Jess Ennis 100m Hurdles

it was a saver event in case it went t1ts in the heptathlon

once gold was secure it was job done and she has had little time to recover

plus needs to ensure she is fit to appear in a dozen grand prix meets over the next few weeks where she will earn mega money

no brainer

certainly had a decent chance of minor medal. only chance of winning it was if pearson made a complete mess up

But it could only be a saver if she bombed right out of the heptathlon at an early stage- end of day 1, day 2 she's also going to be tired! Seems a bit of a waste of a place for something that is quite low probability- a non injury based catastrophy on day 1, and had that catastrophy occurred in the hurdles she probably wouldn't come back to start in the individual 100m H either.

Given her Diamond League bookings for the end of the season will be in 100m H (and maybe long jump), a medal in the 100m H would do no harm to the fees she could command either! If somehow she beat Pearson or ran her close promoters would pay a premium for a rematch for sure. I think if 12.5 goes on to take a medal she may come to regret not holding off the media for a couple of days to try and get another medal.

I agree Pearson looks solid, but it's not unknown for a hurdle favourite to go down, particularly one that is carrying the weight of the nation as is the case for poor Pearson at the moment! The whinging cons have put the gold well and truly around her neck.

it certainly isn't. an event with plenty that can go wrong. remember colin jackson making a complete horlicks of it in barcelona when hot favourite

and the pressure on pearson lining up next to ennis in front of 80000 screaming brits would have been immense

Aug 6, 2012 -- 2:17PM, inner city sumo wrote:

But it could only be a saver if she bombed right out of the heptathlon at an early stage- end of day 1, day 2 she's also going to be tired! Seems a bit of a waste of a place for something that is quite low probability- a non injury based catastrophy on day 1, and had that catastrophy occurred in the hurdles she probably wouldn't come back to start in the individual 100m H either.Given her Diamond League bookings for the end of the season will be in 100m H (and maybe long jump), a medal in the 100m H would do no harm to the fees she could command either! If somehow she beat Pearson or ran her close promoters would pay a premium for a rematch for sure. I think if 12.5 goes on to take a medal she may come to regret not holding off the media for a couple of days to try and get another medal.I agree Pearson looks solid, but it's not unknown for a hurdle favourite to go down, particularly one that is carrying the weight of the nation as is the case for poor Pearson at the moment! The whinging cons have put the gold well and truly around her neck.

not carrying weight of a nation anymore, Slingsby just won gold

I've lost track of the table, is that the second, third or fourth? I still think you'll end up with seven or eight, just one of those games where a lot of what would have been golds and bronzes have ended up as silver for some reason.

Completely understand why she didn't. But if it was me, with a chance to compete at a home Olympics with a decent chance of getting a medal. I think i would have taken it, an opportunity like this will never happen again for her.

inner city sumo, it is the 2nd Gold, but the first individual Gold.  I agree with you that so much can go wrong in hurdles and also agree with Sudoku_Junior in regards to a once in a lifetime opportunity.

Nice. I feel the same, I'd go for it and be greedy, even more so when you add in the guilt that someone will have missed out on the invaluable experience if you don't start.

4 years and now pressure released, and drained after 2 days competition

well done jess resisting the temptation

Who missed out by her not competing ?

Not sure who the next choice would have been, but it would be some experience for a promising junior that could pay off later down the track at a major event. If she had bombed out of the heptathlon I can't imagine she would have been in any mental or emotional state to participate in the hurdles anyway.

You have to have a qualifying standard to be entered. I think we only had 2 entered anyway, so there was already a spare place ?

Yep, I appreciate there's the qualifying standard, there seemed to be a lot of athletes finishing in 14 seconds plus this morning though so I'm not sure where it is this year and what the rules are when you already have two A standard athletes. The next GB athletes are around the 13.2 mark probably not a big legacy issue for an older athlete missing out at that mark, but if you can get a young one in on that standard you should do it. Even if someone hasn't missed out this time, I hope we don't go down the road of booking people into events they have a near zero likelihood of competing in if there are other weaker cabs on the rank.

I still can't conceive of the circumstances under which Ennis would have competed- she would have been devastated if she'd blown the heptathlon and in no state to compete, and it seems completing it and winning it is too much too. If the decision was solely based on time in the 100m H how quick do we think she wanted to go in order to justify it- would she be sitting on the sidelines with 12.4 under her belt? What about 12.3? She missed Beijing, Rio is a long way away if she decides to continue, she may never be in this position or shape again.

According to UKA website, we only had 2 that had reached A or B standard (Ennis & Porter), that's why we only had 2 entries. Ennis not running didn't deny anyone an opportunity.

A stranger decision is the 800m, where they selected a B athlete and dropped the A standard ones.

Fair enough no one missed out this time, still doesn't change the magnitude of the opportunity relative to the work she has invested over the last four years.