Ennis-Hill out of Diamond League meet

Birmingham, June 6 (IANS) Britain’s Jessica Ennis-Hill, the reigning women’s Olympic heptathlon champion, has withdrawn from Sunday’s IAAF Diamond League here to concentrate on her preparation for the Beijing World Championships.

Ennis-Hill competed in her first heptathlon event last weekend since winning the Olympic title at London 2012, finishing fourth at the Hypo Meeting in Gotzis and achieving the Olympic qualifying standard, Xinhua reported on Saturday.

The 29-year-old pulled out of the Birmingham Grand Prix following discussions with her coach Toni Minichiello, saying that she will not rush back into a top-level schedule.

Ennis-Hill said “Having competed in my first full heptathlon in three years, both Toni and I feel that my body held up well in Gotzis and we are delighted with how I did, but I feel competing seven days later is going to be too soon.”

She added, “I have missed a volume of training over the past few months, since having my baby, due to problems with my Achilles and there is still a lot of work to do.”