Indoor preparations gather pace for determined Ennis

Ennis, competing in her home city, won the 60m in a championship record time of 7.36 seconds on Saturday.

Then the 23-year-old multi-eventer, who was tuning up for the World Indoor Championships pentathlon in Doha in March, extended her shot putt best by 16 centimetres to 13.83m.

Those milestone achievements came only a week after last summer's Berlin gold medallist had a stellar outing at the Loughborough University meeting.

Showing magnificent form there she posted her quickest 60m hurdles time of 8.12sec, a best long jump of 6.39m and threw the shot 13.67m, which was her best until Saturday's effort.

Ennis returned to the stadium yesterday to conclude her two days of action clearing an excellent high jump height of 1.89m before raising the bar to 1.96m.

If successful, Ennis would have erased Debbie Marti's UK record, but she narrowly failed.

Pleased with her form, Ennis said: " I was particularly pleased with the first day. The time for the 60m was a surprise.

"I have not done much technical work on the high jump this winter and so I was happy with it. I wanted to get the feel of the record height."

Coach Toni Minichiello, who rebuilt Ennis's career after a stress fracture in her right leg saw her miss the 2008 Olympic Games, said she was keen to stretch herself in the high jump.

"She decided to have a pop at it but it didn't come off," he said.

Minichiello, despite Ennis's outstanding early season displays, played down suggestions his athlete could challenge Russian Irina Belova's 18-year-old world indoor record of 4,991 points – and featuring a long jump of 6.67m – in Doha.

"She (Ennis) may have set a long jump personal best but that's not far enough," Minichiello added. "And let's remember both Carolina Kluft and Kelly Sotherton have also failed to beat what is a really tough record."

Meanwhile, Minichiello revealed Ennis will open her outdoor season in Gotzis at the end of May.

The Austrian venue is where she picked up her horrific injury prior to the Beijing Games.

That quashed suggestions she would return to Desenzano in Italy where she kickstarted her return to competition last year and posted a personal best with a convincing victory.

"She's a tough competitor," added Minichiello. "Desenzano's a little too early and Gotzis fits the plan perfectly."

Sheffield's Jamie Williamson won the shot by over two metres with 17.33 and a good performance by Leeds City's Anthony Timms gave him the long jump title with 6.94

In the women's events former Rotherham athlete Louise Bloor (Trafford) won the long jump (5.83) and 200 (24.46) as well as taking bronze in the 60 metres.

In the under 20 age group, Hannah Evenden, who comes from Streethouse but competes for Edinburgh AC, set new championship figures for the shot with 14:09.

In the younger age groups no one was more impressive than Alex Kiwomya (Rotherham) who won the Under-15 60m in 7.14 and followed it with a new championship in the 200m with a time of 22.62.

World cross-country champion Gebre Gebremariam was beaten for a second successive weekend when Kenya's Leonard Komon easily won the 28th Cross Internacional de Italica in Seville yesterday.

Gebremariam, who was outsprinted in Amorebieta last week, produced a lacklustre display and managed only sixth place in the 10 kilometre race, a huge 49 seconds behind Komon, who clocked 31 minutes 14 seconds.

While the Ethiopian suffered around the tough course, Komon led home his fellow countrymen Matthew Kisorio and Lucas Rotich, who posted times of 31min 19sec and 31:45 respectively. Olympic 10,000m gold medallist Linet Masai also dominated the women's 8km race as Kenya achieved another clean sweep of the medals.

The 20-year-old broke well clear after 5km to win in 25:54sec, with Pauline Korikwiang and Ann Karandi Mwangi following her home in 26:23 and 26:35.

Olympic 5,000m bronze medallist Shalane Flanagan claimed the Aramco Houston half-marathon title yesterday to mark an impressive debut over the distance.

Flanagan, who claimed the United States title staged in conjunction with the event, posted a time of one hour nine minutes 41 seconds to better the previous course record by a healthy one hour and 14 seconds.

Serena Burla was runner-up, 28 seconds behind Flanagan, with Amy Hastings claiming third.