Inspired by Jess... bring on ‘Wonder Woman’
NIAMH EMERSON feels like Wonder Woman — which is fitting for one of our best heptathletes.
She went into lockdown with her dreams of glory at Tokyo dashed but she has come out of it firing on all cylinders.
“Yes, that’s it,” the 21-year-old from Derbyshire says excitedly when the similarity to the fictional superhero is explained to her, “that’s exactly how I feel.
“I feel like I’m coming out of this in a much better shape. After I saw my gym coach for the first time in four months, he said to me: ‘You look so different, it’s like you’re a different athlete.”
Emerson is the latest off a production line that spawned Olympic champs Denise Lewis, Jessica Ennis-Hill and world champion Katarina JohnsonThompson.
The Derbyshire lass is chasing down her elder Liverpudlian colleague and despite the initial shock at the Games’ postponement — this week she should have been holed up in an athletes’ village in the Japanese capital — the enforced delay may have been a blessing.
She said: “My whole year was geared towards Tokyo. Every bit of my training, so for it to be cancelled is bizarre.
“It was a setback. But it has been a good thing for me, personally, because I was coming back from a serious injury.
“I damaged the patella tendon in my knee, so I had to do my rehab anyway.
“But without Tokyo, I’ve had more time. I’ve used it to work on the areas that needed improving.
“I pick up a lot of my points from the jumping events. Coming from the background of an 800m runner, which I was, there’s a lot of technique and technical work that you just miss.
“So, I’ve gone back to basics.
Stripped it down. You are always learning, particularly with the heptathlon because there are so many events to master — you can’t master them all at such a young age.
“For instance, I’ve learnt the value of good posture. It sounds so silly but I’ve worked on that.
“It makes such a difference in the shot-putt, for instance. I improved my posture and all of a sudden a penny dropped. It was like: ‘Wait, what?’
“My coaches were saying to me: ‘Er, we’ve been telling you this for ages...’ but I’ve really felt the benefit.”
Emerson was just 13 when she was inspired to move into the heptathlon. There are no prizes for guessing the source of that inspiration, however.
She said: “The reason I knew about the heptathlon at all was because of Jess (Ennis-Hill) Purely that. Before I saw her in 2012, I was fixated on running. I didn’t pay attention to any other events.
“When I saw her, it brought the event into my consciousness.
“I can remember sitting at home, on the sofa in the lounge eating chocolate and my mum, Deana, going mad, getting all excited when all those gold medals were being won.
“I was just a runner. I ran everywhere. But I started being pushed into it during schools’ competitions.
“It was gradual but Jess definitely had an influence on me doing the event.”
Emerson may have JohnsonThompson in her sights. But there is still some way to go before she topples the world champion, even though the pair finished with a one-two in the European indoor event four months ago.
The young pretender is certainly ready for the future and says: “I kind of want the Olympics to start now.”
To find out more about Niamh Emerson, head to her profile page on RedBull.com