Jessica Ennis lit up a largely workaday Aviva World Trials and UK Championships yesterday with two national titles in a single afternoon.
The multi-eventer, ranked No 1 in the world heptathlon rankings, proved herself the best high jumper and sprint hurdler in the country with sparkling performances in both.
Undeterred by a difficult wind the 23-year-old scorched to a 100m victory in 12.87 seconds and finished several metres ahead of the rest of the field.
While her time did not fulfil pre-race hopes of breaking Angie Thorpe’s 13-year-old record of 12.80 secs, it was still enough to confirm the youngster as the biggest star in British athletics.
As was the 1.91m she cleared in the high jump although her three attempts at 3cm higher were perhaps even more impressive.
Add those performances to the 6,587 points produced in her only heptathlon for a year following ankle surgery and it is clear Ennis is one of Britain’s best hopes of a medal at the IAAF World Championships.
Another, Phillips Idowu, was rather less impressive in taking the triple jump crown.
The Birmingham-based athlete won and qualified for Berlin with a first round effort of 17.05m.
He beat another Perry Barr-based competitor, Nathan Douglas, who at least had the comfort of knowing he had registered his first 17m effort of the year to go with his silver medal.
Elsewhere there was a strong display from Dai Greene in the 400m hurdles, winning in 49.07secs.
While Newquay’s Jemma Simpson ended the championships on a high note with a respectable 2:01.16 secs in a high class 800m final, Emily Freeman came up with the biggest winning margin in UK Championships history over 200m with 22.92 secs.
But in the men’s event Marlon Devonish faces not making it to Berlin at all after being beaten in the 200m.
