World pentathlon and heptathlon champion given wild card by World Athletics to Belgrade

Katarina Johnson-Thompson will return to track and field action later this month – the first time since she agonisingly pulled up injured at last year’s Olympics – after receiving a wild card to compete at the World Indoor Championships, which take place in Belgrade between March 18-20.

This shouldn’t have come as a surprise as the 29-year-old is the current world heptathlon and pentathlon champion having triumphed at both Doha 2019 and Birmingham 2018 respectively. She also won a silver medal in the indoor long jump at Sopot 2014.

“Super excited to be joining the British Athletics team to compete at the world indoors in the pentathlon March 18th. Let’s get back to it,” Johnson-Thompson said on her Instagram.

If Johnson-Thompson can add another world indoor pentathlon crown to her collection it would mark an incredible comeback from the adversity she faced last year in Tokyo.

One of the abiding memories from the Olympics was seeing Johnson-Thompson walk to the finish line alone after picking up a calf injury in the 200m. It evoked memories of Derek Redmond’s gutsy determination in 1992 and athletics fans in Belgrade are sure to remember those images when they watch Johnson-Thompson in action.

Holly Mills will join Johnson-Thompson in the pentathlon after the multiple European junior medallist was selected courtesy of being ranked third in the world in the pentathlon this year and therefore joined the British team which was announced on Tuesday (March 1).

The 21-year-old finished fifth at last year’s European Indoor Championships in Toruń and just last week picked up a silver medal in the 60m hurdles at the UKA Indoor Championships in Birmingham.

After Elliot Giles received an automatic wild card by winning the World Indoor Tour over 800m, Charlie Da’Vall Grice has been added to the team to compete over the distance. Guy Learmonth also qualified for the 800m meaning that Great Britain will have three men competing for the medals.

The trio of additions to the British team see 36 athletes travelling to Serbia, just one short of the indoor championship record of 37 that made the trip to Paris in 1997.

British fans can watch the World Indoor Championships on the BBC in the UK.