Jessica Ennis-Hill relieved to come through Gotzis unscathed
Monday 1 June 2015 11:19, UK
Jessica Ennis-Hill has admitted her relief at coming through the Gotzis Heptathlon with her fitness intact.
Competing in her first heptathlon since London 2012, Ennis-Hill finished fourth in the Hypo-Meeting in Austria at the weekend to qualify for the Rio 2016 Olympics.
The Sheffield athlete was making her return to elite competition after giving birth to her first child 10 months ago and has had a number of injury concerns since returning to training.
And she told Sky Sports News HQ: "I was a bit concerned. It's been two tough days of competition and coming into the event I had Achilles problems.
"They've hampered my training, so I wasn't quite sure how they'd react after each event, but they've been really good. I've had my physio and soft-tissue therapist helping me and they've been amazing. I feel really good."
The 29-year-old was third after Saturday's opening four events, but by the time she came round to the closing 800m event, she had dropped to eighth.
She won the closing middle-distance race in two minutes 9.21 seconds to easily pass the 6,200 points mark she started the competition looking to achieve.
Ennis-Hill added: "It was a brilliant feeling. Gotzis is always an amazing event to come to, with a world-class field, and I wanted to throw myself into really high-level competition.
"It's been a mixed couple of days. My expectations of how I want to perform are still very high but, considering where I am in my programme at the moment.
"I'm just so pleased to have got here and been able to complete the heptathlon and produce a really good score."