Ennis takes gold again

Ennis led from start to finish as she cruised to victory in Berlin last year but was given a far tougher time by Olympic champion Nataliya Dobrynska in Barcelona, eventually winning by just 45 points on Saturday night.

The 24-year-old from Sheffield only had an 18-point lead (equivalent to a cushion of around 1.3 seconds) going into the last of the seven events, the 800m, and Dobrynska briefly tried to wipe that out as she took the lead with 250m to go.

But Ennis was having none of it and stormed to victory in two minutes 10.18 seconds to seal the win after two gruelling days of competition.

A time of 2:09.59 would have been enough to break the 10-year-old British record of 6,831 points held by former Olympic champion Denise Lewis, but she came up nine points short on 6,823 - still a new personal best and championship record.

"I was definitely worried this morning, it was so different," admitted Ennis, who led by 307 points after four events in Berlin, but just 110 here.

"They really pushed me all the way, I was nervous this morning and then again going into the 800m. I warmed up poorly before the javelin and then threw poorly at the start so I was worried, but then I did a PB and that was a big turning point.

"My coach Toni (Minichiello) told me that I had to run 2.09.59 to get Denise's British record and yes of course I wanted to get that, but I'm just pleased that I hung onto gold.

"I had to raise my game at every level today and yesterday so to come out on top is unbelievable. There's a lot of pressure and expectation but I'm so happy with myself how I dealt with it.

"I had to block it out and concentrate on what I know I'm capable of doing. Berlin was a lot of pressure coming back from an injury but this was a different type of pressure and I was pushed really closely all the way and I might have lost the gold medal so it was a huge challenge.

"With everyone doing so well and us (Britain) winning so many medals I kind of thought I don't want to let anyone down really."

For the best European Championships coverage don't miss Monday's Yorkshire Post.