Thompson's participation in the Helsinki competition was a last-minute decision. He had missed 14 weeks of training with back and groin injuries but decided to take on arch rival Jurgen Hingsen at the last moment.
At the 1980 and 1984 Olympics, Cold War boycotts had deprived Thompson of the chance to take on every decathlete in the world. Although he had twice taken gold, the inaugural World Championships provided his chance to prove beyond all doubt that he was the best.
He got off to a great start in the 100m, did better than expected in the shot put and cleared a fine 5.10m in the pole vault. But Hingsen and Siggi Wentz were putting him under huge amounts of pressure.
But Thompson was the ultimate competitor, a man who could produce top scores when they were really required. He pulled off one of his best ever throws in the javelin to go into the final event, the hated 1500m, with a cushion of 21 seconds over Hingsen. Despite his exhaustion and lack of background training, Thompson held on to become Britain's first ever World Champion.
