Athletics: Ankle injury forces Ennis to curtail Olympic dream.

Byline: BY DAVID MARTIN Daily Post Correspondent

JESSICA ENNIS, one of the favourites for an Olympic heptathlon medal this summer, will miss the Beijing Games after suffering a stress fracture to her right ankle.

The 22-year-old has been troubled by the injury for a few weeks and was forced to withdraw after the first day's action at the IAAF World Challenge Hypo Meeting in Gotzis on Saturday when the problem flared up during the high jump.

The Commonwealth Games bronze medallist, who was lying second at the time after completing her four disciplines, pulled out as a precautionary measure.

The Sheffield multi-eventer, who missed out on the World Championship bronze medal by only 41 points behind team-mate Kelly Sotherton last August, had CT and MRI scans at the Olympic Medical Institute, where a fracture was revealed. As yet it is unclear whether the break occurred in competition or earlier in training and Ennis, who is based at the English Institute of Sport in her home city, will embark on an immediate rehabilitation programme.

The scan revealed three fractures to the joint, which had been troubling her in recent weeks, although not seriously enough to prevent her competing in several early-season meetings.

Ennis said: "I'm obviously upset with the results and I'm gutted to be missing out on my first Olympics, but injury is part of life as a heptathlete.

"I am determined to make a full and speedy recovery from this and enjoy a long athletics career."

UK Athletics performance director Dave Collins said: "This is nothing but terrible luck and is a sickening blow for Jess.

"Obviously with the Olympic Games just a matter of weeks away, the timing could not have been more cruel."