Emerson eyes World Indoors after two years on sidelines

Great Britain’s Niamh Emerson has targeted a global breakthrough – despite injury and the coronavirus leaving her without a major competition for almost two years.

The world U20 heptathlon champion aims to build on her silver at the European Indoor Championships and Commonwealth Games bronze.

Emerson missed last year’s World Championships after partially tearing her patella tendon at the Hypo-meeting in Gotzis last May, which remains her last meet. She has recovered but the coronavirus crisis has decimated the athletics calendar.

Theworldindoorsisnow scheduled for March 2021 in Nanjing – 22 months after Emerson, inset, suffered her injury – and it is now a concrete goal.

“I want to go to World Indoors, pick up a medal and then go to the Olympics and place as high as possible,” said Emerson, who won European Indoor silver behind Katarina Johnson-thomson last year. “The aim for 2021 is to medal in Nanjing. I really like pentathlons and hopefully

I can really build on my European silver, but also go to the Olympics, place as high as I can and enjoy it.

“I haven’t competed in so long, it’s bizarre and I’ve got used to not competing but I’ve just got on with things.

“It is a shame. Hopefully there’ll be some competitions at the end of the year and I can do some events but I don’t think a heptathlon will happen this year.”

The Tokyo Olympics was postponed for 12 months in March but Emerson can benefit from the delay as she can now plan for the rescheduled Games.

“I couldn’t be more grateful for the time,” she added. “I spent the whole year rehabbing,and don’t doubt I would have been in the best shape possible but I wasn’t training for the Olympics, I was training to be able to compete. Now it’s more realistic, I’m training to perform now. I have a far better opportunity to be in really good shape.”