Following a European indoor silver and a fourth-place finish at the Olympic Games last year, Belgium&rsquo;s Noor Vidts enjoyed a moment of glory when winning the pentathlon at the World Athletics Indoor Championships Belgrade 22.
Poland&rsquo;s Adrianna Sulek, the world leader going into the competition, pushed Vidts all the way and the pair were ultimately rewarded with national records.
Vidts and Sulek both got off to a strong start in the 60m hurdles. Vidts chopped 0.09 from her PB to post the fastest time of the day, 8.15, while Sulek matched the time she ran when she scored her world-leading mark, clocking 8.36.
Britain&rsquo;s Holly Mills also set a PB of 8.15, while Kendell Williams ran a season&rsquo;s best of 8.20. World heptathlon champion Katarina Johnson-Thompson, contesting her first competition of the year, opened her account with 8.45.
Sulek took the lead after the second event as she cleared 1.89m in the high jump, once again matching her mark from her world-leading series. Vidts cleared 1.83m, just one centimetre shy of her lifetime best, while US indoor champion Chari Hawkins moved into third after clearing the same height.
Vidts regained the lead in the third event, thanks to a 14.03m heave in the shot put &ndash; the best mark of the day. Hawkins kept up the pressure with a 14.02m, and Sulek stayed within touching distance of Vidts after throwing 13.40m. Williams remained in fourth overall after throwing 12.81m, but Mills moved from ninth to sixth after sending her shot out to 13.68m.
Vidts extended her lead in the long jump, soaring out to an outright lifetime best of 6.60m. Sulek responded well, also producing an outright PB with 6.43m. But the best mark of the day from Williams, who broke the championship best with 6.69m.
Going into the final event, Vidts had a healthy &ndash; though not unbeatable &ndash; 67-point lead from Sulek, who has the faster outdoor 800m PB. Williams, meanwhile, had a 143-point lead over Mills, which translates to about 9.5 seconds in 800m terms.
Mills set off hard in the 800m in a bold bid for bronze, passing through half way in 1:02.49 with Vidts and Sulek about a second behind. Vidts moved into the lead half way around the final lap and fittingly crossed the line in first place, stopping the clock at 2:08.81.
Her 800m performance brought Vidts&rsquo; winning score to a world-leading 4929, breaking the Belgian record that had been held by her esteemed compatriot Nafi Thiam, the double Olympic heptathlon champion.
Sulek, after finishing second in the 800m with 2:09.56, took silver with a Polish record of 4851. Mills placed third in the 800m with 2:09.97, finishing well ahead of Williams but not quite enough to move into a podium position. Williams, who clocked 2:19.23, took bronze with a season&rsquo;s best of 4680, seven points ahead of Mills. It&rsquo;s Williams&rsquo; first global senior medal, having finished fifth at the 2016 World Indoors, 2019 World Championships and at last year&rsquo;s Tokyo Olympics.
&ldquo;It&rsquo;s crazy what happened today,&rdquo; said Vidts. &ldquo;It was a really nice competition with Adrianna Sulek and really close the whole way. It&rsquo;s just crazy.&rdquo;
World heptathlon champion Katarina Johnson-Thompson, who had been given a late wildcard entry to the World Indoor Championships, contested the first four events, but didn&rsquo;t start for the 800m.
Jon Mulkeen for World Athletics 
<table style="border-collapse: collapse; width: 75%; border-color: #ffffff; border-style: solid;" border="1" cellspacing="1" cellpadding="3">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td style="background-color: #fd5249; text-align: center;" colspan="3">WOMEN'S PENTATHLON MEDALLISTS</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 10%; background-color: #e9c968; text-align: center;">🥇</td>
<td style="width: 60%; background-color: #e9c968;">Noor Vidts 🇧🇪 BEL</td>
<td style="width: 30%; background-color: #e9c968;">4929 NR WL</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 10%; background-color: #ced4d9; text-align: center;">🥈</td>
<td style="width: 60%; background-color: #ced4d9;">Adrianna Sulek 🇵🇱 POL</td>
<td style="width: 30%; background-color: #ced4d9;">4851 NR</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 10%; background-color: #bd895e; text-align: center;">🥉</td>
<td style="width: 60%; background-color: #bd895e;">Kendell Williams 🇺🇸 USA</td>
<td style="width: 30%; background-color: #bd895e;">4680 SB</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="background-color: #34495e; text-align: left;" colspan="3">&nbsp;&nbsp;<a style="color: #ffffff;" href="https://www.worldathletics.org/competitions/world-athletics-indoor-championships/belgrade22/results/women/pentathlon/800-metres/points" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Full results</a></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
&nbsp;

World Athletics Indoor Championships

Olympic fourth-place finisher lands pentathlon gold

Vidts breaks Thiam’s Belgian pentathlon record to take first major title in Belgrade

Of the 12 winners from the 2018 World Indoor Championships who&rsquo;ll defend their titles in Belgrade, just one of them hasn&rsquo;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 &ndash; who sits at No.2 on the world indoor all-time list with 5000 &ndash; hadn&rsquo;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&rsquo;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&rsquo;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 &ndash; her third pentathlon PB of the year &ndash; she set to win the Polish indoor title. 
<img src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/623211055f147ca6fe7d0d47.jpg" alt="" width="100%" />
 Earlier in the year, Britain&rsquo;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&rsquo;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&rsquo;s Yuliya Loban, Austria&rsquo;s 2016 world U20 champion Sarah Lagger, France&rsquo;s Leonie Cambours, Italy&rsquo;s Sveva Gerevini and Spain&rsquo;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

A look at the contenders in the women's pentathlon at the World Athletics Indoor Championships Belgrade 22.

