HENRY CLARK: Triumph sinks in for Katarina Johnson-Thompson, our queen of the comeback, as she reveals she reveals lack of sleep since victory

Back outside the stadium she set fire almost exactly 24 hours before comeback queen Katarina Johnson-Thompson took her place on her throne.

The beaming smile on her face as she waved to the crowd in the evening sun told you the whole story. For a split second, as she waited for Lord Coe to hang her gold medal around her neck on top of the stage, she even started bouncing up and down, like an excited child waking up on Christmas Day.

Unsurprisingly, the magnitude of what she accomplished this weekend has yet to sink in.

“I’ve slept six hours in the last two days,” she revealed. “I went straight to bed, but then I woke up within an hour and I was like, ‘Okay, this is me all night.’ I had just woken up and was trying to understand it all.’

Crucial to Johnson-Thompson’s renaissance has been her coach, Aston Moore. After a tumultuous period in which her transition to training in Florida came to an end after just five months, the Briton joined forces with the 67-year-old for the Commonwealth Games last summer.

The athlete admitted that she had to “understand everything” after winning a gold medal

Her coach, Aston Moore, admitted it has been a tough journey for Johnson-Thompson

That sense of stability — along with grueling sessions that pushed both her mind and body beyond their limits — unlocked the very best of the 30-year-old.

“A lot of my workouts are technical and a lot of the time you’re trying to get through it mentally,” said Johnson-Thompson.

“But in the 800m you have to break through the pain barrier and I was horrible to deal with all week because those sessions were all I was thinking about.”

Moore, nicknamed the ‘Cat Whisperer’ in the wake of the Johnson-Thompson win, said: ‘It’s been a tough journey for her.

Many people probably thought it was impossible for her to come back. But you only know what’s possible when you’ve actually done it.’