JESSICA IS JUBILANT
Olympic hope Ennis targets British record
JESSICA ENNIS put all talk about her weight in its place yesterday as she ended the first day of her final heptathlon battle with Olympic rivals Tatyana Chernova and Nataliya Dobrynska before the London Games in the lead — and poised to break the British record.
Ennis overcame high jump disappointment to set a huge personal best in the 200metres and leave the track as the leader at the halfway point of the Hypo Meeting, on 4,113 points.
Denise Lewis’s record — set weeks before she became Olympic champion in 2000 — was under serious threat overnight and Ennis said: ‘I would love the British record but Gotzis is about preparing the best that I can for the summer. A good performance here gives you strength and confidence.’
She finished the day on a high, with a 22.88sec personal best in the 200m, leaving her nearest rival, Lithuania’s Austra Skujte, trailing by 221 points.
‘I’ve been trying to run under 23 seconds for so long, so I was really pleased with that,’ said Ennis. ‘I’d just love to come back tomorrow and do what I know I’m capable of in the long jump and javelin, and run a good 800m.’
The world’s best multieventers converge on Gotzis, an Alpine town of 1,100 residents, every May.
But the significance for Ennis, who last week had to contend with reports that a high-ranking official in UK Athletics had said she was ‘fat’ and carrying ‘too much weight’, is greater than ever before.
It is the last time she will compete against Chernova and Dobrynska, who are the biggest threat to her dream of Olympic glory, before they do battle again in London. Chernova was ominously placed last night, third and 237 points behind Ennis with her three best events to come.
Dobrynska struggled her way to eighth. But the Ukrainian has been in serious training for only a month after the death of her husband and coach, Dmytro Polyakov.
She had a black ribbon pinned to the shoulder of her purple T-shirt in a poignant tribute to Polyakov, who died in March, days after Dobrynska beat Ennis to the world indoor title in Istanbul.
‘I think two months is long enough for Dobrynska to get back in shape,’ said Ennis.
Ennis produced her best 100m hurdles in a heptathlon to open up proceedings, a meeting record of 12.81sec over the full quota of 10 obstacles.
The 26-year-old, looking toned and powerful, drove to the line — and UK Athletics will be pleased she managed to resist continuing the extra 15 metres to a marquee selling bratwurst and chips.
‘I heard what was going round with those comments about being fat,’ said Ennis. ‘But I was just focused on coming here and competing the best I can.’
As good as Ennis was in the hurdles, she was bad in the high jump, exiting the competition at 1.85m.
The last time she failed to clear 1.88m was during an ill-fated trip to Gotzis in 2008 when she fractured her foot, ruling her out of the Beijing Olympics.
Her frustration yesterday was obvious. The high jump is an event which Ennis has relied on to put a gulf between her and her rivals. But it was five years ago in Italy that she set a personal best of 1.95m.
Her response yesterday was a 14.51m in the shot. Then a superb 200m left Ennis looking like the one to beat today. In all likelihood, in 10 weeks, she will be on the podium alongside Dobrynska and Chernova in London.
Just who will be in the gold-medal position is harder to predict.