Katarina Johnson-Thompson relationship with famous boyfriend and retirement plan
Katarina Johnson-Thompson is set to compete for her third world title at the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo. The Liverpudlian first burst onto the scene as a teenager at the London 2012 Olympics, where she witnessed fellow Team GB star Jessica Ennis-Hill clinch gold in the heptathlon.
Fast forward two years, and the British athletics icon herself secured her second world title in the event, setting a personal best in the 800m. Despite experiencing setbacks at Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020, Johnson-Thompson finally bagged an elusive Olympic silver medal at the 2024 Paris Olympics. This time, the Team GB stalwart is aiming to go one step further. As fans gear up to support the 32-year-old once more, Express Sport delves into the life of Johnson-Thompson off the track, exploring her romantic relationships, mental battles and post-athletics plans.
Athlete boyfriend and net worth
Johnson-Thompson has been romantically involved with fellow athlete Andrew Pozzi since 2018. The British hurdler, originally from Stratford-Upon-Avon, hung up his spikes last year at the age of 32 but is a passionate supporter of his long-term partner.
While Pozzi resides in Cardiff, Johnson-Thompson continues to call Loughborough home. Despite the distance, their relationship remains strong, with the couple occasionally offering fans a sneak peek into their romance via social media. Johnson-Thompson recently shared several snaps celebrating her partner’s birthday and captioned the post: “Happy birthday poz.”
Andrew was also in attendance when ‘KJT’ received her MBE, with the pair pictured together at Windsor Castle. After her silver medal triumph at the Paris Olympics, Pozzi shared a heartfelt message with his Instagram followers. His post read: “The most incredible 2 days supporting the most incredible person @johnsonthompson Olympic Silver Medalist.
“I’m so glad you’ve finally had the Olympic moment that you fought so hard for and deserved for so long. Through every difficulty and challenge always came something greater and from the first step until the last, this performance demonstrated decades of unrivalled grit, determination and desire.”
As of last summer, the athlete herself boasted a reported net worth of £3.3million. In 2022, she was listed as the fourth wealthiest British sportswoman under 30 years old according to the Heat Rich list. A significant portion of her wealth has been enhanced through her deal with Nike, while she has also promoted other major brands including Estee Lauder, EA, Müller and British Gas.
Devastating blow
The determined athlete has candidly revealed her athletics path has been anything but smooth and that controlling her feelings has proved difficult on occasion. The death of her father, Ricardo, coupled with a knee problem in 2015 signalled the start of an extraordinarily tough spell for the young athlete.
Her dad died in 2017 in the Bahamas, where he had resided apart from his daughter since she was one. Nevertheless, the duo maintained a strong bond, and the heptathlete confessed it had been a “difficult” period for her and her family.
At the Rio Olympics in 2016, she fought through a ruptured quadriceps muscle to secure fourth place at the halfway point of the heptathlon. She amazed spectators with a national record 1.98m leap in the high jump but performed poorly in the shot put and dropped back, finishing sixth.
She said at the time: “In my head, I wasn’t confident at all. I didn’t want to train. I didn’t want to compete in case I got injured. My head was a mess and I didn’t have time to grow and mature, to develop.”
In a 2019 interview with The Guardian, she confessed to struggling with managing her emotions early in her career. This was particularly the case during televised moments like the World Championships in London in 2017 where she was seen with her head in her hands during the high jump.
She noted how Ennis-Hill would “smile for two seconds” after achieving a personal best and then “will be straight back to the event.” She added: “I don’t know how you can do that.”
Fast forward a few years, and the Merseyside athlete seemed perfectly poised for a comeback at Tokyo 2020. She moved to Montpellier in southern France to train under esteemed multi-discipline coach Bertrand Valcin, and the bold move appeared to pay off when she clinched World Championships gold in Doha.
However, disaster struck once more when she suffered a ruptured Achilles in December 2020, starting the Olympic year in a wheelchair. After sustaining a calf injury in the 200 metres, Johnson-Thompson was carried off the Tokyo track by medics, marking another heart-wrenching moment.
Retirement schedule
As for retirement plans, Johnson-Thompson discussed her challenging journey in an interview with Variety last year, despite having won numerous gold medals throughout her career. She quashed rumours that Paris would be her final Olympics: “Now I’m feeling like I’m at my best because of all the experiences that I’ve had. I feel like I can go on.”
Johnson-Thompson has indeed contemplated her retirement plans, hinting at the possibility of opening a karaoke bar or a book and coffee shop in Liverpool. The Team GB star also expressed her desire to take a year off post-retirement: “My life, for as long as I can remember, has been train, schedule, peak condition. I want to have a long time when I’m just doing my own thing.”