Yes the comeback has begun for Jessica Ennis-Hill!
The Olympic heptathlon champion has booked her place at the 2016 Summer Olympics, in her first competitive event since winning gold in London nearly three years ago.
The Sheffield born babe finished fourth overall at the gruelling two-day Hypo Meeting in Gotzis, Austria (above) at the weekend, meaning she can defend her title in Rio de Janeiro next year. The 29 year-old's points tally of 6,520 easily surpassed the Olympic qualifying mark of 6,200 points.
Jess missed most of 2013 season through injury and then gave birth to her son last summer, thus making her achievement in Gotzis even more remarkable!Despite the frustration of not hurdling as well as she would have hoped, and failing to throw the javelin as far as she would have liked, Ennis-Hill finished just 11 points adrift of Nadine Broersen of the Netherlands who took third, and 27 points behind second placed Carolin Schaefer of Germany.
Brianne Theisen-Eaton, the Canadian who won the prestigious invitational event, amassed nearly 300 points more than the former world champion and recorded the highest score (6,808) by a heptathlete since Ennis-Hill won in London back in 2012.
Having secured a place at the World Championships in Beijing this August, Ennis-Hill may not compete in China unless she is in tip-top condition.
She said: "If I am a medal contender I will go, I don't want to go to the World Championships under-prepared."
Over the next week or so, Ennis-Hill and her team will deliberate over whether she can make the necessary progress in three months to improve by 200 to 300 points, perhaps risking injury should she push herself.
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