Katarina Johnson-Thompson

Athletics – Heptathlon

The Barrie Wells Trust are delighted to name Katarina Johnson-Thompson as the Trust’s Patron following on from Jessica Ennis Hill.

Katarina confirmed herself as the world’s leading multi eventer in 2019 when taking the World Championship title in Doha and breaking the British Heptathlon record at the same time. She has since reclaimed this title, becoming the world champion in heptathlon again during the 2023 Budapest World Athletics Championships.

Kat leaped onto the World Stage in 2012 when she competed in her first Olympics at London at the age of just 19 years old. At the start of 2015 she was crowned the European Indoor Pentathlon Champion with the 2nd highest total of all time. At just 23 she competed in her second Olympics in Rio, where she broke the British high jump record as well as the world heptathlon high jump record, finishing 6th in the heptathlon overall. In 2018 Katarina was crowned the Commonwealth Games Champion and the World Champion in 2019.

Barrie’s support has been invaluable to Kat’s development, with Barrie sponsoring Katarina from when she was just 16 years old.  He initially provided funding for taxi journeys to and from training and, once Kat turned 17, Barrie helped with the costs of passing her driving test, purchasing a car and ongoing transportation, training and competition costs.

Barrie has supported Kat in many other ways including paying for her and her former coach, Mike Holmes, to join a weight training club. He also took Kat along to the 2010 European Championships in Barcelona to watch Jessica to keep her morale high during a bad spell of injury and has helped to fund Kat’s mother to watch her compete internationally. Barrie and Katarina are great friends, with Barrie offering support and guidance across many different platforms including supporting her around the World at major competitions.

Katarina is passionate about the Trust’s Box4Kids scheme and regularly helps to host Box4Kids events at Liverpool FC.

Watch the BBC documentary about Katarina, “Faster, Higher, Stronger,” here.