IAAF World Championships: Jessica Ennis-Hill ready for big test in Beijing
Olympic heptathlon champion Jessica Ennis-Hill visited Beijing's Bird's Nest stadium and talked about her preparations for the world athletics championships which begin on 22 August. Ennis-Hill, who returned to competition in May after taking time off to have a baby, said she gets nervous before the start of competition.
"When I'm getting ready for the hurdles, it's my first event of the two days, so I'm very, very nervous, very anxious, I'm trying to get the best warm-up that I can possibly get in without overdoing it, 'cause when you're nervous and the adrenaline's going, you tend to want to do a bit too much," the Briton said on 20 August.
"And then when you get in here, it's that feeling of I've done all I can do now, I've done the training, you know, done all my warm-up, and I'm ready to go, and there's not much I can change, so, it's that feeling of sitting here, contemplating, getting all your thoughts together, and then getting out there and performing. So this quite a yeah, a nervous field area before I race," she added.
Ennis-Hill decided to take part in the world championships following impressive performances at the Diamond League meeting in London, where she recorded three season's bests across two consecutive days.
"I didn't have any niggles through my Achilles, which have been troubling me previously, so they felt good. I just felt a little bit stiff but nothing major. I was really happy to come away from doing three events that close together in that stay. So yeah, I think it was quite an easy decision to sit down with Tony, and just, you know, having come away with those kind of times and distances, that we were, you know, hopefully going to be ready to compete here," Ennis-Hill said.
On her way to victory in the 2012 London Olympics, Ennis-Hill clocked 12.54 seconds in the 100 metres hurdles and the Briton is hoping to set a similar time on Saturday when the heptathlon begins.
"If you can bring it all together, and I felt really good in London lining up for the race, yeah a really good time, I'm really pleased with that, so if I can replicate something similar to that on Saturday, then that gives me a really good start for the heptathlon," Ennis-Hill added.
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