Katarina Johnson-Thompson completed the best heptathlon of her career to win the gold medal at the World Athletics Championships in Doha.

A time of two minutes and 7.26 seconds in the concluding 800m broke the British record and recorded the sixth best heptathlon score in history with a total of 6,981 points.

"This is the result of so many attempts of trying to perform on this stage," Johnson-Thompson told BBC Sport.

"The low moments have helped me come back and look at myself. This has been my dream. It has been such a long road. I am just happy that I'm coming into my best in these two big years.

Belgian Nafissatou Thiam finished seventh in the 800m and finished 304 points behind the Brit in second place. Austrian Verena Preiner held off American pair Erica Bougard and Kendell Williams to take bronze.

The athlete from Woolton in Liverpool has suffered many disappointments in her career, including finishing sixth in the Olympic Games in Rio, but now she has added a first world outdoor title to her World Indoor Championships gold from last year.

Her gold makes her the eighth British woman to win a gold medal at the world championships and with Dina Asher-Smith winning the 200m last night, this is the first world championships in 36 years where two British women have won gold.

The emotion of the 26-year-old was evident at the end and all her competitors, including Thiam, went over to congratulate her.

Yesterday saw Johnson-Thompson record the fourth highest score on day one of a heptathlon event at a world championships. A total of 4,138 points saw the 26-year-old reach two personal bests in the 100m hurdles and shot put and open up a 96 point lead.

The lead was nine more than she had at the European Championships in 2018, but she eventually finished second last year. But her consistency made it seem like Johnson-Thompson was ready for gold.

The long jump has historically been one of her strongest events, with a best score of 1,146 points and she showed that in Doha. She jumped a distance of 6.77, while her closest rival Thiam could only manage 6.40m.

Then came the real test with the javelin, which is undoubtedly her weakest event. Yet another personal best of 43.93m opened up a lead of 137 points, with just the 800m remaining. While Thiam managed a throw of 48.04m, it was well below her own personal best of 59.32m and she was hampered by an elbow injury throughout.

In the 800m, Johnson-Thompson was clearly focussed and ran the first 400m in a quick time of 1:03.14. A few moments later, she took the lead and pushed for a bigger gap. It seemed her legs were heavy with 100m to go, with her slowing down the pace, but she held on to create history.