Jessica Ennis-Hill to make comeback with low-key return in Loughborough

Heptathlete will take part in Loughborough European Athletics Permit meeting tonight

Jessica Ennis-Hill (GETTY IMAGES)

Jessica Ennis-Hill will make her long-awaited comeback from an ankle injury at a low-key meeting in Loughborough tonight.

Organisers for the Loughborough European Athletics Permit meeting confirmed the Olympic heptathlon champion would compete in the event as scheduled.

The 27-year-old, who has not competed yet this summer because of the injury, will do so in the javelin and the long jump.

News of Ennis-Hill's return to action could scarcely be more timely with the World Championships in Moscow less than three weeks away.

Her only outing since winning gold at London 2012 has been a small event at Leeds Metropolitan University in April, where she won the javelin.

The ankle injury which has proved so troublesome had forced her to delay her comeback five times this summer, most recently pulling out of last Friday's Diamond League meeting in Monaco.

Her scheduled heptathlon in Estonia at the end of last month also fell by the wayside, meaning Moscow will be her first seven-event competition since London 2012.

Ennis-Hill has been following a comprehensive rehabilitation programme, working with the UK Athletics medical team and her physiotherapist Alison Rose, but the progress of her recovery has been slow.

She is scheduled to compete on Saturday in the Sainsbury's Anniversary Games at the Olympic Stadium, but that participation is still subject to confirmation.

The Sheffield athlete was last week named in the Great Britain team for the World Championships and UKA performance director Neil Black claimed she could win gold in Russia, even if she had not competed at all before the event.

The World Championships get under way on August 10, with the heptathlon starting on day three.

Ennis-Hill will be looking to reclaim the title she lost in Daegu two years ago to Russia's Tatyana Chernova.

PA