Jessica Ennis-HillBritain’s Olympic heptathlon champion Jessica Ennis-Hill has ruled herself out of this month’s World Championships because she has not fully recovered from an Achilles injury.
Ennis-Hill has been bothered by the injury since winning gold at London 2012 and despite making a below-par return at the London Diamond League meeting at the weekend, felt she did not have enough time to get herself up to a competitive standard.
“Up until now we have been focusing on managing the pain so I can train and get myself in shape to go out there to win in Moscow – which has meant not focusing on finding a cure for the injury.
“The time has now come to stop chasing fitness and look to cure the problem,” she said in a statement yesterday.
Ennis-Hill, who had been named in the British team on Tuesday for the worlds in Moscow, made her competitive comeback last week, almost 12 months after winning the Olympic title in London.
She had been part of the host nation’s ‘Super Saturday’ at the Games, with her gold matched by Mo Farah in the 10,000m and Greg Rutherford in the long jump.
Her return to the Olympic stadium was a disappointment, however, with fourth place in the 100m hurdles and last in the long jump where she could manage only 6.16 metres, well down on her personal best of 6.54.
“I am so glad I got to compete in London last weekend as it gave me a clear picture of where I am – and it is definitely not where I want to be both regarding pain and also form,” she added in the statement issued by British Athletics.