Jessica named in British team for Beijing Worlds

Reuters/LondonOlympic heptathlon gold medallist Jessica Ennis-Hill has announced that she is to compete in the World Athletics Championships in Beijing next month. “My coach and I have made the decision that I’m going to make myself available ... for the world champs,” she said on her Twitter account yesterday. Ennis-Hill returned to the sport in May following the birth of her son. The 29-year-old produced her three best displays since the London Olympics when she featured at the Anniversary Games in the capital at the weekend. Ennis-Hill will be joined in the heptathlon by medal rival Katarina Johnson-Thompson, who will also compete in the long jump.They are part of a 62-strong British squad for the August 22-30 event in China alongside the likes of fellow Olympic champions Mo Farah and Greg Rutherford. Farah, who has been dogged by the recent doping allegations surrounding coach Alberto Salazar, will look to retain his world titles over 5,000 and 10,000 metres. He also won gold in the 5,000 metres in 2011. Olympic, Commonwealth and European champion Rutherford is aiming to add the only missing major gold medal to his long jump collection. Victory at the iconic Bird’s Nest stadium would also help him become the fourth Briton, after Daley Thompson, Sally Gunnell and Jonathan Edwards, to hold simultaneously all four titles. “Beijing is a hugely important event to us, yet this is the first of three huge global competitions, with the Olympics in Rio next year and the home world championships in 2017,” said British Athletics performance director Neil Black. “In selecting athletes we were looking at either a potential to finish top eight in this year’s Worlds or to give opportunities to athletes developing towards medal success in 2016 and beyond. I’m very confident we have selected a team who can be successful in Beijing as well as use it as a platform on to further Olympic and world successes,” Black added.Also selected and displaying superb form after breaking the British records last weekend are Shara Proctor and Dina Asher-Smith. Proctor added three centimetres to the long jump record last Saturday with a 6.98m leap, while Asher-Smith, selected in the 200m, became the first British woman to run faster than 11 seconds for the 100m with a time of 10.99.Making his British debut in the 200m, Zharnel Hughes showed this past weekend that he is more than at home on the big stage, after clocking a personal best of 20.05 to win the 200m at the Olympic Stadium in London.Hughes is not the only youngster in the squad as 18-year-old 800m runner Kyle Langford is one of four members from this month’s European Junior Championships squad to make the step up.