Johnson-Thompson looks to retain world indoor pentathlon title in Belgrade

In 2014, 19-year-old college heptathlete Kendell Williams won gold in the 100m hurdles at the World U20 Championships at Hayward Field. Eight years later, her eye is again on the honour roll at Hayward Field, this time at the World Athletics Championships Oregon22 in July.
Since that freshman year at the University of Georgia, Williams has amassed seven NCAA titles and finished fifth at the 2021 Olympic Games in Tokyo and 2019 World Championships in Doha.
She has surpassed 6400 points in the heptathlon in every year she has competed since 2016, to become one of the most consistent elite combined eventers in the world. Meanwhile, in the classroom, she is on her way to her second masters degree and her third degree overall. 
<img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/0f8bb031-c9e1-4ff6-84e7-52e5e038fb10.jpg" alt="" width="960" height="639" /> Kendell Williams on her way to winning the world U20 100m hurdles title in 2014 (&copy; Getty Images)
&nbsp;
In every sense, Williams is an accomplished student of her event.
Williams&rsquo; education in combined events started when her father Blane slowly added more events to her track sessions.
&ldquo;When I very first started track,&rdquo; she recalls, &ldquo;I ran the 100m and the 200m. That slowly turned into the long jump and the 200m and 400m. And then when I was old enough to hurdle, we tried the hurdles. I already had some experience with high jump, and at that point, we're almost at the pentathlon. So, he just had to teach me how to throw the shot put and run the 800m. That's how we got started in the multis &ndash; just slowly trying different events over the years.&rdquo;
Williams won her first NCAA title in 2014 with a score of 4635. It couldn&rsquo;t be ratified as a world U20 record, but she still sits at the top of the world U20 all-time list, ahead of Carolina Kluft (4535) and Nafi Thiam (4558).
Williams was the first athlete to win four consecutive NCAA titles in the same event indoors, and in 2017 she and her brother Devon won the NCAA indoor pentathlon and heptathlon titles respectively at the same meeting, the only siblings ever to do so.
In between college titles, Williams placed fifth at the World Indoor Championships in Portland in 2016 and participated in her first Olympics in Rio later that year.
&ldquo;At my first Olympics, I felt I had done my whole college season and so the Olympics was kind of extra &ndash; OK, this is great, I get to go to the Olympics,&rdquo; she explains. &ldquo;Whereas in Tokyo, I felt the focus was &lsquo;how close can I get to the podium?&rsquo; From just being happy to be there to really feeling like I belong &ndash; that I could compete against these other really talented women in the world.&rdquo; 
<img src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/622b75d3b8786c7614991c31.jpg" alt="" width="100%" />
Kendell Williams finished fifth at the 2019 World Championships, above, and at the Tokyo Olympic Games, below (&copy; AFP / Getty Images)
<img src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/622b76f2b8786c7614991c40.jpg" alt="" width="100%" />
&nbsp;
Williams was getting closer to the podium in the big competitions as her heptathlon PB climbed above 6400, 6500 and 6600. Her graduation to elite status secured her first invitation to G&ouml;tzis in 2019, where she finished fifth, and she also finished fifth that year at the World Championships in Doha. After a hiatus due to the Covid pandemic, Williams returned to competition at G&ouml;tzis in 2021 where she finished third.
&ldquo;G&ouml;tzis is usually my first heptathlon of the year,&rdquo; she says. &ldquo;With any multi, for the very first one, I never really set the bar too high. I try to focus on the techniques that we've been working on, my cues. If the score comes together, great. And so, at G&ouml;tzis it just so happened to come together, and I was able to get third (6383). I was really pleased with that.&rdquo;
Then came a return to Hayward Field for the US Olympic trials, in oppressive 37C/100F heat. &ldquo;It was hot, record-setting temperatures in Oregon for those two days,&rdquo; she recalls. &ldquo;They didn't move the start time, so we took the brutal heat. I just tried to make sure that I stayed hydrated. I had a fan that blew water, and cooling towels over my head. So, I was very happy to score a personal best (6683), especially under those conditions.
