Athletics: Ennis uses the 'Tadpole' tag to leapfrog rival

Just over a week ago, dressed in what she described as "the gown and the funny hat", Jessica Ennis collected her psychology degree from Sheffield University. She has graduated too this year in her other life as one of Britain's brightest young athletes, having established herself as the domestic heptathlon No 1 with a series of effervescent performances that suggest possibilities at this summer's World Championships and probabilities at the Olympics that lie beyond.

It was a year ago, at the Melbourne Commonwealth Games, that the woman whom Ennis has recently overtaken in the standings, Kelly Sotherton, revealed her nickname for her diminutive rival - "Tadpole".

Just as Sotherton surpassed the defending Olympic champion Denise Lewis at the 2004 Games in Athens, taking a bronze, so Ennis has developed to the point where she has leapfrogged over her fellow countrywoman, outscoring her at the European Cup for combined events in Szczecin, Poland, to take the individual title in a personal best score of 6,399 points after best performances in three of the seven events - the shot putt (12.89 metres), javelin (37.38m) and 800m (2min 10.91sec.) And although Ennis is the last one to suggest the domestic battle is over - Sotherton, despite being woefully out of form in the javelin and shot put, offered plentiful evidence of her competitive nature in pushing Carolina Kluft to the brink of defeat at this year's European Indoor Championships - she admits that her relative advance has been sooner than expected.

"It surprised me a bit," she said yesterday as she prepared for her appearance today in the 100m hurdles at the World Trials in Manchester. "I performed well in the European Indoors to get a PB, but Kelly performed brilliantly to get her silver, and I was sure she was going to come out this season and produce another big score. There's a long way to go this season, of course, but I didn't expect it would be so soon that I would be beating her, so that has been nice."

After a couple of relatively barren years, the performance director for UK Athletics, Dave Collins - his eyes set anxiously on a horizon which holds the Beijing Olympics and the London 2012 Games four years further on - has spoken hopefully of "green shoots of recovery". Ennis, at 21, represents one of the greenest and most promising of those shoots, and after her prodigious performance at the Commonwealth Games, where her high jump of 1.91m would have been enough to win her the title in the individual event, she has maintained a steady upward curve.

While Sotherton has struggled in the wake of her outstanding indoor performance at Birmingham in March, her young opponent has flourished. In May, Ennis opened her outdoor season with a huge flourish at the World Combined Events Challenge in Desenzano Del Garda, Italy, improving her best score to 6,388 points, running a personal best of 13.12sec in the 100m hurdles and equalling the British women's high jump record of 1.95m in the process.

The latter achievement is all the more remarkable, given that Ennis stands at 5ft 5in, a lack of stature that forced her to give up basketball at school. While the power events of the javelin and shot will continue to offer her the most obvious challenges, she possesses a dynamism that more than compensates overall.

Earlier this month, she competed in the high hurdles at the European Under-23 Championships, earning a bronze to add to a collection that already includes her Commonwealth bronze, a bronze from the World Student Games of 2005, and the European junior gold.

While Sotherton and Lewis trained together under the severe but inspiring direction of coach Charles van Commenee, Sotherton and Ennis work separately - the senior athlete is based in Birmingham - and meet only when competing.

There is clearly a competitive edge to their relationship. Ennis was a little irked by the nickname, while Sotherton recalled earlier this year how, after finishing ahead of her younger rival in the sprint hurdles at the Commonwealths, the junior partner had responded: "You beat me, you bitch!

Ennis admitted that the "Tadpole" thing had bothered her a little - "it was a bit of a joke at the start, but it then got to be something a bit bigger". She added, however, that there was "no tension and no bitterness" between the pair.

We are not looking at a rivalry to match some of the more legendary ones that have occurred within the sport. The description of world 400m record holder Michael Johnson by the then Olympic 100m champion Donovan Bailey springs to mind - "faker and a chicken". Britain's domestic scrap is far more polite. But as both women are aware, it is only a side issue. Kluft, despite occasional rumours concerning her fitness or commitment, still rules the event and appears set on retaining her world title in Osaka this year.

In the meantime, a rival even younger than Ennis - 19-year-old Tatyana Chernova of Russia - has reared into the reckoning with a score of 6,768pts at Arles last month which, although wind-assisted, still appears to place her well beyond the range of either Brit right now. "You try to concentrate on your own performances, but you can't help noticing other people's scores," Ennis admits. 'She's been amazing and it will be good to compete against her for the first time in Osaka."

Immediately after the trials, Ennis, who is also due to compete in the high jump in Manchester, will fly to Scotland to take part in the Celtic Cup in Falkirk on Tuesday. There she will make her final competitive preparations for the World Championships by competing in the long jump - where she wants to revive the form which brought her a personal best of 6.40m in Desenzano - and the 200m.

Ennis, who is coached by Toni Minichiello, is not talking about winning medals in Osaka. But then she is not discounting the prospect either. Although, on paper, she does not look ready to claim a podium place, it would be unduly pessimistic to rule out the possibility. This woman has real talent.