Competing at the same stadium where she crashed out of the Tokyo 2021 Games because of a calf injury, she won her fourth global heptathlon medal.
Starting the 800m in fourth overall, Johnson-Thompson needed to beat USA’s Taliyah Brooks by 5.8 seconds to overhaul her and take the final place on the podium.
She crossed the line in a season’s best 2:07.38 and collapsed to the track at the end of a lung-busting effort.
Behind, Brooks crossed in 2:13.17, with the gap remarkably 5.79 seconds.
After some confusion in Tokyo, where Brooks was initially announced in third place, the screens re-jigged the order and both athletes were shown to have compiled 6581 points – becoming the first athletes to share a world medal.
“I have been through it in this stadium,” she said.
“When I first came out here to support Jaz [Sawyers] earlier in the week, the minute I stepped into the stadium, I just started sobbing.
“You guys picked me up in the crowd and my mum texted me the picture – it was just after I had been in the toilets crying my eyes out remembering all the memories of this place.
“It holds so much emotion. I can’t put into words the full circle moment I have just been through.”
USA’s Anna Hall took gold and Kate O’Connor the silver for Ireland’s first World Championships medal on the track in 30 years.
Johnson-Thompson, 32, was the defending champion but after an injury-disrupted season fell away from title contention after a disappointing javelin throw and marginal foul on a massive long jump.
But she showed plenty of guys to claw her way onto the podium.
“Physically and mentally, this year has been exhausting,” she added.
“But give me a month off and I’ll be texting Aston (Moore, coach) saying ‘when does training start again?’!”
Follow all the action from the World Athletics Championships Tokyo 25 on BBC.
