Britain’s Jessica Ennis-Hill will compete in the heptathlon in Gotzis, Austria later this month for the first time since winning gold at the London 2012 Olympics, she announced on Tuesday.
Ennis-Hill, 29, took almost two years off after having a baby and recently returned to competitive action.
She has been struggling with an Achilles problem, but having successfully come through the long jump and javelin competitions in an event at Loughborough, central England last Sunday, she has committed to competing in Gotzis on May 30-31.
“After competing in Loughborough at the weekend I felt pretty good the next day and my Achilles felt fine, which is brilliant,” said Ennis, who needs to secure 6,200 points to defend her Olympic title at the 2016 Games in Rio de Janeiro.
“The results I have had at the competitions over the past few weeks are promising and we believe it is feasible for me to do a full heptathlon and achieve the level of points I need to qualify for Rio.
“If I can achieve this early in the season it removes a real pressure, and all the indicators are looking positive, so I plan to go to Gotzis and give it my best shot.”