It is probably fitting that with 500 days to go until the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, one of Europe’s defending champions has announced on Tuesday her return to athletics.
Jessica Ennis-Hill, the Olympic heptathlon gold medalist, will compete for the first time in nearly two years when she runs in the 100m hurdles at the Great CityGames in Manchester on 9 May.
on my way back- #GreatCityGames #Manchester #GCGM2015 9 May, get involved in the weekend,enter #greatmanchesterrun http://t.co/FJke6dI016
— Jessica Ennis-Hill (@J_Ennis) March 24, 2015
Ennis-Hill, whose son Reggie was born last July, will run in the 100m hurdles, arguably her best event and one which set her way to glory in London 2012.
'I'm really looking forward to making my competitive return at the Great CityGames Manchester. The atmosphere is always amazing there,' said Ennis-Hill, 29.
The competition is a street athletics event and it will be just three weeks before she heads to the heptathlon in Götzis for one of the duels of the outdoor season when she faces fellow Briton Katarina Johnson-Thompson, the newly-crowned European Athletics Indoor pentathlon champion.
Johnson-Thompson will also be in Manchester, competing in the 200m and long jump.
Ennis-Hill, the 2010 European heptathlon champion, set the Olympic Stadium rocking in London almost three years ago when she won gold, beginning her bid for glory by breaking the British record in the opening event, the 100m hurdles, where she ran 12.54.
That time has since been overtaken by Tiffany Porter with 12.51 when she was second in Marrakech last September as she helped Team Europe win the IAAF Continental Cup.