Great Britain's Katarina Johnson‑Thompson boosted her medal chances at the European Athletics Championships after a strong high jump performance.

"It’s just not quite there for Kat at the moment," Olympic long‑jump champion Greg Rutherford said on BBC TV. "She doesn’t really know, I don’t think, where she is [fitness‑wise]." He added that training alone can’t reveal the body’s state until competition stress arrives.

Johnson‑Thompson achieved the sixth global podium of her career at last year’s World Championships and her third in as many years after a devastating Achilles rupture. She withdrew from the Commonwealth Games to focus on fitness for the Europeans following an unspecified injury.

The heptathlon continues later with shot put and 200 m on the first day, then long jump, javelin and 800 m on Saturday. Johnson‑Thompson seeks to limit losses in the shot put, her weakest event, as she trails leader Sulek‑Schubert by 141 points and the podium places by 80.