There are few British sportspeople who have legitimate claims to being the best in the world however Katarina Johnson-Thompson and Jessica Ennis-Hill are in that category.

Katarina Johnson-Thompson and Jessica Ennis-Hill’s rivalry has all the ingredients to propel athletics into the spotlight in a similar manner to the Sebastian Coe and Steve Ovett.

Olympic gold medallist Jessica Ennis-Hill has confirmed she will return to competition in London this July following her break from athletics to become a mother.

Jessica Ennis-Hill has revealed she faces her ‘biggest challenge ever’ as she attempts to juggle being a mother with winning gold at next year’s Rio Olympics.

If athletics wants Jessica Ennis-Hill and Katarina Johnson-Thompson to become the Coe and Ovett of their day, one can only hope that a bit of good old competition spices things up.

Katarina Johnson-Thompson may not defend her heptathlon title at the prestigious Hypomeeting in Gotzis, Austria later this month because her coach is wary of people taking 'pot shots' at her.

Katarina Johnson-Thompson will have to wait a little longer for her hotly anticipated showdown with Jessica Ennis-Hill after she withdrew from the prestigious Hypo-Meeting in Gotzis, Austria.

MATT LAWTON: Katarina Johnson-Thompson seems slightly offended by the suggestion that she does not look as physically strong as other leading heptathletes... and then pulls a Popeye-like pose.

Wayne Rooney has teamed up with an array of leading stars across the world of sport, including Serena Williams and Kobe Bryant, to feature in a new advert showing off their formidable speed.

Jessica Ennis-Hill proved she is ready to defend her World Championship heptathlon title next month while Katarina Johnson-Thompson revealed the full extent of her injury woes.

Ahead of the IAAF World Championships in Beijing next week, Jessica Ennis-Hill and Katarina Johnson-Thompson have been busily preparing at a training camp in Fukuoka, Japan.

The lead-up to this summer’s World Championships has been dominated by doping revelations, but starting on Saturday the athletes have a chance to lift their sport from the mire.

Jessica Ennis-Hill and Katarina Johnson-Thompson will clash for the first time since 2012 when they compete in the World Championships in Beijing. Ennis-Hill aims to add at least 250 points to her best.

British Athletics would not be making public any medal targets for the World Championships in Beijing. Here Sportsmail looks at where they are likely to come from.

MARTHA KELNER IN BEIJING: Jessica Ennis-Hill leads the heptathlon at the World Championships after the opening two events inside the Bird’s Nest stadium. 

MARTHA KELNER IN BEIJING: Jessica Ennis-Hill and Katarina Johnson-Thompson go head-to-head on Sunday in a battle to be crowned heptathlon World Champion.

MARTHA KELNER IN BEIJING: Jessica Ennis-Hill being crowned world champion 13 months since giving birth and after an almighty battle back to fitness seems a mere formality.

Britain's Katarina Johnson-Thompson's World Championship medal hopes have gone up in smoke after she failed to record a distance in the long jump as Jessica Ennis-Hill stayed in front.

Greg Rutherford demanded critics lay off Katarina Johnson-Thompson after her long jump collapse cost her a heptathlon medal at the World Championships in Beijing.

Katarina Johnson-Thompson began her quest for redemption after her heptathlon 'walk of shame' by comfortably qualifying for the long jump final at the athletics World Championship.

MARTHA KELNER: Shara Proctor is expecting a carnival reception when she returns to Anguilla, the tiny Caribbean island where she grew up having to dodge cricket balls to pursue long jump.

With just 198 days to go until the Rio Oympics, Katarina Johnson-Thompson has gold in her sights after being revealed as the face of paint company Dulux's Colour of the Year for 2016.

Katarina Johnson-Thompson possesses so much talent that she finished the first day of the heptathlon in Gotzis in second, despite finishing dead last after an inexplicably poor shot put.

Johnson-Thompson believes she has the ability to beat Ennis-Hill and wants to fulfil her burgeoning potential with a gold medal in Rio next month.

Jessica Ennis-Hill is favourite to retain the title she won at London 2012 but she is expected to face stiff competition from compatriot Katarina Johnson-Thompson at the Rio Olympics.

