Jessica Ennis-Hill backs Katarina Johnson-Thompson to win heptathlon gold

The 31-year-old starts her bid for Paris 2024 glory at the Stade de France on Thursday.

Jessica Ennis-Hill and Katarina Johnson-Thompson pictured while competing for Great Britain

Jessica Ennis-Hill is confident Katarina Johnson-Thompson can end her Olympic heartache by winning heptathlon gold at Paris 2024.

Johnson-Thompson has failed to capture an Olympic medal during a glittering career that has brought gold at the World Championships in 2019 and 2023, as well as at the 2018 and 2022 Commonwealth Games.

The 31-year-old Liverpudlian finished 14th at her debut Olympics in 2012 – when Ennis-Hill took heptathlon gold in front of a London home crowd – came sixth at Rio 2016 and failed to finish at Tokyo three years ago owing to injury.

Katarina Johnson-Thompson with her eyes closed and her right hand on her head. — Katarina Johnson-Thompson reacts after picking up an injury during the heptathlon at the Tokyo Olympics three years ago, adding to her Olympic tale of woe (Joe Giddens/PA)

“She’s very capable of winning that gold medal,” Ennis-Hill told the PA news agency ahead of Johnson-Thompson beginning her bid for Olympic glory at the Stade de France on Thursday morning.

“There were positives last year and she came out to win another world title.

“I think people expected her to get on the podium, but perhaps not win gold. It was incredible to see.

“She’s been in a good place, coaching-wise and mentally coming into this year.”

A general picture of Jessica Ennis-Hill. — Jessica Ennis-Hill believes Katarina Johnson-Thompson can emulate her achievement of winning Olympic heptathlon gold (Mike Egerton/PA)

Johnson-Thompson has said this is best she has felt before an Olympics, despite uncertainty over her fitness during the build-up to Paris.

She pulled out of the European Championships in Rome at the start of June after only three events.

She then missed a fortnight of training and had a number of injections in her Achilles, but did compete at the UK Athletics Championships in Manchester and the London Diamond League last month.

As well as managing her fitness, Johnson-Thompson has to deal with the expectation that comes with being one of Team GB’s highest profile track and field athletes in Paris.

“You’ve got to shut that out,” said Ennis-Hill. “You’re still competing against the same women on a track.

“The eyes of the world are on you in a slightly different way at the Olympics, but Kat just needs to block that out.

“I literally did not even think about the expectation. I remember when I was on the track I was just focused on what I needed to do in the hurdles, the technical things.

“Although I used the energy of the crowd, particularly in the 800 when they really helped me in that last 50 metres, the rest of the two days I was in bit of a cocoon.

Katarina Johnson-Thompson in the air, arms outstretched, during a long jump effort. — Katarina Johnson-Thompson shrugged off fitness concerns by competing at the London Diamond League last month (Adam Davy/PA)

“I didn’t think about the TV cameras and everyone watching at home. If I’d thought about that my head would have completely gone.

“It was just about keeping my mind focused on the things I could control.”

Ennis-Hill believes the proximity of Paris to the UK could work in Johnson-Thompson’s favour to winning that elusive Olympic gold.

She said: “I think it helps, not having the need to adapt to different time zones and travelling so much.

“The weather will probably be hot and you have to handle that. But it’s definitely a positive.”