Great Britain’s Katarina Johnson-Thompson said injuries have held her back as she struggled on day one of the heptathlon at the European Championships.

Two-time world champion Johnson-Thompson has never won a European heptathlon title, taking silver in 2018 behind Belgian great Nafissatou Thiam.

While three-time Olympic champion Thiam is absent, Johnson-Thompson’s own injury issues meant her form leading into the championships was unknown.

The 33-year-old had competed just once – in the shot put at an event in Loughborough in May – since winning world bronze in Tokyo last September.

And a lack of competition time was evident as she finished the first day of the heptathlon in 16th place – 324 points behind leader Adrianna Sulek-Schubert of Poland.

“This season’s been super difficult,” Johnson-Thompson told the BBC.

“I just love the home crowds and I fought so hard to be healthy and here on the start line, so I feel like all my energy and my efforts were pretty much to get here to the start line.

“Obviously I believe in myself and I trust my talent, but I just haven’t put in enough work unfortunately.”

A time of 14 seconds flat in the 100m hurdles, which ranked 15th overall, put Johnson-Thompson on the back foot from the start, but she climbed to 10th in the standings with a clearance over 1.83m in the high jump.

In the shot put – typically her weakest of the seven events – a best throw of 12.79m dropped her to 15th.

But it was in the 200m sprint, the final event on Friday, where the gap between Johnson-Thompson and her former self was glaringly obvious.

She smiled and soaked up the adoration of the home crowd before stepping into the starting blocks for her heat, but was unable to keep pace with the rest of the field and crossed the finish line in last place.

“It’s such a pleasure to be here at full capacity and hear the home cheer again,” Johnson-Thompson said.

“I’ve been to enough home championships now to remember the volume of it but the British crowds are always very special so I’m just happy to be here today.”

She ended day one in 16th with 3,644 points, one place and 21 points behind compatriot Jade O’Dowda.

Johnson-Thompson achieved the sixth global podium of her career at last year’s World Championships – and her third in as many years since recovering from a devastating Achilles rupture.

But she withdrew from the Commonwealth Games last month to focus on being in shape for the Europeans after battling to be fit following an unspecified injury.

“We would always expect with Kat to be coming in, especially with the Europeans, to try and win it,” former Olympic long jump champion Greg Rutherford said on BBC TV.

“This sport is brutal and you are never allowed to enjoy the championships if you are not winning. That’s how it is always put to us, so you never have those moments where you can go in front of a home crowd and just enjoy doing the sport.

“I feel like that’s what she is doing at the moment. It’s not about her coming here to win medals.

“She’s enjoying it rather than stressing herself for medals and that is a big change.”

Former Olympic heptathlon champion Jessica Ennis-Hill added: “She’s at the stage where there is probably going to be very few times that she comes out and is feeling great and has no niggles.

“So you have to make that decision – do I go out and compete anyway or do I step back and potentially miss a load of championships because I am not feeling 100%?”

The heptathletes will return to Alexander Stadium for the long jump on Saturday morning with Sulek-Schubert leading the way on 3,968 points.

Sofie Dokter of the Netherlands sits second on 3,944 points, while Ireland’s Kate O’Connor, who won Commonwealth gold this month, is a further 18 points behind in third with the long jump, javelin and 800m remaining.