&ldquo;Coming off a really good USAs, I was hoping that some of that momentum would carry a little more into Tokyo. In Tokyo I didn't do enough on day one, so on day two, I had a lot of ground to make up. I was able to come back with a solid long jump, a PR in the javelin and a solid 800m. To end up fifth at the Olympics (6508), I couldn't help but be proud.&rdquo; 
<img src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/622b765fb8786c7614991c37.jpg" alt="" width="100%" />Kendell Williams set her lifetime best of 6683 at the 2021 US Olympic Trials at Hayward Field, Eugene (&copy; Getty Images)
&nbsp;
William&rsquo;s 2021 season &ndash; winning the World Athletics Combined Events Challenge and posting the fourth best heptathlon score in the world &ndash; set her up well for the 2022 season. Her Combined Events Challenge win earned Williams an invitation to the World Athletics Indoor Championships Belgrade 22. She warmed up for the competition in the Serbian capital by finishing second at the US Indoor Championships in Spokane in February.
&ldquo;We were pretty relaxed going in &ndash; we didn't want to fire all of our guns at USAs. I feel like we saw a lot of good things, and I&rsquo;m looking forward to seeing how that translates when I'm fresh and peaked for the Worlds.&rdquo;
Williams will be joined in Belgrade by two of her training partners, world indoor and outdoor champion Katarina Johnson-Thompson and fellow US Tokyo Olympian Garrett Scantling. William&rsquo;s long-time coach is Petros Kyprianou, who was based at the University of Georgia until 2021. As she finishes her masters in public relations, Williams is now in the process of relocating to Florida to continue with Kyprianou&rsquo;s group, which also includes her brother Devon and 2016 Olympic 110m hurdles champion Omar McLeod.
&ldquo;I think having a bunch of talented athletes that span across a variety of different events is so cool,&rdquo; said Williams. &ldquo;We can bounce ideas off each other &ndash; I'm doing hurdle starts and Omar might see something. And then we changed my blocks, and my start was better. Garrett might have a shot put tip that he'll give to me and Kat. We all work together to make each other better.&rdquo; 
<img src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/622b769cb8786c7614991c3d.jpg" alt="" width="100%" />Kendell Williams in action at the World Indoor Championships Birmingham 2018 (&copy; AFP / Getty Images)
&nbsp;
Whether McLeod will make a decathlon cameo remains a mystery for now, but one of the proud achievements of the group is, according to Kyprianou, the unofficial world best combined heptathlon-decathlon score by a sister and brother. Williams&rsquo; best of 6683 is complemented by Devon&rsquo;s 8345, taking them to a combined score of 15,028.
&ldquo;I say all the time that my brother is my favourite athlete,&rdquo; Williams enthuses. &ldquo;He has had a lot of challenges throughout his career, and he just gets up, refocuses and goes back after it. That resilience is so inspiring. Family's so important to me, and it's been fun traveling all over the world together with our parents (Blane and Terri) because they don't miss anything &ndash; they are at every single competition.&rdquo;
Williams has been remarkably consistent over the years and, as a 12.58 hurdler and seven-metre long jumper, she has few weak events requiring improvement as she closes in on 6700 points. But there is always something to study, something to master. 
<img src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/622b763ab8786c7614991c34.jpg" alt="" width="100%" />Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon, holds many special memories for Kendell Williams (&copy; Getty Images)
&nbsp;
&ldquo;I definitely want to improve in the shot put and the 800m,&rdquo; she says. &ldquo;My indoor PB is 13.55m, but on average, I'll throw in the 12-metre range, so my next goal is to see more throws over 13 metres. In the 800m, I feel like I've been stuck at that 2:16 range for so long. I really want to challenge myself to break through and get to 2:14 or lower. I feel like my fitness is at a place where I'm able to run faster &ndash; working on that mental barrier, pushing through the pain of the run.
&ldquo;Every time I do a heptathlon or pentathlon, I just try to stay consistent and produce a consistent score,&rdquo; she adds. &ldquo;That comes from learning more about the events, understanding the technique. And ever since I was a freshman in college, becoming more of a student of my event.&rdquo;
Gabriella Pieraccini for World Athletics

