Gold for Jess and final spot for Laura
Laura Muir (handicap -2.7), who holds top spot on the National Ladder with the lowest female handicap score, showed she is a force to be reckoned with a gutsy performance in the 1500m at the IAAF World Championships in Beijing, China, yesterday whilst Jessica Ennis-Hill (handicap 11.0) produced a remarkable display to claim British Athletics’ second gold medal at the Bird’s Nest Stadium.
Laura, who had world record holder Genzebe Dibaba in her 1500m semi-final, stuck with the pace coming through in third place in 4:07.95 and in the process secured a berth in Tuesday’s final.
It went pretty well. I just needed top five, top five, top five. I knew I just needed to do the best race I could tactically. That’s all I was worried about and I’m glad to be through.
“I came out of this heat really, really well and it was one of my best races tactically. I just need to take confidence in that and then it’s just a matter of putting a great race together.”
Muir’s teammate Laura Weightman (handicap -2.2) (third on the ladder) was forced to withdraw from her semi-final on medical advice, after sustaining a nasty fall during the qualifying rounds.
Just 24 hours after Mo Farah (handicap -7.8) (who has been top of the men's ladder for over two years consecutively) won 10,000m gold, Jessica Ennis-Hill followed suit at her first major championships since her Olympic triumph in 2012. The 29 year old went into the 800m with a six second cushion from Holland’s Nadine Broersen, but just like in London, finished in style.
Ennis-Hill chased down Brianne Theisen-Eaton on the home straight before powering through in 2:10.13, to add a second world title to the one she won in Berlin six years ago.
The newly crowned 2015 world champion said: “This is definitely one of the greatest moments of my career, I still can’t believe it. Me and Toni (Minichiello) spoke about coming here, and we only wanted to come if I was able to compete for a medal. We spoke about the bronze medal and that it would be amazing for a silver medal, but we never spoke about gold. I kind of thought it was a little beyond me this year.
“When I look back now and think it has taken a while to get in great shape. It’s hard at the beginning when you’ve got a newborn and you’re adjusting to everything, just having a supportive family and Toni and the team around me really believed in me,” added Ennis-Hill, who gave birth to her son, Reggie just 13 months ago
“I think I have a different perspective and you do things for different reasons and I think it has helped. I know a couple of athlete mums like Jo Pavey (handicap -0.1) and I hope I am an inspiration to other mums.”
After her setback in the long jump earlier on today, Katarina Johnson-Thompson (handicap 8.8) posted a time of 2:50.73 in the 800m; she will now turn her attention to the individual long jump campaign, which gets underway on Thursday.
British Athletics medals at the IAAF World Championships, Beijing, China
Gold–
Mo Farah (10,000m)
Jessica Ennis-Hill (Heptathlon)