World Athletics: Jessica Ennis goes step closer to heptathlon gold in Berlin after javelin

Jessica Ennis was tonight on the verge of claiming Britain's first gold medal at the World Championships in Berlin after her penultimate event of the heptathlon.

Ennis led by 307 points overnight after winning three of the four disciplines on the opening day - the 100 metre hurdles, high jump and 200m - and setting a new personal best in the shot.

That lead was trimmed to 269 points after the long jump in the Olympic Stadium, Ennis jumping 6.29m in the third and final round for a total of 5,064 points.

And the margin was reduced further in the javelin this evening despite a solid throw of 43.54m in the first round.

Poland's Kamila Chudzik threw 48.72m to close within 171 points of Ennis with Olympic champion Nataliya Dobrynska currently in third, 273 points behind Ennis.

Germany's Jennifer Oeser had been in second before the javelin, but would need a personal best of more than 48m in the second pool of athletes to overtake Chudzik in second place.

Only the dreaded 800m now remains for Ennis and she has the comfort of knowing she is one of the fastest in the field with a personal best of two minutes 09.88 seconds, almost eight seconds quicker than Chudzik.

The javelin was interrupted by the medal ceremony for the men's shot and Ennis admitted: "Yeah, it would be nice to be up there (on the podium) definitely.

"One more event to go. I'm not looking forward to it but I will give it my all."

Speaking after the long jump this morning, Ennis said: "I wanted to jump around 6.40m but 6.29 is better than Desenzano (where she set her personal best in May) so I can't really grumble too much."

The 23-year-old admitted she had been caught between playing it safe and going for a big jump to maintain her lead.

"I'm playing it safe and going for it," she added. "I don't want to hold back too much, I want to get as many points as possible.

"That gold medal keeps creeping into my head but I want to focus on each event."

Seven steps to glory?

100m hurdles: 12.93secs (fastest time)
High jump: 1.92m (competiton best)
Shot put: 14.14m (fifth best) PB
200 metres: 23.25secs (fastest in competition)
Long jump: 6.29m (Ninth best)
Javelin: 43.54m