Olympic heptathlon champion announces she does still intend to compete at the Hypo-Meeting at the end of May

Jessica Ennis-Hill remains set to contest her first heptathlon since London 2012 at the Gotzis Hypo-Meeting on May 30-31.

The Olympic champion returned to competitive action earlier this month after nearly two years out, having struggled with injury in 2013 and then given birth to her first child, Reggie, last July.

But her participation in Gotzis was put in doubt with Achilles niggles affecting her build-up to her multi-events return. However, on Tuesday Ennis-Hill and her coach Toni Minichiello spoke about how they believe the 29-year-old is capable of competing well in Austria and achieving the 6200-point qualification standard needed for the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio.

“After competing in Loughborough at the weekend I felt pretty good the next day and my Achilles felt fine which is brilliant,” said Ennis-Hill, who finished third in the long jump with a leap of 6.16m and sixth in the javelin with a throw of 43.88m at the Loughborough International Athletics meeting.

“The results I have had at the competitions over the past few weeks are promising and we believe it is feasible for me to do a full heptathlon and achieve the level of points I need to qualify for Rio,” added the Sheffield athlete, who made her comeback in the 100m hurdles at the Athletics Weekly Great CityGames Manchester on May 9, clocking 13.14.

“If I can achieve this early in the season it removes a real pressure, and all the indicators are looking positive, so I plan to go to Gotzis and give it my best shot.”

Minichiello added: “Having come through the weekend s competition without any issues from a physical point of view, and for Jess to actually feel good, I am feeling positive about her being in a position to achieve the qualification for the Olympics in Gotzis.”

Ennis-Hill’s fellow British heptathlete Katarina Johnson-Thompson, the Gotzis heptathlon defending champion and the No.1 in the seven-discipline event in 2014, announced her withdrawal from the Hypo-Meeting earlier this month following a knee injury.

The post Jess Ennis-Hill set for heptathlon return in Gotzis appeared first on Athletics Weekly.