JESS WETS APPETITE

Ennis-Hill braves rain to take lead

JESSICA ENNIS-HILL is treating this weekend’s heptathlon in Germany as a ‘dress rehearsal’ for the Rio Olympics — judging by her performance on the opening day, there will be another standing ovation in seven weeks’ time.

In Ratingen, a small town outside Dusseldorf, the weather was so bleak that when the 30-year-old woke up she wondered whether to just repack her bags and head home. Ever the professional, Ennis-Hill decided the show must go on and afterwards said she was in the best shape since winning Olympic gold, which will strike fear into her rivals with her title defence fast approaching.

The aim here was to surpass last year’s performance in Gotzis, Austria, used as a warm-up event for the World Championships, where she won the gold. With her best 200m since London 2012 and 3990 points in the first four events earning the lead, she is on the way to topping Gotzis and is just 15 points down from her first day score in Beijing.

‘I’m probably in the best shape I have been since London 2012,’ said Ennis-Hill. ‘Even though I’m a bit down on my score from Beijing, I feel better than I did last year and I hope in seven more weeks I can be even better again.

‘When I was warming up for the hurdles, the weather was so bad I thought, “Shall I wait until Rio?” But I need to sharpen up and find out what I need to work on. If I can come away from the weekend in one piece, I can push on but I’m going to have to spend a few hours straightening my hair,’ she said tugging on the ponytail she spent much of the day ringing out. The 13.13sec she ran in the 100m hurdles was just outside her season’s best from Manchester earlier this month and suggests she is well capable of dipping under 13 seconds in better conditions.

Officials bailed water from the track in buckets as the high jump began and between attempts EnnisHill retreated into a gazebo where massage therapist Derry Suter — one of her five-strong support team in Germany — wrapped her in a blanket. She knocked the bar off on the first attempt at her opening height of 1.75m but the nerves settled and she cleared 1.84m at the third time of asking.

‘The high jump was really hard because it was so wet,’ she said. ‘It got cold and it’s hard to keep the muscles going, I thought I’d bomb out at 1.75.

‘I would’ve loved one more height but with better conditions that’s definitely in reach. I felt quite pingy and I can’t show all my cards yet, can I?’

In the shot put, she threw 14.29m with the final effort — her furthest since 2012 — and claimed there is more to come there, too. The rain let up for the final event of the day, the 200m, which she won in 23.36sec.

With Germany’s Carolin Schafer trailing by 188 points, Ennis-Hill was in confident mood.

She added: ‘It’s good to be able to make a statement here.’