World Athletics Championships, Oregon 2022

Eight years after winning a world U20 title in Oregon, Kendell Williams aims to reach the podium there again in 2022

Being student of the sport is key to Williams conquering combined events

A brilliant brace of gold medals from Katarina Johnson-Thompson (heptathlon world rank: 2) and Laura Muir (1500m world rank: 1) made it a memorable opening night for the hosts at the European Indoor Championships in Glasgow on Friday (1).
Four years ago in Prague, Johnson-Thompson first won the European indoor title and set the British pentathlon record at 5000, and for much of Friday&rsquo;s competition it appeared she was on course to revise that mark.
She got off to a decent start in the 60m hurdles by equalling her season&rsquo;s best with 8.27 to sit second overall behind France&rsquo;s Solene Ndama (heptathlon world rank: 31), who set a championship best of 8.09.
But it was in the high jump where the Briton truly soared, the 26-year-old first clearing 1.93m to create the biggest cheer of the morning session, one that was exceeded minutes later when she hoisted herself over 1.96m at the first attempt to equal Nafissatou Thiam&rsquo;s championship best. 
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Katarina Johnson-Thompson in the pentathlon high jump at the European Indoor Championships in Glasgow</div>
&nbsp;
By then she had the lead, one she held into the afternoon break following a 13.15m personal best in the shot put. She opened her evening account with a leap of 6.53m in the long jump, giving her a 202-point lead over teammate Niamh Emerson (heptathlon world rank: 17) going into the final event, the gold medal secured once she could avoid disaster.
And that she did, leading the field home in a championship best of 2:09.13 to give her a final tally of 4983, the best score in the world since her own PB from 2015.
&ldquo;I am really happy with the PBs in the shot put and 800m &ndash; the throwing has been something I&rsquo;ve been working hard on,&rdquo; said Johnson-Thompson. &ldquo;I was going to say I couldn&rsquo;t ask for more but in the long jump I could have gone a bit more, but it&rsquo;s been a great day.&rdquo;
Back in second, Emerson came of age in senior competition with a personal best, the 19-year-old &ndash; who last year was crowned world U20 champion &ndash; setting indoor PBs in all five events: 8.54 in the 60m hurdles, 1.87m in the high jump, 13.93m in the shot put, 6.29m in the long jump and rounded off with a 2:12.56 800m, during which she left it all on the track to narrowly grab silver.
&ldquo;I always had my eye on a medal but it&rsquo;s a different game doing it,&rdquo; said Emerson. &ldquo;It was really perfect &ndash; I out-performed myself in every event. I was just trying to be solid and it came good. I&rsquo;m really excited now for outdoors.&rdquo;
Her tally of 4731 left her eight points clear of Ndama, who equalled the French record of 4723 in third. In a competition of impressive depth, fourth-placed Ivona Dadic (heptathlon world rank: 6) was just behind with 4702 while fifth-placed Laura Ikauniece set a Latvian record of 4701.
If the one-two by Johnson-Thompson and Emerson saw a new level of volume bouncing around the Emirates Arena, what followed minutes later in the women&rsquo;s 3000m final took it to another level. Specifically, the last of 15 laps, when Scottish heroine Laura Muir unleashed a furious kick to retain her title in superb, scintillating style.
The race played out as many had envisaged, with Germany&rsquo;s Konstanze Klosterhalfen (3000m world rank: 10) trying to draw the sting out of Muir&rsquo;s kick. The early pace was cut out by Muir and British teammate Eilish McColgan (3000m world rank: 8), though it was never at a truly testing tempo. That all changed with eight laps to run, when Klosterhalfen made her move.
The 22-year-old German poured it on at the front and Muir was the only one able to follow, though Melissa Courtney (3000m world rank: 11) made a bold bid to follow suit. With each passing lap, it became more and more clear that it was playing into Muir&rsquo;s hands, the British athlete possessing the kind of kick than can prove lethal in this setting.
With a lap to run she let rip, the Scottish crowd rising to its feet and letting out a raucous roar as she streaked away, opening up almost four seconds as she hit the line in a championship record of 8:30.61. 
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Laura Muir on her way to winning the 3000m at the European Indoor Championships in Glasgow</div>
&nbsp;
To Muir, winning a major title on home turf meant the world: &ldquo;To get this result in this arena, when all is said and done it will be one of the highlights of my career &ndash; if not the best moment.&rdquo;
She will now have less than 48 hours before lining up in the 1500m final, having breezed through the heats a couple of hours earlier. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ll rest, recover, lots of ice baths, massage and rest,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;I certainly had a lot of pressure competing in front of the home crowd and then adding on the double, but I just put my head down and gave it absolutely everything I had.&rdquo;
Klosterhalfen hung on for a well-deserved silver in 8:34.06 with Courtney taking bronze in a PB of 8:38.22.
<h3>Haratyk adds indoor crown to outdoor title</h3>
In the only field event final on day one, Poland&rsquo;s Michal Haratyk (shot put world rank: 5) reigned supreme in the men&rsquo;s shot put with a European lead of 21.65m. That winning effort came in the very first round, the 26-year-old going well beyond his previous indoor best of 21.47m to seize command.
Germany&rsquo;s David Storl (shot put world rank: 6) put up the best challenge, throwing a season&rsquo;s best of 21.54m in round two, but he could find no more in four subsequent throws and had to settle for silver. &ldquo;I think I wanted it too much and that&rsquo;s the reason I lost,&rdquo; said Storl. Czech Republic&rsquo;s Tomas Stanek (shot put world rank: 7) took bronze with a best of 21.25m.
Elsewhere Norway&rsquo;s Jakob Ingebrigtsen (1500m world rank: 8) remains on track to succeed in his twin-pronged assault on the middle-distance events, the 18-year-old coasting through the heats of the men&rsquo;s 1500m and 3000m earlier today.
Ingebrigtsen, the European outdoor 1500m and 5000m champion, dominated his more senior rivals in both heats, clocking a facile 3:42.00 for 1500m and 7:51.21 in the 3000m &ndash; a European indoor U20 record &ndash; to advance to the weekend&rsquo;s finals.
His older brother Filip (1500m world rank: 5) was disqualified from the 1500m for stepping on the infield with a couple of laps to run. &ldquo;I am angry and confused,&rdquo; he said.
No such problems for Henrik Ingebrigtsen (3000m world rank: 15) who coasted through his 3000m heat and into Saturday&rsquo;s final, second behind Britain&rsquo;s Chris O&rsquo;Hare in 7:53.39.
There may also be gold on the horizon for Norway in the men&rsquo;s 400m, with world 400m hurdles champion Karsten Warholm (400m world rank: 29) by far the quickest in this evening&rsquo;s semi-finals, clocking 45.95. Switzerland&rsquo;s Lea Sprunger led the way in the women&rsquo;s semi-finals, winning in a European lead of 51.90.
Nelson Evora (triple jump world rank: 6) had the longest effort in triple jump qualification with 16.89m, while Christina Schwanitz (shot put world rank: 2) was best in the women&rsquo;s shot put qualification, throwing 19.09m.
Cathal Dennehy for the IAAF

