Former Olympic Champion Sally Gunnell has backed Jessica Ennis to fulfil her potential, after the Sheffield superstar stormed to victory in Birmingham.
“I was really impressed with Jess,” she said. “You can tell that she's in shape. You get to that point where you can see from an athlete's body and can tell that they're in an amazing shape.”
Ennis, who broke her own personal best with a blistering 7.87sec in the 60m hurdles, appeared to surprise even herself when the time was announced.
“She shocked herself [with her performance],” said Gunnell. “That was a serious time she ran. You kind of want to wrap her up in cotton wool and capture that and make sure that she carries it through for a few more months.”
As Gunnell, a 1992 Olympic Gold medalist in the 400m hurdles, believes, it is Ennis' work in improving her technique which has seen her make such an impressive start to the season.
“You can see technically that she's got better in the hurdles. Her lead leg is so much more active in coming off of the hurdles and you can tell that she's either worked very well at that or she's been working on something in particular.
“To run that sort of time you need some basic speed in there and a lot of contact between the hurdles and the floor to get that speed down. That's where she's really move on in that event.”
The 26 year-old was yesterday announced as a member of the British team for the upcoming World Indoor Championships in Istanbul, where she will be defending her pentathlon title.
Ennis will likely face stiff competition from Tatyana Chernova, the woman who pipped her to heptathlon gold in Daegu last summer.
However, as Gunnell suggests, the memory of last summer will no doubt inspire Ennis in Istanbul.
“Competition is great. She's got two Russian girls who will push her to the line. I think in some ways getting that silver [last summer] is a good thing. That's what she will think about everyday when she's out there training. That rivalry is vital, it's what pushes you on.”
Meanwhile, UK Athletics head coach Charles Van Commenee has named a strong squad for the World Indoor Championships, with the likes of Dwain Chambers, Mo Farah, Marilyn Okoro and Holly Bleasdale all included.
As Gunnell observed, the strong displays at the Aviva Grand Prix last weekend helped to underline the strength of the British squad, and emphasised the positive mindset of those athletes
“I think that the indoors are showing how hard everyone is training, and that everybody is taking Olympic year very serious.
“They'remuch more professional about it and some of those athletes are really knuckling down and are living every moment of what they've got to do in preparation.
“We want to have a successful games in the summer and you want to start being in shape and start preparing yourself this time of year, to show that everything is going in the right direction.”
Sally Gunnell is working with McCain, the Principal Partner of UK Athletics, to promote healthy, active lifestyles. For more information on McCain’s new, Ready Baked Jacket potatoes visit www.mccain.co.uk
