BARCELONA 2010: Golden girl Jess Ennis adds European crown to CV

By Nick Clowes, Sportsbeat, in Barcelona

JESSICA Ennis raced home on the seventh step to heaven add the European Championships crown to her bulging medal collection in Barcelona.

GOLDEN GIRL: Jessica Ennis adds European gold to her world indoor and outdoor titles in Barcelona (Reuters)

Heptathlete Ennis, already the world indoor and outdoor champion, continued her gold rush with a gutsy display on Saturday and her dominant 800m performance confirmed her status as the world's finest.

It's a third major title for Britain's golden hope for the London 2012 Olympics, after she stormed her way to world gold in Berlin last year before adding the world pentathlon title under the roof in March.

 "There was a lot of pressure because the girls were performing so well and I've been pushed all the way," said Ennis.

"It has been a completely different heptathlon to any other I've done before.

"It was really tough, completely different to last year and I'm happy to have handled the pressure and come out on top.

"At any point it could have completely changed. At any point I could have lost the gold medal so it was a big challenge."

Leading by 110 points over night, that was trimmed to 68 after Olympic champion and arch rival Nataliya Dobrynska after the long jump, with the javelin and the 800m to go.

Ennis leapt to a solid 6.43m but was outdone by the Ukrainian, who reached 6.56m, and while the 24-year-old Sheffield star launched a new javelin PB of 46.71m, Dobrynska bit back with 49.25m.

That gave Ennis a slender lead of just 18 points which equated to 1.2 seconds in the 800m but Britain's best proved too strong in the final event and put the finishing touches to victory.

As was the case in Berlin, Ennis led from the front in the 800m and while she was given a brief scare as Dobrynska over took the Brit after 600m, she turned on the afterburners to race home in 2:10.18 minutes.

As opposed to her comprehensive win in Berlin, Ennis was pushed all the way by Dobrynska, but the world's number one dug deep to chalk up another major title with Olympic gold and London 2012 beckoning.

The weight of expectation on Ennis' shoulders was huge, such has her dominance of late been and having been made captain of the Great Britain squad, there was added pressure to lead by example.

But with Mo Farah taking to the track to clinch 5000m Great Britain reached 16 medals, one more than the projected target of 15.

"With everyone doing so well and us winning so many medals I was just thinking I didn't want to let anyone down. There was pressure from all different directions," added Ennis.

"You just have to block it out and get on with it. The championship record is a great record to have."