A brilliant brace of gold medals from Katarina Johnson-Thompson and Laura Muir made it a memorable opening night for the hosts at the European Indoor Championships in Glasgow on Friday (1).

Johnson-Thompson and Muir lead gold rush for hosts on first day of European Indoor Championships

It has been nine years in coming, but finally the talented all-rounder from the home of The Beatles has made it to No.1 spot in the world as a senior.
&ldquo;It&rsquo;s been a long old day, up and down, like it always is in combined events,&rdquo; Katarina Johnson-Thompson reflected, after kicking to victory in the fifth and final event of the women&rsquo;s pentathlon to secure her first senior combined events medal of any colour &ndash; and, to the delight of the packed crowd in Arena Birmingham, a first home gold of the IAAF World Indoor Championships Birmingham 2018.
There has been many a hard day and night for the 25-year-old from Liverpool since she made her first mark on the global track and field scene, taking heptathlon gold at the 2009 IAAF World U18 Championships.
In 2015 the Briton with the double-barrelled name looked poised to blast her way to global dominance after capturing the European indoor pentathlon crown in Prague with 5000 points, just 13 shy of Nataliya Dobrynska&rsquo;s world record tally.
Then followed a depressing succession of downs: fouling out in the long jump when heading for a heptathlon medal at the 2015 World Championships in Beijing, sixth in the Olympic heptathlon in Rio after a below-par shot, fifth place at last year&rsquo;s World Championships in London after a poor high jump.
So there was a good deal of accumulated frustration to fuel Johnson-Thompson as she resisted a challenge from Austria&rsquo;s Ivona Dadic down the back straight on the final lap of the 800m and switched into over-drive with a finishing kick reminiscent of Coe and Ovett, those British masters of the middle distances.
The 2012 world U20 long jump champion and 2014 world indoor long jump silver medallist could savour the luxury of a clear run in the home straight, crossing the line in 2:16.63 before collapsing to the track as the winning emotion swept over her.
Johnson-Thompson had gone into the 800m with a 33-point lead on Dadic and a 98-point advantage over third placed Yorgelis Rodriguez of Cuba and there was never any serious danger of either rival making up the ground on her. The gold was hers by a margin of 50 points, with a winning tally of 4750.
Rodriguez finished second in the race, clocking 2:17.70, with Dadic third in 2:17.82. In the overall standings, though, Dadic took silver with 4700 and Rodriguez bronze with 4637 &ndash; ahead of fourth-placed Eliska Klucinova of the Czech Republic (4579) and fifth-placed Erica Bougard of the US (4571).
For Dadic, the 24-year-old who took European heptathlon bronze outdoors in 2016, the silver matched Austria&rsquo;s best performance in the championships. Klaus Bodenmuller finished runner up in the men&rsquo;s shot in1991. Steffi Graf took second spot in the women&rsquo;s 800m in 2001 and 2003.
Johnson-Thompson became the second Briton to claim the title, emulating her old rival Jessica Ennis-Hill&rsquo;s victory in Doha in 2010. She did so with a steady if unspectacular set of performances &ndash; 8.36 in the 60m hurdles, 1.91m in the high jump, 12.68m in the shot put, 6.50m in the long jump and finally that 2:16.63 in the 800m.
Asked to pin-point the highlight, she replied: &ldquo;The shot, surprisingly. It&rsquo;s not my strongest event but I got an indoor PB.&rdquo;
Reflecting on having finally scaled a global peak, some while after fellow 2009 world U18 winners Kirani James and Kevin Mayer, Johnson-Thompson reflected: &ldquo;It&rsquo;s been long time coming but finally I&rsquo;m a senior world champion. I&rsquo;m so happy.&rdquo;
It was a not so happy time for former European indoor and outdoor champion Antoinette Nana-Djimou, who trains with world decathlon champion Mayer and Johnson-Thompson under the direction of French coach Bertrand Valcin in Montpellier. The 32-year-old Frenchwoman was lying seventh after the long jump but scratched from the 800m after a couple of laps, finishing 12th and last overall with 3705.
A distinguished seventh with 4466 was Alina Shukh. The 19-year-old had endured a nightmare 30-hour journey from Ukraine, ten of them stuck at Schipol Airport in the Netherlands.
Simon Turnbull for the IAAF

It has been nine years in coming, but finally the talented all-rounder from the home of The Beatles has made it to number one spot in the world as a senior.

