Katarina Johnson-Thompson insists while comparisons between herself and Jessica Ennis-Hill continue to be drawn she is yet to discover if her already promising progression will follow such a successful path.
The 20-year-old heptathlete ended a fantastic season with a fifth-place finish at the World Championships, following on from European under-23 gold in July, producing a huge personal best of 6449 points in the process, only 20 short of Ennis-Hill’s British under-23 record.
By recording personal bests in no less than four of her seven events in Moscow, Johnson-Thompson proved she will certainly be another British name to watch out for at the senior world level and is certainly one for the bigger stages.
And, with next summer’s Commonwealth Games in Glasgow her next major target, Johnson-Thompson believes exceeding her expectations in Russia has given her the belief a podium finish is a real possibility.
“I think Jess is a different athlete than me. She was one of the athletes who added 1,000 points onto her junior score and I think certain athletes can progress quicker,” said Johnson-Thompson, who is a Home Nation ambassador for SSE, an official partner of the 2014 Commonwealth Games.
“Athletes like Jess can just add points year on year and I don’t know what athlete I am at the moment but hopefully I can progress each year and do well in Rio 2016 but 2020 is realistic for me.
“I haven’t really had time to digest the World Championships but I just know that I came higher than what I expected. I wanted to be in the top eight but then there’s also a bit of disappointment because I knew I was so close to a medal.
“I think that I stepped up a lot in Moscow, I came fifth and it was my aim to come in the top eight, so I think now I can start looking at medals at the Commonwealth Games especially.
“It’s still a year away but as soon as the major championships of this year finish you start to look on to the next.
“I say this most years but the throwing events are my weakest and that’s where I am losing points on all the other athletes so I want to improve on that and just get more consistent.”
© Sportsbeat 2013