Jessica Ennis-Hill may retire from athletics after Rio 2016
By PA Sport
Last Updated: 30/03/16 3:09pm
Jessica Ennis-Hill insists there is no chance of her continuing her career beyond the 2017 World Championships in London and may retire after Rio 2016.
The Olympic heptathlon champion is building up to the defence of her title in Rio de Janeiro and admits she might even call it a day after August's event in Brazil.
But the 30-year-old, who is recovering from an achilles injury which ruled her out of the indoor season, insists she is not looking beyond this summer's championships.
"I think at the moment I'm just focused on Rio and being the best prepared I can and going out there and seeing what I can do," she told Laureus.com.
"Then it's going to be a decision to make after Rio for me - whether I decide to retire after Rio or whether I decide I want to do one more year and go to the World Championships and retire after that.
"But I definitely won't be going on any longer than 2017."
The Sheffield-based athlete will head to Rio as the reigning world champion after her astonishing comeback victory in Beijing last summer when she took gold in only her second heptathlon since London 2012 and just 13 months after the birth of her son Reggie.
Despite that success, she maintains she will not be favourite to land another Olympic crown.
Ennis-Hill, whose Beijing success saw her nominated for the 2016 Laureus World Comeback of the Year Award, added: "People will obviously expect me to just keep performing at a high level and winning gold medals.
"Unfortunately it's not that easy. And this year is going to be more challenging just because of the level of competition. Everyone has stepped up their game.
"It's going to be tough and I think I'm definitely not the favourite. I think there's Brianne Theisen-Eaton (the Canadian who won pentathlon gold at the World Indoor Championships this month) and I think Katarina Johnson-Thompson.
"She had her disappointments last year and is going to want to come back and make amends for what happened in Beijing," Ennis-Hill said of her 23-year-old team-mate Johnson-Thompson, who finished in 28th place after failing to record a distance in the long jump.