Report: pentathlon 800m - IAAF World Indoor Championships Birmingham 2018

Katarina Johnson-Thompson went into the penultimate pentathlon event just 13 points down on leader Yorgelis Rodriguez of Cuba following an indoor shot PB of 12.68m.
The 25-year-old won the 2012 world U20 long jump title and a world indoor silver in Sopot in 2014 and that pedigree in the event took her past Rodriguez and into the overall lead with her opening effort.
Having seen three of the first five women down the runway step over the board, the Briton wisely erred on the side of caution, taking off with room to spare and hitting the sand at 6.50m. It was a solid belt-and-braces effort, though there might have been more to come from the woman who set her UK indoor record of 6.93m in Arena Birmingham in 2015.
Rodriguez fouled her first effort, so at the end of the opening round Johnson-Thompson held a 68-point cushion in the overall standings, ahead of Austria&rsquo;s European indoor silver medallist Ivona Dadic, who opened with 6.29m.
On personal bests, Johnson-Thompson had a huge 49-centimetre advantage over her rivals but she could make no improvement in round two, jumping 6.43m. Rodriguez got a valid jump on the board but only 6.15m &ndash; which put her 98 points down on the favourite in third.
Johnson-Thompson jumped another 6.50m in round three but Dadic improved to 6.40m, just one centimetre shy of her PB, taking her up into the silver medal position. That cut the favourite's lead to 33 points, reducing her comfort zone going into the 800m.
Given Johnson-Thompson&rsquo;s superior half mile record both indoors (2:12.78 to&nbsp; 2:13.53) and outdoors (2:07.64 to 2:10.67), the chances are that she will stay ahead of Dadic and collect her first global combined events crown since her world U18 triumph in 2009.
With just the 800m to go, she leads on 3880 points, with Dadic second on 3847 and Rodriguez third on 3782. A 6.20m jump raised the Czech Republic's Eliska Klucinova into fourth with 3744.
US champion Erica Bougard only managed 6.18m, 26 centimetres down on her best, and has ground to make up in the medal stakes, standing fifth with 3741 &ndash; ahead of Xenia Krizsan (3710), Antoinette Nana Djimou (3705), Kendell Williams (3652), Alina Shukh (3620), Lecabela Quaresma (3598), Caroline Agnou (3588) and Katerina Cachova (3443).
Simon Turnbull for the IAAF

Katarina Johnson-Thompson went into the penultimate pentathlon event just 13 points down on leader Yorgelis Rodriguez of Cuba following an indoor shot PB of 12.68m.

Report: pentathlon long jump – IAAF World Indoor Championships Birmingham 2018

Heading into pentathlon event number three, Katarina Johnson-Thompson was on course for a comfortable victory ahead of Ivona Dadic and Yorgelis Rodriguez and Erica Bougard.
Based on the Briton matching her best pentathlon shot put performance of 12.32m, which she set en route to her 5000 victory at the 2017 European Indoor Championships in Prague, Johnson-Thompson was projected to score in the region of 4900 points.
Hence it came as a huge boost when the pre-competition favourite opened with 12.68m, eclipsing the 12.49m indoor PB she set in 2014.
Johnson-Thompson has thrown 13.14m outdoors but, despite encouragement from the home crowd, she was unable to improve on her first-round effort, dropping to 12.00m and 11.99m with her second and third attempts.
It proved not quite enough to keep the Briton on top of the leader board. A 14.15m indoor PB by Yorgelis Rodriguez elevated the Cuban &ndash; who finished one place ahead of Johnson-Thompson, in fourth, in the heptathlon at last year&rsquo;s outdoor World Championships in London &ndash; into pole position with 2886.
Nonetheless, Johnson-Thompson was still sitting pretty, just 13 points down in second place, with 2873 points in the bag and the trump card of the long jump &ndash; the event in which she took 2014 world indoor silver and 2012 world U20 gold &ndash; to come before the finale of the 800m.
Dadic improved her indoor PB by two centimetres to 14.27m, moving from fourth to third in the standings with 2872. US champion Bougard was 45 centimetres down on her season&rsquo;s best with 12.31m and dropped from second to fourth with 2836.
The three best throws of the competition came from women still lying off the medal pace, in seventh, eighth and sixth respectively. At 32, Johnson-Thompson&rsquo;s French training partner Antoinette Nana-Djimou uncorked a lifetime best of 15.52m, while Switzerland&rsquo;s Caroline Agnou also notched a PB (14.92m) and Eliska Kluchinova of the Czech Republic achieved a season&rsquo;s best of 14.76m.
All of which shifted the expected finishing order to: Johnson-Thompson, Dadic, Rodriguez and Bougard. All strictly on paper. And in theory, naturally. Combined events terms and conditions apply.
Simon Turnbull for the IAAF

Heading into pentathlon event number three, Katarina Johnson-Thompson was on course for a comfortable victory ahead of Ivona Dadic and Yorgelis Rodriguez and Erica Bougard.

