Jessica Ennis takes commanding Olympic heptathlon lead towards 800m:
• British favourite records personal best in javelin
• Sheffield-born star should claim gold in 800m run
Jessica Ennis is on course to win Olympic gold in the heptathlon after two stellar performances in the long jump and the javelin – her supposedly weaker events – converted to 5,971 points, putting her 188 points ahead of her nearest competitor. Over the course of this two-day competition the 26-year-old has grown as an athlete – with hardly a stutter over the six events so far – and her lead now looks impregnable.
The two women who stole her world titles over the past 12 months – Tatyana Chernova outdoors last year and Nataliya Dobrynska, the defending Olympic champion, indoors in March – seemed lost, with the latter not taking part in the javelin after a disastrous long jump.
If Ennis can run 2min 05.69sec in the 800m – which is within her capabilities – she would become the fourth woman in history to score 7,000pts. She said: "I think I've got to run 2:05 [to break 7,000] and that's a tough time, but I'll see what I've got left in my legs and I'll go for it." Her personal best over the distance is 2:07.81.
She said: "I was anxious coming into today … my long jump having been up and down all year. I kept thinking: 'Am I going to throw it away doing three no jumps?' so it's a massive relief to have got that right. To have got a solid jump and a PB in the javelin is more than I could have asked for."
The javelin was her crowning glory after the poor throw at the world championships in South Korea last year that left her unable to defend her title successfully. On a sunny afternoon in London all those dark winter months working with the 1993 world bronze medallist, Mick Hill, paid off, as Ennis threw a personal best of 47.49m, virtually securing her the gold medal before the 800m. In the stands Toni Minichiello, the coach who has guided Ennis's journey since she was a 12-year-old growing up in Sheffield, stood to salute the star.
In the long jump, having watched the Ukrainian Dobrynska and Hyleas Fountain of the USA foul their first efforts, Ennis took a conservative approach in the first round – taking off well behind the board to land a jump of 5.95m. With her biggest rival, Russia's Chernova, having jumped 6.44m, Ennis was suddenly under pressure.
Thank goodness digging deep and bouncing back are Ennis trademarks. In the second round she pulled out a cracker to leap to 6.40m and regain her lead in the overall standings. In the third round she improved once more, to 6.48m, only 3cm off her personal best. The jump took Ennis to 5,159 points, prompting a delighted clap. That meant that with two events to go Ennis was 258 points ahead of her nearest rival, Austra Skujyte of Lithuania, and 290 beyond Chernova, who was elevated to third place with 4,869 points after winning the long jump.
While Ennis had forged ahead Dobrynska threw away the defence of her title and any chance of finishing on the rostrum after fouling her first two jumps and scrambling the third to score only 3.70m. The Ukrainian has suffered this year, losing her husband and coach to cancer two weeks after winning the world indoor title in Istanbul; the 30-year-old had pledged to win a medal in London to honour his memory but was left clutching her head in her hands.
Katarina Johnson-Thompson, the 19-year-old from Liverpool who had so impressed on the first day of competition, had a below-par long jump – an event in which she won the world junior title a few weeks ago in Barcelona after leaping to a personal best of 6.51m. In London, though, "the Kat" managed no further than 6.19m. The former world youth heptathlon champion did better in the javelin, though, throwing close to her best with 38.37m to rank 16th overall.
Holly Bleasdale qualified for the pole vault, banishing bad memories of having missed out on the world championships final last year, clearing 4.55m to be in joint seventh on countback. The former British record holder Kate Dennison, though, bowed out at 4.40m after falling on her back.
The controversial defending 400m Olympic champion, LaShawn Merritt, pulled up after 200m in the first round heats clutching his left hamstring. The American, who last year returned from a 21-month ban for taking what he claimed was a drug to enhance his sex life, said he had felt a twitch during the warm-up. "That was my life's race … I have been having treatment since I have got here. When you want it so bad, you do whatever it takes." The 26-year-old says he will not retire without attempting to regain his world and Olympic titles.
Jonathan Borlée posted the fastest qualifying time to win his heat in 44.43sec – a Belgian record – while the Britons Martyn Rooney, Nigel Levine and Conrad Williams all progressed safely to the semi-finals. In the next round all eyes will be on two 19-year-olds: Kirani James of Grenada, the world champion, and Santos Luguelin of the Dominican Republic, the world junior champion, who has been exciting athletics insiders since running 44.45 in May this year.
