Ennis-Hill putting herself forward for World Championships
Olympic champion Jessica Ennis-Hill has announced she is available for selection for the World Championships in Beijing.
Posting on her Instagram account, the heptathlete confirmed she was putting herself forward for what will be a first major tournament since her return to competition after the birth of her son, Reggie.
The 29-year-old wrote on her Instagram account: “My coach and I have made the decision that I’m going to make myself available for selection for the World Champs.”
Ennis-Hill's decision is not unexpected and comes three days after she produced her best three performances since London 2012 at the Anniversary Games.
She recorded a long jump of 6.37 metres and a 23.49 seconds in the 200m to go with the 12.79 seconds she ran over the 100m hurdles on Friday.
Speaking after that she said her performances had made her “a lot more positive” about her prospects for China, having only returned to competition on May.
But the Sheffield athlete maintained she would only travel to China if she felt she could challenge for a medal, with defending her Olympic title in Rio next summer the key target.
“I am making progress and my times are coming down. I’m really happy with this weekend,” Ennis-Hill said on Saturday.
“I definitely feel a lot more positive. I feel the training I’ve done over the past few weeks has made a big difference.
“It’s an amazing atmosphere here, the track’s amazing, but that’s going to be the case in Beijing as well so I feel happy I’ve been able to raise my standards in this environment.
“I need to sit down with Toni (Minichiello). He’ll probably go, ’No, no’, or ’Yes, yes’. He’s kind of been up and down, it’s going to be an interesting conversation.”
Ennis-Hill concedes that she is at the back end of her career and that defending her Olympic title in Brazil next year is her overall goal.
“I’m towards the end of my career. I’ve had an amazing career already and achieved so much. So Rio is the main thing for me and I want that to go the right way,” she added.
“The World Championships this year was always going to be a massive bonus. I know things can go wrong in the heptathlon, but if I feel I can contend for a silver medal and things go wrong and I come away with a bronze medal I’d be absolutely ecstatic with that performance. I want to win a medal.”
Ennis-Hill’s place in the Great Britain squad is expected to be finalised when it is named at 2pm today.