Report: pentathlon shot put – IAAF World Indoor Championships Birmingham 2018

It was a disaster in the high jump that cost Katarina Johnson-Thompson dearly in the heptathlon at last year&rsquo;s IAAF World Championships. The British record holder in the event with 1.98m, she could only manage a 1.80m clearance and finished out of the medals in fifth. Compounding the agony, she proceeded to place fifth in the high jump final with 1.95m.
With that London aberration in mind, it would have no doubt settled the favourite&rsquo;s nerves to enter the competition in today&rsquo;s second event at 1.82m and sail over the bar first time with consummate ease. It was the same story at 1.85m but at 1.88m a somewhat tentative approach resulted in a rattle of the bar and a first-time failure.
Still, Johnson-Thompson nailed that height second time and did the same at 1.91m &ndash; before coming to grief with three fouls at 1.94m. The net result was two centimetres down on her season&rsquo;s best but the points hauled the Briton from sixth to first in the overall standings &ndash; albeit with just a 13 points lead into her weakest event, the shot put.
After two events, Johnson-Thompson led with 2167, from US champion Erica Bougard (2154), Cuba&rsquo;s Yorgelis Rodriguez (2082) and Ivona Dadic of Austria (2060).
The next best women in the field on lifetime bests of 1.89m were Bougard and the 19-year-old Ukraine athlete Alina Shukh. Neither women were at their best, however. Bougard had a second time success at 1.85m but then bowed out at 1.88m.
Sadly for Shukh, her travel travails caught up with her. The teenager nailed a first-time clearance at 1.82m but could venture no higher. She stood eighth overall, off the medal pace with 1944.
Rodriguez started with a PB of 1.85m but sailed over that height at the first attempt and then negotiated 1.88m at the second time of asking &ndash; four centimetres higher than the 1.84m that placed her 13th (of 13) in the individual high jump on Thursday night. In doing so, the Cuban climbed up in to the bronze medal spot.
Hungary&rsquo;s Xenia Krizsan cleared a PB 1.82m to rise to fifth with 2047.
Simon Turnbull for the IAAF

It was a disaster in the high jump that cost Katarina Johnson-Thompson dearly in the heptathlon at last year’s IAAF World Championships. The British record holder in the event with 1.98m, she could only manage a 1.80m clearance and finished out of the medals in fifth. Compounding the agony, she proceeded to place fifth in the high jump final with 1.95m.

Report: pentathlon high jump - IAAF World Indoor Championships Birmingham 2018

Two-time US indoor champion Erica Bougard snatched a narrow lead in the opening event of the pentathlon, finishing 0.01 ahead of teammate Kendell Williams in 8.07 in heat two of the 60m hurdles. That converted to a score of 1113 and a lead of two points.
Bougard, who clocked 7.98 at altitude en route to her world-leading 4760 at the US Indoor Championships, was the only sub-eight-second performer in the 12-woman field. Her time here in Birmingham is a mark she has only once bettered at sea level.
Williams&rsquo; 8.08 was a season&rsquo;s best, while third-placed Katerina Kachova of the Czech Republic and fourth-placed two-time European champion Antoinette Nana Djimou of France clocked 8.20 and 8.29 respectively.
Pre-competition favourite Katerina Johnson-Thompson did not get the best of starts but fifth place in 8.36 was no disaster for the 25-year-old Briton. It was down on the 8.18 she clocked in her last pentathlon &ndash; when she won the 2016 European indoor title with 5000 points in Prague &ndash; but equalled her season&rsquo;s best to rank sixth overall with 1048.
There was also a season&rsquo;s best of 8.38 for Xenia Krizsan of Hungary, sixth in heat two and seventh fastest overall.
In the opening heat, Austria&rsquo;s European indoor silver medallist Ivona Dadic sped to a decisive victory in 8.32, slicing 0.07 off her personal best. The next four across the line were Portugal&rsquo;s Lecabela Quaresma (8.51), Caroline Agnou of Switzerland (8.56), Cuban Yorgelis Rodriguez (8.57) and Eliska Kluchinova of the Czech Republic (8.65).
For all of that, though, perhaps the most impressive performance of all came from sixth-placed Alina Shukh. The 19-year-old European U20 champion must have been all shook up following a nightmare journey from Ukraine, having been stuck in Schipol Airport in the Netherlands last night and arrived without her luggage, yet still managed a PB-equalling 8.85.
Simon Turnbull for the IAAF

Two-time US indoor champion Erica Bougard snatched a narrow lead in the opening event of the pentathlon, finishing 0.01 ahead of teammate Kendell Williams in 8.07 in heat two of the 60m hurdles. That converted to a score of 1113 and a lead of two points.