In June 2012 Katarina Johnson-Thompson scored a huge lifetime best in the heptathlon at a low-key meeting in Kladno in the Czech Republic to unexpectedly qualify for the London Olympics.

Britain's golden girls Jessica Ennis-Hill (left) and Katarina Johnson-Thompson (right) yesterday began their battle for the women’s heptathlon title in Rio de Janeiro.

Katarina Johnson-Thompson’s rivalry with fellow British poster girl Jessica Ennis-Hill has been one of the big stories of the Games so far, but little has been heard about her father.

Katarina Johnson-Thompson has not improved her heptathlon personal best since 2014. Senior figures in British Athletics would like her to part company with long-time coach Mike Holmes and leave Liverpool.

Katarina Johnson-Thompson has been ruled out of the Indoor Grand Prix but is expected to be fit for the European Indoor Championships after suffering a minor hamstring strain.

Katarina Johnson-Thompson admits to a struggle learning French but says a new life in Montpellier and mentoring from Jessica Ennis-Hill could translate into gold-winning performances.

She leads Olympic champion Nafissatou Thiam and Carolin Schafer, who sit three and six points back respectively going into the long jump, javelin and 800m.

RIATH AL-SAMARRAI: There was fresh hope as Johnson-Thompson hit new heights in Gotzis but saw just how tough it will be to win a World Championship medal in August.

Katarina Johnson-Thompson's World Championship medal hopes have been all but dashed in the opening session of the heptathlon after an awful high jump performance.

Katarina Johnson-Thompson registered a season-best throw of 41.72 metres but it was only good enough for 20th place as her heptathlon hopes took a hit on Sunday afternoon.

RIATH AL-SAMARRAI: An evening that started with Jessica Ennis-Hill collecting a back-dated gold medal concluded with the sense the current generation are short of where they need to be.

The 25-year-old is favourite for the pentathlon at the World Indoor Championships, which were getting under way on Thursday but has played down her chances of winning.

In the space of a pentathlon on Friday, Johnson-Thompson ran, jumped and threw her way out of the realm of perennial underachiever and into one reserved for world champions.

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW BY RIATH AL-SAMARRAI: Two gold medals tell a story of potential being fulfilled, but there has also been a painful loss. Her father, Ricky Thompson, died last November.

Katarina Johnson-Thompson sits top of the leaderboard after the opening morning of the heptathlon at the European Championships.

Sometimes the opposition is just too good. For that reason alone, Katarina Johnson-Thompson will reflect on the silver linings of her trip to Berlin instead of celebrating a golden hat-trick.

For Katarina Johnson-Thompson, there was a hugely impressive silver medal after eventually losing her fascinating heptathlon tussle with the great Belgian, Nafi Thiam.

Athletic stars Katarina Johnson-Thompson and Dina Asher-Smith made the most of their post-season break by heading down the catwalk at Paris Fashion Week.

It says something about her complex psychology that Katarina Johnson-Thompson arrived to a headliner's billing in an Austrian mountain town on Friday and found it all rather strange.

RIATH AL-SAMARRAI IN GOTZIS: Perhaps she was being a little harsh on herself. Having admitted that she still feels like an 'impostor' at the highest level, she made a mockery of her words.

Katarina Johnson-Thompson arrived in Austria with doubts in her mind and left on Sunday night having maybe implanted a few in someone else.

Before Jodie Comer played the ruthless assassin Villanelle in the hit show, she honed her skills in drama classes at the same Liverpool school attended as the indoor pentathlon champion.

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW BY RIATH AL-SAMARRAI: Katarina Johnson-Thompson is talking about recognition and the time it can take for some folk to see what is so clear to others.

Her haul of 4,138 points puts her 96 clear of the Olympic champion from Belgium, which is not unusual - the configuration of this event is such that she usually has the best of day one.

RIATH AL-SAMARRAI IN DOHA: After all the squirming and falling and doubting and fouling, the Kat finally let herself out of the bag. The 26-year-old can now officially call herself the world's best.