Ennis-Hill undecided on Rio heptahlon
Olympic heptathlon champion Jessica Ennis-Hill has refused to rule herself out of the event at Rio 2016 despite her Achilles problems.
The 27-year-old struck gold at London 2012 but was ruled out of the World Championships in Moscow with the injury after trying to make a comeback at the Anniversary Games.
She competed in the 100 metres hurdles and long jump at the London event in July but struggled to be competitive in either.
The nature of the injury has cast doubts as to whether she will compete in the heptathlon again due to the physical demands placed on the Achilles doing events like the high jump and 100m hurdles, however, she has insisted that no decision has been made on what events she will compete in in the future.
"It's (the Achilles tendon) progressing, it's feeling loads better than it was," she said. "It's just about taking its time and doing all my rehab and making sure I can get it fully healed and back to full fitness as soon as possible.
"Obviously having the setback of this year, I'd have loved to have done the heptathlon at the World's and I suppose it's just having that time to make the decision and really decide what to do, but I'm still leaving it very open and seeing how next year goes and the year after."
At the World Championships, Great Britain's Katerina Johnson-Thompson was the only British competitor in the event and Ennis-Hill admitted that it was hard to be consigned to a watching brief.
"Obviously it was difficult for me to watch because I was disappointed and I really wanted to be there," she added. "But it was nice at the same time because there were some really great performances from our team."
Providing her rehabilitation goes well, Ennis-Hill hopes to return for the indoor season that begins in February 2014.
The 27-year-old struck gold at London 2012 but was ruled out of the World Championships in Moscow with the injury after trying to make a comeback at the Anniversary Games.
She competed in the 100 metres hurdles and long jump at the London event in July but struggled to be competitive in either.
The nature of the injury has cast doubts as to whether she will compete in the heptathlon again due to the physical demands placed on the Achilles doing events like the high jump and 100m hurdles, however, she has insisted that no decision has been made on what events she will compete in in the future.
"It's (the Achilles tendon) progressing, it's feeling loads better than it was," she said. "It's just about taking its time and doing all my rehab and making sure I can get it fully healed and back to full fitness as soon as possible.
"Obviously having the setback of this year, I'd have loved to have done the heptathlon at the World's and I suppose it's just having that time to make the decision and really decide what to do, but I'm still leaving it very open and seeing how next year goes and the year after."
At the World Championships, Great Britain's Katerina Johnson-Thompson was the only British competitor in the event and Ennis-Hill admitted that it was hard to be consigned to a watching brief.
"Obviously it was difficult for me to watch because I was disappointed and I really wanted to be there," she added. "But it was nice at the same time because there were some really great performances from our team."
Providing her rehabilitation goes well, Ennis-Hill hopes to return for the indoor season that begins in February 2014.
Comments