Report: pentathlon 60m hurdles – IAAF World Indoor Championships Birmingham 2018

The last time Katarina Johnson-Thompson contested a pentathlon, at the 2015 European Indoor Championships in Prague, she finished a tantalising 13 points shy of Nataliya Dobrynska&rsquo;s world record tally of 5013.
At the time, the young Briton looked set to emerge ahead of compatriot Jessica Ennis-Hill as the global leader in women&rsquo;s combined events &ndash; only for a lack of form in the throws and what appears to have been a crisis of confidence at crucial times&nbsp; in the jumps to have undermined her progress, having fouled out in the long jump during the 2015 World Championship heptathlon, finished sixth at the 2016 Olympics and fifth at last year&rsquo;s World Championships in London.
Now, at 25, and into her second year training under the guidance of French coach Bertrand Valcin, Johnson-Thompson has the chance to finally claim her first senior global combined events title.
The 2009 world U18 heptathlon champion, and 2012 world U20 champion and 2014 world indoor silver medallist in the long jump has tested herself over four of the five events this year, with encouraging results in her two strongest events (6.71m long jump and 1.93m high jump), plus 8.36 in the 60m hurdles and 11.49m in the shot. In the absence of Belgium&rsquo;s world and Olympic champion Nafissatou Thiam, Johnson-Thompson will start as the woman to beat.
Erica Bougard of the US tops the 2018 world list with 4760 and is partnered by Kendell Williams, who set a North American U20 record in 2014. The field also includes Yorgelis Rodriguez, the Cuban who finished fourth in the heptathlon at last year&rsquo;s World Championships with a national record of 6594.
Ivona Dadic is another possible medal contender. The Austrian finished just behind Johnson-Thompson in sixth in London and took European indoor silver behind Thiam in Belgrade a year ago.
The latest combined events talent to emerge from Ukraine, 19-year-old Alina Shukh, will be looking to measure her progress in Birmingham. The European U20 heptathlon champion last year set a world U20 indoor pentathlon record of 4550, breaking the mark set by Carolina Kluft, the great Swede who claimed her first senior global crown at the 2003 IAAF World Indoor Championships in Birmingham.
Simon Turnbull for the IAAF

The last time Katarina Johnson-Thompson contested a pentathlon, at the 2015 European Indoor Championships in Prague, she finished a tantalising 13 points shy of Nataliya Dobrynska’s world record tally of 5013.

Preview: women's pentathlon – IAAF World Indoor Championships Birmingham 2018

Today marks one week to go before the focus of the athletics world shifts firmly to the IAAF World Indoor Championships Birmingham 2018.
618 athletes from 145 teams have been entered for the 17th edition of the IAAF World Indoor Championships which gets underway on 1 March, hosted for the second time by the United Kingdom's second largest city.
<h3>Combined events fields announced</h3>
Always among the most popular events on the programme are the combined events, the two-day heptathlon for the men and gruelling one-day pentathlon for the women. Both kick off the action on Friday (2) morning with the women&rsquo;s champion to be crowned later that evening.
On the men&rsquo;s side, the focus will fall on Kevin Mayer of France, the world decathlon champion. In the women&rsquo;s competition, the spotlight will shine on Great Britain&rsquo;s Katarina Johnson-Thompson, the 2015 European indoor champion in the event. At those continental championships three years ago, Johnson-Thompson tallied 5000 points, the second highest score in history, just 13 points shy of the world record.
Invitations for the combined events were based on the 2017 IAAF Combined Events Challenge, on the 2017 outdoor world season lists and this year&rsquo;s indoor world season lists with the option to include one additional wild card entry.
Heptathlon: Dominik Distelberger, AUT Jan Dolezal, CZE Kurt Felix, GRN Ruben Gado, FRA Oleksiy Kasyanov, UKR Kai Kazmirek, GER Kevin Mayer, FRA Eelco Sintnicolaas, NED Maicel Uibo, EST Lindon Victor, GRN Damian Warner, CAN Zach Ziemek, USA
Pentathlon: Caroline Agnou, SUI Erica Bougard, USA Katerina Cachova, CZE Ivona Dadic, AUT Antoinette Nana Djimou Ida, FRA Katarina Johnson-Thompson, GBR Eliska Klucinova, CZE Xenia Krizsan, HUN Lecabela Quaresma, POR Yorgelis Rodriguez, CUB Alina Shukh, UKR Kendell Williams, USA&nbsp;
<h3>4x400m squads</h3>
Entries for the 4x400m have also been finalised. The United States is the defending champion in both the men's and women's races. The Trinidad and Tobago men's squad, the winner's at last summer's IAAF World Championships in London, are also entered.
Men: Belgium Czech Republic Dominican Republic Great Britain &amp; Northern Ireland Jamaica Poland Spain Trinidad &amp; Tobago Ukraine United States
Women: Czech Republic Great Britain &amp; Northern Ireland Italy Jamaica Kazakhstan Nigeria Poland Portugal Ukraine United States
 IAAF

Today marks one week to go before the focus of the athletics world shifts firmly to the IAAF World Indoor Championships Birmingham 2018.

Combined events and relay fields announced for IAAF World Indoor Championships Birmingham 2018

The following world records have recently been ratified...
<h3>World U20 indoor records</h3>
Men's triple jump: 17.20m Melvin Raffin (FRA) Belgrade 3 Mar 17 Previous: 17.14m Volker Mai (GDR) Pireas 2 Mar 85
Women's pentathlon: 4542 (8.98, 1.89m, 13.81m, 6.12m, 2:16.84) Alina Shukh (UKR) Tallinn 4 Feb 17 Previous: 4535 Carolina Kluft (SWE) Vienna 1 Mar 02
IAAF

The following world records have recently been ratified...