Ennis targeting world supremacy

Published on Monday 23 March 2009 22:09

AMIDST all the euphoria about Great Britain's performance at the Olympic Games in Beijing last year, it was almost forgotten that but for injury the medal haul could have been even better. In the heptathlon, for instance, Britain boasts two world-class competitors in Kelly Sotherton and Jessica Ennis, but Sotherton was not fully fit and finished out of the medals, and Ennis did not make it at all after fracturing an ankle two months beforehand.

Fit again, and with a hard winter's training behind her, Ennis is desperate to make up for lost time and that opportunity which passed her by in 2008. And the world championships in Berlin in August will give the 23-year-old from Sheffield the ideal chance to do so.

Indeed, rather than simply challenging for a medal, as she has done before, Ennis aims to establish herself as the leading heptathlete on the planet. She may be forced to revise that ambition if Carolina Kluft, the world record-holder, reverses her decision to retire from the seven-discipline event, but otherwise she is confident of getting the better of her rivals.

"I think so, yeah, if I can get everything right on the day," Ennis said when asked if she believed she could establish herself as world No1. "Carolina is a little bit out there, and if she decides to return to the heptathlon her personal best of 7,000 is quite a bit ahead of everyone else. But I can compete with the rest.

"I'm feeling really good, and I've done quite a bit of training over the winter. My first heptathlon back will be in Italy in May, where I'm hoping to make the qualifying standard for the world championships. Qualifying is 6,100 points, and my personal best is 6,469, so in theory it shouldn't be too difficult for me to qualify, but you never know."

Ennis has so far taken part in a couple of low-key events, as much to take a break from training, she explained, as anything else. She was able to enjoy a change from routine at the weekend, too, when she was in Pitreavie, Fife, to work with some of the athletes at the Bank of Scotland Young Athlete Development Camp.

"It was with an initiative just like this that I first became involved in athletics so I know first-hand the benefit of having training camps like this available to attend," she explained. "This was my first trip to Pitreavie and I thoroughly enjoyed speaking with the athletes and watching them train."

It was not that long ago that Ennis herself was classified as just a promising junior. Indeed, in those days there were some who questioned how far she could take her promise, as her slight build and relative lack of height did not fit the stereotype of a multi-eventer.

But she has overcome her weaknesses, and does not see why being lighter and shorter than most of the field should necessarily tell against her. "I've focused on them (the weaknesses] a lot, and I've made a massive improvement to my shot and my javelin. Originally I was worried my height would hinder my performance in the high jump, but I've worked hard on that and now it's one of my best events.

"I've just been getting back into shape over the winter and building up some of the strength in my right leg which I lost because of the injury. And I've been concentrating on my weaker events, the jumps and the throws.

"I hope to do a PB this year. I was in really good shape last year, and now with the training I've done over this winter on top of that I think adding 150 to 200 points is realistic."

An improvement of 200 points on her PB would have put Ennis among the medals in Beijing, and will have her at the very least fighting for a podium place in Berlin. Just a little more and she will be very close indeed to her goal of world supremacy.