Olympic heptathlon champion Jessica Ennis-Hill has thought about switching to the 100m hurdles after she returns to track and field, likely next year following the expected birth of her child in July.
“It would be fantastic to go to Rio [de Janeiro for the 2016 Olympics] in the heptathlon, but I have definitely thought about the hurdles,” Ennis-Hill said Wednesday, according to the Guardian. “It’s nice to have that option. It’s just a case of seeing how I get back into training. My ankle is a weak area and, if you have time away from sport, it flares up. That’s why I’ve been running and doing rehab during my pregnancy. When I come back I’m going to scan it again and make sure where it needs to be.”
“It is just going to be seeing how I get back into training and see how it all comes together — I’ve always got the hurdles there,” she said, according to the Independent.
Ennis-Hill, 28, has barely competed since her London Olympic triumph. She got married last May, missed last year’s World Championships in the summer with an Achilles injury and announced her pregnancy in January.
She owns the British record of 12.54 seconds in the 100m hurdles, which would have placed fourth at the London Olympics.
She wouldn’t be the first Olympic multi-event champion to focus on a single competition. Jackie Joyner-Kersee won three Olympic medals each in the heptathlon and the long jump. Reigning Olympic decathlon champion Ashton Eaton is running the 400m hurdles this season.
If Ennis-Hill sticks to the heptathlon for Rio 2016, she will try to join Joyner-Kersee as the only multiple Olympic gold medalists in the event.
