Jessica Ennis expressed her relief at having fixed her problems in the high jump at the Olympic trials.
Heptathlete shines in high jump at Olympic trials
Jessica Ennis expressed her relief at having fixed her high jump problems as she claimed two event victories at the Olympic trials in Birmingham on Saturday.
The 26-year-old cleared an outdoor season's best of 1.89 metres in the high jump before upstaging American-born British record holder Tiffany Porter to win the 100m hurdles in 12.92 seconds.
Porter was a distant second in 13.21s after stumbling at the ninth hurdle, but with Ennis a top-class hurdler in her own right, it was the return to form in the high jump which satisfied her the most.
"The high jump needed a bit of work and to be honest when I started jumping in warm-up I thought it was going to be terrible," the heptathlete said.
"I couldn't really get over the bar in warm-up so to have turned it round and have cleared every height first attempt (until the three failures at 1.92m) and jumped a season's best is promising. I know what I need to work on in the high jump now."
Despite sitting comfortably clear at the top of the world rankings after breaking Denise Lewis' British heptathlon record in Gotzis in May, Ennis has been struggling in the high jump, which is usually one of her strongest events.
The Sheffield athlete added: "I have changed the run-up in the high jump a little bit, just made a few little changes, but I am quite happy now.
Comfortable
"I think if I would have had a bad jump here then I probably would have been slightly worried about it, but to have jumped 1.89m feels a lot more comfortable than it did in Gotzis."
Ennis, with her Olympic selection assured, is due to compete in four events at the Alexander Stadium this weekend with the long jump and 200m to come tomorrow. She has also now qualified for the hurdles for London but is unlikely to run in it.
She added: "This definitely helps (my confidence). Running against Tiffany and beating her and doing what I did in the high jump all helps toward the summer.
"I don't mind the expectation because it means I am doing something right and things are going well, so if that's how it's going to be then that's a good position to be in."
There were contrasting fortunes for another one of Britain's female athletics stars as 18-year-old Jodie Williams left the track in tears after suffering an apparently season-ending injury in the 100m final.
The world junior champion will undergo a scan in London on Monday, but an initial assessment suggested a grade-two tear.
"Thank you to everyone for the support, really means a lot. Absolutely gutted but I'll come back fighting next year," Williams wrote on Twitter.
