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Britain’s Olympic heptathlon champion Jessica Ennis-Hill has ruled herself out of next 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 world championships 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 10,000 metres 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.
“To say I am gutted is an understatement - no athlete likes to miss the opportunity to compete at a major championships - they don’t come round that often.”
Ennis-Hill was the world champion in 2009 but was pushed into second spot by Russian Tatyana Chernova in Daegu two years ago.
Chernova has also been forced out of the Aug. 10-18 world championships with knee-ligament damage.
Ennis-Hill’s coach Toni Minichiello said that while the management of her pain had improved, it was unlikely she would have been able to complete all seven heptathlon disciplines.
“I’ve also had to consider if competing at the world championships would cause further damage, making any rehab more difficult,” he said, adding that she would rest.
“There are nine global medals up for grabs over the next three years not including Moscow so a long-term view has been taken.
“The aim will be that any recovery process will make an indoor season possible in 2014,” Minichiello added.
Semenya misses worlds after failing to meet qualifying standard
Former 800 metres world champion Caster Semenya is not on the South African team for the upcoming edition in Moscow because she failed to meet the qualifying standard.
The South African athletics federation ASA said in a statemenbt Wednesday that it tried in vain to get a special exemption from the ruling body IAAF to have her on the team for the August 10-18 championships.
Semenya missed the B-standard time of 2 minutes 1.50 seconds by 0.36 seconds on the past weekend in Belgium.
“Because Semenya is such a big-name drawing card in international athletics, James Evans, ASA president, contacted the IAAF to find out if there was any possibility that she might still be allowed to run in Moscow. According to Evans the IAAF was very sympathetic to his request but, unfortunately, rules are rules,” the ASA said.
Evans quoted as saying: “I understand and accept the IAAF’s viewpoint. If they should make an exception for Caster where do they draw the line?”
Semenya gained fame with the 2009 world title in Berlin but then went through a gender controversy before finally being cleared to run again. She won silver medals at the 2011 worlds and 2012 Olympics.