Ennis relishing Manchester showdown with Ohuruogu

JESSICA Ennis believes her clash with Christine Ohuruogu over 150 metres at the Powerade City Games in Manchester tomorrow could result in a new UK best performance for the distance.

The head-to-head between the two golden girls of British athletics provides a significant threat to Ohuruogu's current record of 16.94 seconds at the city's innovative street meeting in Deansgate.

Olympic 400m champion Ohuruogu may hold a slight tactical advantage in what will be her third outing in a 150m straight-track race, but world heptathlon champion Ennis looks set to mount a challenge.

"It's going to be something new and different, and I'm looking forward to seeing what I can run," said Ennis.

"Christine's record is pretty quick but with a fresh pair of legs running out of the blocks, I might have a go."

Ennis, 24, sees the contest as ideal preparation for competing in her first heptathlon of the year at the Gotzis Hyper meeting in a fortnight's time. She needs a serious sprint challenge before then and with both athletes renowned for their determination to win, a thriller looks to be on the cards.

Ennis and Ohuruogu will be joined at the nine-event meeting by a host of top stars, including Tyson Gay – the world's second fastest ever performer over 100m. The former double world sprint title-holder, racing over 200m on a straight track, will be bidding to lower the world- best performance of 19.5secs achieved by his fellow American Tommie Smith on a cinder track in San Jose 44 years ago.

Emily Freeman faces American three-time world champion Allyson Felix in the 200m while Rikki Fifton has possibly the toughest task of any Briton in his 200m race, where he is up against 2004 Olympic gold medallist Shawn Crawford of the US and reigning European 100m and 200m champion Francis Obikwelu of Portugal.