Athletics

FROM THE depths of despair to the top of the world, Katarina Johnson-Thompson’s brilliant Budapest bullion caps one of Britain’s greatest sporting comeback stories.It would have been so easy, and few would have blamed her, had KJT chucked in the heptathlon at several points in the four years since she first won a world title.
Katarina Johnson-Thompson has capped a remarkable comebackCredit: Reuters
Johnson-Thompson of Team Great Britain won gold in the women’s heptathlonCredit: Getty
Delighted Johnson-Thompson celebrates her incredible momentCredit: Getty
For so long, heartbreak had been the overriding emotion for this injury-hit, out-of-luck 30-year-old.
To name but a few adversities, there had been a ruptured Achilles, career-saving surgeries, Covid isolation, coaching changes and training-base switches.
Tears flowed when she hit rock-bottom – that horrible moment when she completed only three of the seven events at the Tokyo Olympics due to a right calf injury.
It explains why this stunning victory by the Danube means so much for her, the British squad and track-and-field back in the UK.
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It proves that however bad things can get, however low you reach, it is possible to recapture past glories.
Now some may argue that the field was missing the injured Nafi Thiam, the two-time Olympic and world champion.
But do you honestly think Johnson-Thompson cares?
It was about time she earned a major slice of good fortune.
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After all that she has been through, the chance to win a medal of any colour gives her the sweetest of redemption arcs.
Overnight, Johnson-Thompson had been in second place after four events, lying 93 points behind the American Anna Hall, who had her left calf strapped up.
On day two of competition, the long jump and javelin were pivotal events – and the Brit excelled at both.
A leap of 6.54 metres under a baking hot Hungarian sun put her top of the 21-woman field.
And then her javelins, often seen as her weakest event, flew through the air so smoothly and confidently.
A mark of 46.14 metres represented a personal best and was only bettered by six other strongwomen.
It was 1.81 metres further than what she produced a year ago at the Birmingham Commonwealth Games.
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Heading into the 800m, the seventh and final discipline, she had a 26-point lead over Dutchwoman Anouk Vetter.
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It was tight between her and Colorado runner Hall, 22, and until the last 200m of the 800m, she was behind in the standings.
But by finishing just 1.54 seconds seconds behind, she was able to cement her position as the number one heptathlete in the world. More

ZHARNEL HUGHES has become the world’s fastest man in 2023 after receiving help from Usain Bolt.And he once had to use his pace to race away from a gunman but now wants to be a pilot.
Zharnel Hughes is hoping to land gold at the World ChampionshipsCredit: Reuters
Jamaican legend Usain Bolt is a regular at the training base of Britain’s fastest-ever man Zharnel HughesCredit: AFP
The 27-year-old completed the 100m in 9.83 seconds this year, smashing Olympic legend Linford Christie’s over 30-year record, making him Britain’s quickest ever sprinter.  
That time was also the best so far in 2023 and now Hughes harbours the hopes of Great Britain on his shoulders as he heads into the World Championships in Budapest.
Despite still yet to equal Bolt’s world record 9.58s from 2009, he trains under iconic coach Glen Mills, who guided the Jamaican to his eight Olympic gold medals.
Bolt, despite being retired, remains a regular at the facility and Hughes is over the moon to be at close quarters with the superstar.
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He told the Telegraph: “Usain is somebody I always looked up to. Every time we see each other in the gym, because he goes to the same gym as I, we always fist bump and ask each other how we are doing.
“It’s just a great privilege to be in the same company that he once was.”
However, while in Bolt’s homeland of Jamaica, Hughes also suffered a near-death experience in 2018 with an armed robber while in the car park of the training base.
Hughes said: “I was at the trunk of my car putting on my sneakers and I saw this shadow in front of me. Then this guy is asking me for my phone and wallet.
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“I was thinking, ‘What?’ and then I see his gun. So then it is, like, ‘OK, is this actually happening to me?’
“It was one of those panic situations. The gun is pointing at my stomach and my face and then I just got the smallest window because, I don’t know, he was looking away for a second. I took my chance.
“I just jumped down and hid under a car. Then someone else, a licensed firearm holder, came and fired back at him.
“Shots were being exchanged and the guy starts running away and firing wild shots all over the place. Other athletes were jumping down.
“When it was over, I got out and saw they were lying in the gravel, under the benches. There was a girl who uses the track and she was having an asthma attack.
“I went to my car and I was sitting there, thinking, ‘What was that?’ It was all just a few seconds but, wow.”
Hughes was amazingly back on the track within half an hour of that terrifying ordeal, showing his undying passion for the sport, but he also has another career goal that he would like to take off in the future.
He uses a flight simulator to practice flying aircraft in his spare time and one day he would like to become a pilot.
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Hughes added: “That’s what keeps me happy, that’s what keeps me relaxed.
“I would love to fly on a Gulfstream 650. That’s a beautiful aircraft.”
He broke the over 30-year British record set by Linford ChristieCredit: AFP More

