Uk Athletics

Katarina Johnson-Thompson (Bertrand Valcin, Liverpool Harriers) will continue her comeback from injury when she takes on a world-class long jump line-up at the Müller British Grand Prix in Gateshead on Tuesday 13th July.

The world heptathlon champion takes on world long jump gold medallist Malaika Mihambo of Germany plus fellow Tokyo-bound Britons Jazmin Sawyers (Lance Brauman, City of Stoke) and Abigail Irozuru (Aston Moore, Sale Harriers Manchester) at the Wanda Diamond League meeting next week.

Johnson-Thompson’s preparations for the Olympics were interrupted a few months ago due to an Achilles injury but she returned to competition last week with a 1.84m high jump at a low-key meeting in France.

In Gateshead she will face a more serious test as her preparations for the Tokyo Games gather pace when she faces Mihambo and the one-two at the recent Müller British Athletics Championships – Sawyers and Irozuru – in a contest that will feature the new ‘Final Three’ format.

Mihambo, 27, won the world title in Doha in 2019 with a jump of 7.30m and she has been in fine form this season with victory in the Wanda Diamond League in Oslo last week.

At those same championships in Doha, Johnson-Thompson also enjoyed her finest moment so far by claiming global gold with a British heptathlon record of 6981.

Johnson-Thompson, 28, said: “Training has been going well and I’m so pleased to be competing at a big event like the Müller British Grand Prix. I’m really looking forward to being out there in front of a home crowd who always generates such a great atmosphere.”

The meeting on 13th July is part of the Wanda Diamond League series and other entries so far include British star Dina Asher-Smith (John Blackie, Blackheath & Bromley) in the 200m. Sifan Hassan of the Netherlands will compete in the women’s mile and world record-holder Keni Harrison of the United States races in the 100m hurdles.

Johannes Vetter of Germany could give Jan Zelezny’s world record a scare in the javelin if conditions are good, while the women’s pole vault sees British record-holder Holly Bradshaw (Scott Simpson, Blackburn Harriers) taking on Olympic champion Katerina Stefanidi, world indoor gold medallist Sandi Morris and world leader in 2021 Katie Nageotte.

Gateshead staged the first Wanda Diamond League event of 2021 in May after it was moved from Rabat in Morocco to the North East of England and now, on 13th July, the same venue will host the seventh Diamond League of the season.

The Müller British Grand Prix will be broadcast internationally from 7-9 pm with BBC showing the action for domestic viewers from 6.30 pm.

Tickets for the Müller British Grand Prix are available at britishathletics.org.uk