Is Katarina Johnson-Thompson going to Tokyo Olympics? 

World heptathlon champion Katarina Johnson-Thompson will be heading to Tokyo Olympics 2020 hoping to win her first Olympic medal in her third Olympic Games.

A heptathlon comprises of seven athletic events: 100m hurdles, High Jump, Shot Put, 200m, Long Jump, Javelin Throw and 800m. Athletes need to earn points from each event. The points system awards higher scores for better results in each of the seven events.

At the end of the event, the points are tallied and the athlete with the highest points is crowned the champion.

Ahead of the Tokyo Games, Katarina Johnson-Thompson featured at the British Grand Prix in Gateshead, where she managed a modest long jump of 6.10m. She ruptured the Achilles of her jumping leg last December and was sidelined for the majority of late last year. However, she is feeling better and is recovering well from the injury.

"I’m back. I’m fully fit and ready to go, I’m 100 percent, everything is healed," Katarina Johnson-Thompson said before the British Grand Prix.

Katarina Johnson-Thompson's confidence is high and she is targeting a podium finish at the Tokyo Games. Fans shouldn't be surprised if she is still around till the next Olympics as the Paris 2024 Summer Games is definitely in her plans.

Katarina Johnson-Thompson's Olympic performances

Katarina Johnson-Thompson has had two modest Olympic outings so far. In her debut Olympic Games at London, she had finished 14th in the women's heptathlon. Katarina Johnson-Thompson could manage a total of 627 points while Great Britain's Jessica Ennis clinched the gold.

Four years later at the Rio Games, Katarina Johnson-Thompson improved her performance but it was still not good enough to ensure a podium finish. At Rio, Katarina Johnson-Thompson accumulated a total of 6523 points from the seven events and finished sixth.

Belgium's Nafissatou Thiam won gold with 6810 points and Jessica Ennis won a silver medal with 6775 points.

The disappointment of having failed at two Olympics hit Katarina Johnson-Thompson hard as she turned to Jessica Ennis and told her she was unsure if she still wanted to pursue athletics. However, Katarina Johnson-Thompson ultimately kept persevering.

Katarina Johnson-Thompson's showing at the World Championships

Katarina Johnson-Thompson would be crowned world champion in 2019, but she had to endure another heartbreak before that.

At the 2017 World Athletic Championships in London, Katarina Johnson-Thompson finished fifth in Heptathlon and Long Jump. In the heptathlon event, she was able to accumulate only 6558 points and in the Long Jump, her best attempt was only 1.95m.

Katarina Johnson-Thompson's crowning moment arrived two years later at the 2019 World Athletic Championships in Qatar. She brought her A-game as she accumulated a total of 6981 points, earning the highest points in High Jump, 200m, Long Jump, and 800m, to clinch the gold medal.

The 6981-point performance helped Katarina Johnson-Thompson break Ennis-Hill’s national record.

“I didn’t want to give up on something I truly believed but… Everyone’s got their journey, It’s not been very straightforward for me. It’s not been easy for me." Katarina Johnson-Thompson said after her world championship gold win.

Who will be Katarina Johnson-Thompson's competitors at the Tokyo Games?

Katarina Johnson-Thompson's biggest hurdle will be to overcome the challenge posed by Belgium's Naffissatou Thiam.

The Belgian is the defending Olympic champion. She also has a gold and a silver medal from the world championships. Naffissatou Thiam won gold at the 2017 World Championships before she was displaced by Katarina Johnson-Thompson at the 2019 Championships.