Jessica Ennis is ready to give making the British 4×100 metres a shot – but only if it will fit into her regular training schedule.
Ennis, the world and European heptathlon champion says she is fully focused on defending her world title next year as well making a run for the Olympic Games crown in London in 2012, but was opened to run on the sprint relay team.
Initially she had hoped to add the 100-metres sprint hurdles to her London preparation, but the Games time table made it almost impossible for her to recover from her multi-event competition.
But speaking at Thursday’s Birmingham launch of the Aviva Series of domestic meetings, Ennis hinted that the sprint relay would be easier for her to take on, although that would require her to do additional training sessions to practise baton changeovers with her team-mates.
“I’m really focused on the heptathlon and obviously it would involve a lot of training and I don’t want anything to take away from the heptathlon, or for me to be distracted in any way,” Ennis said.
“But if there was an opportunity to be part of the relay and it was a little bit flexible, then I might give it a go.
“I haven’t made a decision on what I’m going to do yet. I just have to think about it. It’s whether I can commit the time to it.
“I only want to do it if I’m going to do it properly and don’t want to do it half-heartedly. You’re part of a team and I wouldn’t want to let the team down.”
