Ennis-Hill At Great Citygames Manchester

The Olympic heptathlon champion has not competed since the Anniversary Games in London in July 2013 but is on the comeback trail following the birth of her son, Reggie, in July last year. She will line up for the 100m hurdles in front of an expected 25,000 crowd and the BBC television cameras on Deansgate.

It will be Ennis-Hill's first major test of 2015 and there will be huge interest in her form as she prepares for her return to the seven-event heptathlon at the Hypo Meeting at Gotzis in Austria on May 30-31.

The 29-year-old Sheffield athlete said, “I'm really looking forward to making my competitive return at the Great CityGames Manchester.  The atmosphere is always amazing there.

“Street athletics is a lot of fun, not only you are really close to the fans, but the energy around the Morrison's Great Manchester Run weekend is fantastic, as the elite races and the mass participation run bring the city together in a celebration of running.”

Ennis-Hill is scheduled to face the rising Liverpudlian multi-eventer Katarina Johnson-Thompson in Gotzis in what promises to be an intriguing prelude to the battle for the heptathlon gold medal at the IAAF World Championships in Beijing in August – and the Olympic Games in Rio next year, when her title will be on the line.

Johnson-Thompson topped the heptathlon world rankings last year and earlier this month she won the European indoor pentathlon crown in Prague, breaking Ennis-Hill's British record.

The 22-year-old will also be in action in the Great CityGames Manchester but in the 200m hurdles and long jump.

Ennis-Hill will be lining up in her best event. The stunning time of 12.54 seconds that she clocked in the opening discipline of the 2012 Olympic heptathlon competition stood as a British record until Tiffany Porter clocked 12.51 seconds at the IAAF Continental Cup in Marrakesh in September last year.

It will be Ennis-Hill's fourth appearance in the Great CityGames Manchester. She won the 150m in 2010 and the following year finished second in that event and third in the 100m hurdles. In 2012 she won the 100m hurdles – and went on to claim Olympic heptathlon gold on home soil three months later.

The Great CityGames Manchester will be held on Saturday 9 May in Manchester city centre and will be shown live on BBC One and BBC One HD from 13:00 – 15:00. The event is part of a weekend-long celebration of sport in the city which includes Europe's biggest 10K event, the Morrisons Great Manchester Run on Sunday 10 May.
 

The Olympic heptathlon champion has not competed since the Anniversary Games in London in July 2013 but is on the comeback trail following the birth of her son, Reggie, in July last year. She will line up for the 100m hurdles in front of an expected 25,000 crowd and the BBC television cameras on Deansgate.

It will be Ennis-Hill's first major test of 2015 and there will be huge interest in her form as she prepares for her return to the seven-event heptathlon at the Hypo Meeting at Gotzis in Austria on May 30-31.

The 29-year-old Sheffield athlete said, “I'm really looking forward to making my competitive return at the Great CityGames Manchester.  The atmosphere is always amazing there.

“Street athletics is a lot of fun, not only you are really close to the fans, but the energy around the Morrison's Great Manchester Run weekend is fantastic, as the elite races and the mass participation run bring the city together in a celebration of running.”

Ennis-Hill is scheduled to face the rising Liverpudlian multi-eventer Katarina Johnson-Thompson in Gotzis in what promises to be an intriguing prelude to the battle for the heptathlon gold medal at the IAAF World Championships in Beijing in August – and the Olympic Games in Rio next year, when her title will be on the line.

Johnson-Thompson topped the heptathlon world rankings last year and earlier this month she won the European indoor pentathlon crown in Prague, breaking Ennis-Hill's British record.

The 22-year-old will also be in action in the Great CityGames Manchester but in the 200m hurdles and long jump.

Ennis-Hill will be lining up in her best event. The stunning time of 12.54 seconds that she clocked in the opening discipline of the 2012 Olympic heptathlon competition stood as a British record until Tiffany Porter clocked 12.51 seconds at the IAAF Continental Cup in Marrakesh in September last year.

It will be Ennis-Hill's fourth appearance in the Great CityGames Manchester. She won the 150m in 2010 and the following year finished second in that event and third in the 100m hurdles. In 2012 she won the 100m hurdles – and went on to claim Olympic heptathlon gold on home soil three months later.

The Great CityGames Manchester will be held on Saturday 9 May in Manchester city centre and will be shown live on BBC One and BBC One HD from 13:00 – 15:00. The event is part of a weekend-long celebration of sport in the city which includes Europe's biggest 10K event, the Morrisons Great Manchester Run on Sunday 10 May.