Jessica Ennis of GBR during the Pentathlon High Jump (© Getty Images)
Jessica Ennis of Great Britain is on course for the World indoor pentathlon title.
The Briton didn’t get to this position easy, she had to fight fierce competition from American favourite Hyleas Fountain in the High Jump. The pair who were in the lead after first event as well, were the only ones to clear 1.87m. At the next height 1.90m both struggled with their first two attempts and Fountain so very nearly put huge pressure to Ennis with her last attempt where she was well over the bar but hit it just enough for it to wobble and come down in the end.
1.87m was however a great result for the 29-year-old American who won the silver medal in the Heptathlon at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. Fountain set an indoor best with 1.87m and also got very near her 1.89m personal best outdoors from Beijing with her last attempt.
Ennis on the other hand finished her High Jump competition nicely. The bar wobbled following Ennis’ jump as well, but didn’t come down and the Briton cleared 1.90m for a total of 2226 points after two events. This means she fell a bit back from 5000p and World indoor record pace, but should still reach a score well more than 4900 points in the end.
At the moment the lead is clear and Fountain has to do miracles in the next events as the last event 800m is her weakest and she will lose a lot of points against Ennis there. Fountain has 2151 points for the second place and is 75 points off Ennis at the moment. The American is a bit better shot putter than Ennis, but she should not be able to overtake the Briton before the fourth event, Long Jump. She will also need a big gap before the 800m where Ennis can gain at least 150p against the American.
Antoinette Nana Djimou Ida of France and Ukrainian Olympic champion Nataliya Dobrynska both cleared 1.84m and are in third and fourth places respectively. The Frenchwoman has scored 2099 points for the third place and 1.84m was a big personal best for her, adding 3cm to her previous indoor best 1.81m from earlier this winter. Outdoors she has only cleared 1.79m before. But Dobrynska is the one really going for a medal here. She is a great shot putter and could really put pressure on Fountain's silver medal position. She now has 2046 points for fourth place and if she can add to her 15.69m Shot Put result from this winter she will be closing on the medal positions. Dobrynska has outdoor bests of 17.29m and indoor 17.18m, both results from the 2008 season.
Russian Tatyana Chernova, the world leading athlete with 4855 points this season has fallen well back from her series from February. The Olympic bronze medalist from 2008 cleared only 1.78m in the High Jump competition which was a massive 8cm less than 1.86m earlier this season in her world leading Pentathlon at the Russian champs. She now has 1968p for the fifth place and only failures for the athlete above her in the rankings will get her to a medal position today.
Marina Goncharova of Russia jumped 1.78m for a total of 1957p and sixth place and Polish Karolina Tyminska is seventh with 1990p (1.72m). Latvian Aiga Grabuste has been well behind her usual level today and has only got 1693p for eighth place where she will stay for the rest of the competition.
Mirko Jalava for the IAAF