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• British favourite records personal best in javelin
• Sheffield-born star should claim gold in 800m run
Jessica Ennis is on course to win Olympic gold in the heptathlon after two stellar performances in the long jump and the javelin – her supposedly weaker events – converted to 5,971 points, putting her 188 points ahead of her nearest competitor. Over the course of this two-day competition the 26-year-old has grown as an athlete – with hardly a stutter over the six events so far – and her lead now looks impregnable.
The two women who stole her world titles over the past 12 months – Tatyana Chernova outdoors last year and Nataliya Dobrynska, the defending Olympic champion, indoors in March – seemed lost, with the latter not taking part in the javelin after a disastrous long jump.
If Ennis can run 2min 05.69sec in the 800m – which is within her capabilities – she would become the fourth woman in history to score 7,000pts. She said: "I think I've got to run 2:05 [to break 7,000] and that's a tough time, but I'll see what I've got left in my legs and I'll go for it." Her personal best over the distance is 2:07.81.
She said: "I was anxious coming into today … my long jump having been up and down all year. I kept thinking: 'Am I going to throw it away doing three no jumps?' so it's a massive relief to have got that right. To have got a solid jump and a PB in the javelin is more than I could have asked for."
The javelin was her crowning glory after the poor throw at the world championships in South Korea last year that left her unable to defend her title successfully. On a sunny afternoon in London all those dark winter months working with the 1993 world bronze medallist, Mick Hill, paid off, as Ennis threw a personal best of 47.49m, virtually securing her the gold medal before the 800m. In the stands Toni Minichiello, the coach who has guided Ennis's journey since she was a 12-year-old growing up in Sheffield, stood to salute the star.
In the long jump, having watched the Ukrainian Dobrynska and Hyleas Fountain of the USA foul their first efforts, Ennis took a conservative approach in the first round – taking off well behind the board to land a jump of 5.95m. With her biggest rival, Russia's Chernova, having jumped 6.44m, Ennis was suddenly under pressure.
Thank goodness digging deep and bouncing back are Ennis trademarks. In the second round she pulled out a cracker to leap to 6.40m and regain her lead in the overall standings. In the third round she improved once more, to 6.48m, only 3cm off her personal best. The jump took Ennis to 5,159 points, prompting a delighted clap. That meant that with two events to go Ennis was 258 points ahead of her nearest rival, Austra Skujyte of Lithuania, and 290 beyond Chernova, who was elevated to third place with 4,869 points after winning the long jump.
While Ennis had forged ahead Dobrynska threw away the defence of her title and any chance of finishing on the rostrum after fouling her first two jumps and scrambling the third to score only 3.70m. The Ukrainian has suffered this year, losing her husband and coach to cancer two weeks after winning the world indoor title in Istanbul; the 30-year-old had pledged to win a medal in London to honour his memory but was left clutching her head in her hands.
Katarina Johnson-Thompson, the 19-year-old from Liverpool who had so impressed on the first day of competition, had a below-par long jump – an event in which she won the world junior title a few weeks ago in Barcelona after leaping to a personal best of 6.51m. In London, though, "the Kat" managed no further than 6.19m. The former world youth heptathlon champion did better in the javelin, though, throwing close to her best with 38.37m to rank 16th overall.
Holly Bleasdale qualified for the pole vault, banishing bad memories of having missed out on the world championships final last year, clearing 4.55m to be in joint seventh on countback. The former British record holder Kate Dennison, though, bowed out at 4.40m after falling on her back.
The controversial defending 400m Olympic champion, LaShawn Merritt, pulled up after 200m in the first round heats clutching his left hamstring. The American, who last year returned from a 21-month ban for taking what he claimed was a drug to enhance his sex life, said he had felt a twitch during the warm-up. "That was my life's race … I have been having treatment since I have got here. When you want it so bad, you do whatever it takes." The 26-year-old says he will not retire without attempting to regain his world and Olympic titles.
Jonathan Borlée posted the fastest qualifying time to win his heat in 44.43sec – a Belgian record – while the Britons Martyn Rooney, Nigel Levine and Conrad Williams all progressed safely to the semi-finals. In the next round all eyes will be on two 19-year-olds: Kirani James of Grenada, the world champion, and Santos Luguelin of the Dominican Republic, the world junior champion, who has been exciting athletics insiders since running 44.45 in May this year.
guardian.co.uk © 2012 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds
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