Sotherton welcomes new rivalry

Kelly Sotherton is banking on the emergence of new rising star Jessica Ennis to help her overcome her problems in the javelin and retain her position as Britain’s leading heptathlete.

Sotherton missed out on a medal at last week’s European Championship following a dismal effort in her bogey javelin event.

The Olympic bronze medallist knows that must change if she is to hold off the challenge of the emerging 20-year-old Ennis.

Sotherton, who welcomes fresh faces on the scene, said: “Jess and myself are in two completely different eras as she is nearly 10 years younger than me.

“I will not be training with Jess like I did with Denise Lewis before the Athens Olympics.

“We will be challenging each other for the next five to six years so it will be different as Denise was coming to the end of her career at the time and I was at the beginning.

“But the competition will be good. I always relish other British girls coming up and doing really well.

“You need people like Jess to keeping pushing you to do better. Jess did that in Gothenburg. You need someone like that to make it real and I was determined not to allow her to finish ahead of me.”