Olympic heptathlon champion Jessica Ennis-Hill doesn’t want to compete at the World Track and Field Championships in August if she won’t “medal or perform to my best.”
“Nothing is guaranteed in sport, but I don’t want to travel all that way and not medal or perform to my best,” Ennis-Hill said, according to the BBC. “If I’m not quite ready the best thing would be to have a break and get ready for winter training.”
Ennis-Hill has said she wouldn’t decide if she will compete at Worlds in Beijing (Aug. 22-30, broadcast info here) until after next weekend’s Diamond League meet at London’s Olympic Stadium. She’s slated for the 100m hurdles on July 24 and the 200m and the long jump on July 25.
“In my mind I know what shape I need to be in to compete and contend for a medal at the Worlds, and I have a target for this weekend,” Ennis-Hill said, according to the BBC. “I hope to have the performances I am looking for in London and can go and compete for a medal in Beijing. Or, I hope that I know on Saturday night that I am not going to be in a position to compete and I don’t push on to the Worlds when I’m not quite ready.”
Ennis-Hill, 29, has barely competed since the 2012 Olympics. She got married in May 2013, missed the 2013 World Championships with an Achilles injury, announced her first pregnancy in January 2014 and gave birth to son Reggie on July 17.
Ennis-Hill finished fourth in her first heptathlon since the 2012 Olympics from May 30-31 in Gotzis, Austria, against a field that did not include 2014 world leader and countrywoman Katarina Johnson-Thompson.
Her point total in Gotzis, 6,520, would have placed third at the 2013 World Championships and seventh at the 2012 Olympics. Ennis-Hill tallied a national record 6,955 points at the London Games.
“To be back competing at this level is a daunting test as it’s only my fourth competition of the year,” Ennis-Hill said of the Diamond League meet next weekend. “I need to find out if I will be ready for Beijing and then ultimately Rio [2016 Olympics].”