Jessica Ennis-Hill will compete in a heptathlon for the first time since she won London Olympic gold in a loaded field at the Hypo Meeting in Gotzis, Austria, from May 30-31, according to IAAF web editor Jon Mulkeen.
Ennis-Hill, 28, has barely competed since her Olympic triumph in front of home fans, and not at all in the heptathlon.
She got married in May 2013, missed the 2013 World Championships with an Achilles injury, announced her first pregnancy in January 2014 and gave birth to son Reggie on July 17.
Ennis-Hill will face challenging competition in her first heptathlon meet since 2012. The field in Gotzis includes the top two heptathletes from 2014 — 22-year-old Brit Katarina Johnson-Thompson and Canadian Brianne Theisen-Eaton, the 2013 World Championships silver medalist. Also, 2013 Worlds bronze medalist Dafne Schippers of the Netherlands.
The men’s decathlon field in Gotzis includes U.S. Olympic gold and silver medalists Ashton Eaton and Trey Hardee.
In London, Ennis-Hill won the Olympic title with 6,955 points, making her the fifth-best performer of all time. Johnson-Thompson posted the best total in the world since the Olympics — 6,682 at Gotzis last year.
In Rio, Ennis-Hill could join Jackie Joyner-Kersee (1988, 1992) as the only women to repeat as Olympic heptathlon champions. Heptathlon was added to the Olympics in 1984.
