Garrett Scantling excel during the indoor season, she has no doubt been inspired to take her spot and attempt to win her fourth major indoor pentathlon title.
Two-time Olympic champion Nafi Thiam may be giving the indoor season a miss this year, but high-quality opponents await Johnson-Thompson in what looks set to be a competitive competition.
Noor Vidts took European indoor silver last year, then followed it with a fourth-place finish at the Olympics. The Belgian hasn’t contested a pentathlon in 2022, but she has set PBs in the 60m hurdles (8.24), shot put (14.22m) and long jump (6.51m), so could well be on course to break her PB of 4791.
European U23 champion Adrianna Sulek finds herself on top of the world list heading into Belgrade, thanks to the 4756 tally – her third pentathlon PB of the year – she set to win the Polish indoor title.
Earlier in the year, Britain’s Holly Mills finished one point behind Sulek in Tallinn, 4598 to 4597. The 21-year-old was almost a metre down on her shot put PB in that series, so she has room for improvement in Belgrade.
Dorota Skrivanova has also showed improved form this year, adding more than 300 points to her PB with her 4560 victory at the Czech Championships.
Chari Hawkins set a lifetime best of 4492 to win the US indoor title last month, where Kendell Williams finished second with 4399. Williams, who finished fifth at the 2019 World Championships and last year’s Olympics, can be expected to raise her game in Belgrade, as she often does at major events.
Five other women in the field have scored PBs in in the 4400s this year: Ukraine’s Yuliya Loban, Austria’s 2016 world U20 champion Sarah Lagger, France’s Leonie Cambours, Italy’s Sveva Gerevini and Spain’s Claudia Conte. It may not take too big an improvement from any of these to make it into the medals, should any of the bigger favourites falter.
Jon Mulkeen for World Athletics
