Sweet Jess is as Hard as Nails

Watch out for Jessica Ennis next month at the world athletics championships in Berlin because she may well be Britain's best chance of a gold medal. With Paula Radcliffe struggling to be fit in time, Christine Ohurugou below par and heptathlete Kelly Sotherton also in a desperate race to overcome an injury, fellow heptathlete Ennis is raring to go after recovering from a horrific injury herself that ruled her out of last summer's Olympics. In May she posted the best points total in the world and will travel to the German capital aiming not just for a medal, but the gold medal. I met her the other day in her hometown of Sheffield and can report she is very impressive both on and off the track. Pretty, with a sense of humour and an ability to laugh at herself, and with a very big future ahead, Jess can become the new star of British athletics in the run up to 2012. Yet, beneath all this lurks a killer. I met Steve Backley, the four times European javelin champion and Olympic and world silver medallist on a train yesterday. "Jess is everything you say she is," said Backley, who now commentates on track and field for both BBC TV and radio. "But she's also as hard as nails. And that's why she's going to be a champion."