Sotherton in return to heptathlon

Kelly Sotherton has made a shock return to the heptathlon in a last-ditch bid to compete at the London Olympics.

The 34-year-old quit the heptathlon, in which she won Olympic bronze in 2004, in November 2010 to focus on the 400 metres.

However, after winning a silver medal as part of the 4x400 metres relay team at the European Indoor Championships in March this year, Sotherton failed to qualify for the World Championships in Daegu and recently lost her lottery funding.

The 2007 world championship bronze medallist said: “I started training four weeks ago for the heptathlon. It has rejuvenated my feelings for the sport and I’m enjoying the fact that I could make it to the Olympics.”

Jessica Ennis has replaced Sotherton as British No 1 and the Sheffield athlete became world champion in 2009 before claiming the silver medal in Daegu this summer. Sotherton said: “I don’t think I’m going to be rivalling her as I possibly could have been a few years ago. I know where my limits lie, I’m not striving for a gold medal.”

The Olympic ‘A’ qualifying standard is 6,150 points, comfortably below Sotherton’s 2005 personal best of 6,547 and the 6,517 from her last heptathlon in 2008.