Ennis-Hill in pole position to win battle of the Brits

JESSICA ENNIS-HILL and Katarina Johnson-Thompson will go head to head today in a battle to be crowned heptathlon world champion as their main rival conceded defeat.

Britain’s golden girl and her heir apparent are first and second at the halfway stage and predicted it would come down to a straight shoot out in the 800 metres, the final of seven events at 1.15pm today.

If Ennis-Hill, 29, were to rule the world once more only 13 months after giving birth to first baby, Reggie, and in only her second full heptathlon since winning gold at London 2012 it would cap a remarkable comeback.

But Johnson-Thompson has the chance to confirm her potential with a first senior global title and said she would not be going down without a fight.

‘I don’t want to battle it out with Jess in the 800m,’ said Johnson-Thompson laughing, ‘because neither of us will give up. I would like to get two good events in the long jump and javelin and give myself an easier time because she is Olympic champion and I would like to think I’ve got the goods as well so the 800m could be really special.’

Ennis-Hill set three seasons bests to finish the day with 4,005 points, 80 points ahead of Johnson-Thompson in second and Nadine Visser of Holland in third. Fourth placed Brianne Theisen-Eaton of Canada, who tops the world rankings and had been favourite to win gold, said she did not think she had a chance of rivalling the British women after falling well short of her expected first-day points tally. ‘Right now I would be happy with any medal after the atrocious day I had,’ she said.

The temperature was 29 degrees inside the Bird’s Nest as the heptathlon began on the opening morning of the championships. As those seated in the lower tier retreated into the shade on the upper levels of the stadium, a relaxed looking Ennis-Hill warmed up for the 100m hurdles. She looked delighted to finish second in her heat in 12.91sec, not far off the season’s best of 12.79sec set at the London Anniversary Games last month. It was an ideal start for Johnson-Thompson, doing her first full heptathlon since 2014, as she came third in her heat in a personal best of 13.37sec.

Johnson-Thompson narrowly averted disaster in the high jump after two failures at her opening height of 1.80m. Mother Tracey watched nervously inside the stadium, a set of rosary beads in each hand, so precarious was Johnson-Thompson’s position. The 22-year-old, who had easily cleared 1.90m in training the previous day, teetered on the edge of what would have essentially been game over in the medal race.

Her supporters clinched their seats as she somehow found a way over the bar despite a stuttering run-up meaning she effectively jumped from a standing start. The next three heights were cleared with ease and as all the other competitors exited the track she was alone in attempting 1.92m but had three agonising failures.

‘When I cleared the 1.80m Jess said she was absolutely crapping herself for me and that I was giving her a heart attack,’ said Johnson-Thompson, ‘so it was nice of her to support me.’

Ennis-Hill maintained her overall lead with a 13.73m shot put in the second round after a no throw with her first attempt, when she overbalanced and put her hands out of the circle. Johnson-Thompson set a 12.47m outdoor best but still dropped to ninth overall.

Both set season’s best times in the 200m, 23.08sec for Johnson-Thompson and 23.42sec for Ennis-Hill to finish the day on a high.

Ennis-Hill said experience was telling. ‘I think it is a nice position to be in the lead overnight, I’ve got a bit of a buffer,’ she said. ‘If I can just come back and put some solid performances together again, we will see where that leaves me. It is going to be a battle with Kat, which is a good one. Hopefully we will get some medals.’