THE ‘world’s fastest accountant’ first discovered he had raw speed when he used to run for PUBLIC TRANSPORT.Eugene Amo-Dadzie is not your average athlete — for starters, he has a full-time job  number crunching and volunteers as a school governor.
Eugene Amo-Dadzie (centre) discovered his speed chasing public transportCredit: Getty
The ‘world’s fastest accountant’ will be representing Team GB in BudapestCredit: The Sun
He did not come through the junior ranks like his rivals, taking up athletics at the age of 26 after time at university and undergoing business training.
His introduction to the elite end of sprinting only came TWO MONTHS ago with a blistering 100 metres mark of 9.93sec in Austria that shocked everyone.
That stunning showing booked his World Athletics Championships spot in Budapest and has only been officially bettered by THREE MEN in British history.
But he always had an inkling that he was speedy — especially when he always managed to catch the bus or train while running late for school or work.
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Amo-Dadzie, 31, said: “Back in the day, I grew up in Walthamstow in East London and I lived between bus stops.
“There was maybe a 100m distance between the two. So with my schoolbag on and hard shoes, I’d just take off running for this bus.
“One of the kids on the bus saw me and was smiling and laughing, thinking: ‘He’s not going to make this’.
“I don’t know how fast the bus was going but I remember getting on it.
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“The kid just stood there open-mouthed, ‘Oh my God’. So, growing up, I’d recognise how quick I was.
“Later, I lived in Highams Park for a bit. My house was an eight-minute walk from the station.
“Sometimes I’d leave home with the train coming in two minutes. I’d think to myself: ‘Yeah, I’m going to make it’. I’d just sprint from my road to Highams Park station and I’d make it.
“I’d be completely dying when I got the train. But I used to do little things like that. Almost testing that my speed was still there.”
Amo-Dadzie, who is married and has a two-year-old daughter, now lives in Rainham, Essex, and trains twice  a week with a coach at Lee Valley outside of his day job (below).
His company, St George (Berkeley Group) developments,  granted him annual leave to be in Budapest — but he is back at work on August 29.
On Saturday, he will line up in the 100m heats against pros who have trained most of their lives.
Amo-Dadzie, a man of faith, said: “It’s  surreal. I’m not the guy who said he grew up with aspirations and dreams of being an athlete and going to world championships.
“This is never something I expected to do. It all just changed one fateful day, God flicked a switch in my head.
“I was playing football next to an athletics track and saw a 100m race going on.
“Friends knew I was quick and would grill me: ‘If we had your talent, Eugene, what we could have done with it. You’ve wasted your talent’.
“One mate said to me: ‘You were fast at school, why did you never try athletics?’. And in that moment, I thought: ‘What do I have to lose?’.
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“That was the winter of 2018 and, thank God, I sit here now, the world’s fastest accountant, about to be on the world stage. I hope my story shows it’s never too late to get into sport.
“If me, a family man, a chartered accountant, a  primary school governor, can do it, by the grace of God, why can’t you?”
Amo-Dadzie, 31, will compete for Team GB in the World Athletics Championship in BudapestCredit: Getty More

DARYLL NEITA is determined to be remembered as Britain’s fastest woman in history when she retires.Leading track-and-field stars descend upon Budapest this week for the 19th edition of the World Athletics Championships, which start on Saturday.
Daryll Neita, left, wants to leave a legacy as Britain’s fastest womanCredit: Getty
The World Athletics Championships get underway on SaturdayCredit: Getty
Globally, this is a golden era of female sprinting, with Jamaica in particular dominating the two main disciplines.
Domestically, Dina Asher-Smith, 27, has led the way for a long time, establishing national records for the 100m (10.83sec) and 200m (21.88) back in 2019.
Neita, 26, is not far behind — 10.90 and 22.23 are her PBs — but at some point over the next 12 months, she believes she can be No 1.
Speaking to SunSport at a special National Lottery shoot, the Londoner said: “I’m going for all the records, I believe they’re there to be broken.
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“I don’t believe I’m anywhere near my potential yet.
“I want the records. I want to be in the history books. I just want to have my name there and be remembered forever.
“I feel that’s what sport is all about. We need to push the records. They can’t stay the same for a million years. They’re there to be broken.
“That’s so inspiring for all of us girls that don’t have that record. We want it. We want to be the best. That is how I want to be remembered.
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Neita is focused on breaking the British recordsCredit: Stella Pictures
She reached the final of the 100m at the Tokyo OlympicsCredit: Stella Pictures

“But not just for running fast times and getting medals. Also for being an inspirational person.”
Neita was based in Florida until late 2021 but left for a new training group in the Italian city of Padua to avoid the disruption of the Rana Reider sexual misconduct saga.
Extensive periods of time are spent away from her mum, stepdad, brother and boyfriend — and her adorable Chihuahua, Melon.
Reaching the Olympics final in 2021 was the catalyst for her inner belief and confidence.
Though she missed out on the 100m world final in Eugene in 2022 by 0.01 SECONDS, she responded with bronze in the same event at the Birmingham Commonwealth Games.
At the start of every season, she writes her goals in her private diary — and 2023 is the “year of golden sparkles”.
The plan is to double up in the Hungarian capital as well as next year at the Paris 2024 Olympics but she would fancy having a go at the long jump one day.
Neita, who grew up in Greenwich, admitted: “I want medals this year. So I’m not playing games. It’s all or nothing for me.
“Nobody really wants to be away from home, family and friends.
“There are opportunities that I may miss out on, not being at home, but I’m in Italy because this is the place that’s going to help me get the work done.
“I’m just very locked-in. I know what I want.
“I believe I’m achieving things that I am meant to.
“I’m 26 now. I am not 19, 20, 21. I’m in my second cycle. It’s time to get it going.
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“I’ve improved but then so has the rest of the field. So I can’t take my foot off the gas.”
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