Tuesday 12 May 2015 11:25, UK
European Indoor Pentathlon champion Katarina Johnson-Thompson has been forced to withdraw from the Gotzis Hypo-Meeting in Austria on May 30-31 due to injury.
Following her European title in Prague in early March, Johnson-Thompson suffered a knee injury which hampered her training during March and April.
Johnson-Thompson was able to compete with the injury at the Great City Games in Manchester last weekend but the decision was made to rest to knee in order to ensure she is 100 per cent for the World Championships in Beijing in August.
Johnson-Thompson’s coach Mike Holmes said: “Some good conditioning work has been possible, but it is only recently that Katarina has returned to relatively light track work, which was sufficient to enable her to compete on Saturday.
“However, much of the preparation necessary to compete effectively across all events for the heptathlon in the Gotzis Hypo-Meeting, at the end of May, has been lost.
“It is now possible to start back and progress steadily to full training to catch up and prepare for later in the summer; with the World Championships heptathlon in Beijing, starting on 22nd August, very much in mind.”
The 22-year-old finished 2014 as world number one in the heptathlon, taking advantage of Jessica Ennis-Hill’s two year absence due to injuries and the birth of her son.
Johnson-Thompson broke Ennis-Hill’s British record in Prague and the pair were scheduled to face off in Austria but fans will now have to wait to find who is the dominant force in multi-eventing.
